Manually locating songs vs. Loss of Ratings Info

Hi,
Before I reformatted my hard drive, I saved my music and my iTunes config. Unfortunately, after transfering my songs and iTunes config files back to my hard drive, my songs can't play w/o my manually locating each one. Is there any way to quickly modify the old location data so that I can play my songs w/o having to manually locate each. Alternatively, I could just re-import my songs but then I lose all the ratings info and I spent countless hours and don't want to lose that info. Is there any way I can re-import my songs (so I don't have to manually locate each song) w/o losing my ratings info?
Thank you for your help.

Here's an idea ... do you think if I opened up the iTunes Music Library xml file and did a replace all on the one word messing up iTunes ability to find my songs with the correct folder name, that this will fix everything and allow me to save my ratings info too? Does that make sense?

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PLEASE HELP LOCATE SONGS FROM EXTERNAL HD (Cloud)

First off, I would like to thank ANYONE who can help me out please! I am desperate now for some advice to help me through this, I have spent the last 10 Hours (Not Exaggerating) trying to find a solution to my problem online and reading through countless things I HAVE NOT been able to get an answer to resolve the issue that I am having. Please I beg you to help me! I just wanna call Apple Support so that someone can walk me through this but I am using a Windows and they won't take calls from Windows users (which is kind of lame since I am an Iphone/Ipad/Itunes customer just not on an Apple Computer) and honestly I would even pay money to have this issue fixed already I just don't wanna waste any more time on it!!!
SO, that being said. Here is the most concise explanation I can give you of my troubles!
1. I have both a Laptop and a Desktop. My Laptop has been my primary source for Itunes for the passed 8 years, however, it is old and I want to start using my Desktop for Itunes from now on..also, I NEED to free up space on my Laptop so that I can back up my Iphone 5 which has a broken screen, but that's another story!
2. I Purchased something called a "WD MY CLOUD" Which is basically a personal ICloud that has 2TB of external HD Space on it. I hooked up my WDMyCloud and configured it, got it working perfectly, and I began the multiple hour long process to transfer my ITUNES Folder from my Laptop over to the WDMyCloud.
3. All of the files and songs were successfully transferred from my Laptop to the WDMyCloud.
4. I Installed Itunes onto my Desktop.
5. I shift+clicked Itunes and chose the Itunes Library from my WDMyCloud. I believe the file is found in: \\WDMYCLOUD\Oliver\iTunes\iTunes Library. (And that is the .itl)
6. When I have Itunes open, I go to preferences, and I change the MEDIA Folder to the iTunes Music Folder located on my WDMyCloud. I believe the file is found as: \\WDMYCLOUD\Oliver\Itunes\iTunes Music. (It does have all of my songs in there on the WDMyCloud in Folders by Album or however itunes had it organized)
7. Now I am staring at my Itunes Playlists and All of my Songs are there, however, whenever I try to Play ANY Song on there I receive this error: "The song "xx" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to Locate it?" (And no, I would not like to manually locate over 3,000 songs)
Also, every single Song has an "!" Exclamation mark next to it.
8. If I use "Get Info" about the track to see where Itunes is looking for the track, I will show you an example now here to what it says:
"file://localhost/C:/Users/Oliver/Downloads/Firebeatz - Gangster (Original Mix).mp3"
(Now I do realize that this is incorrect, it should be looking for the songs in my WDMyCloud, that path above is from my Laptop's Downloads Folder and I have no idea how to fix this.)
9. I have also tried using the "FindTracks.vbs" on my \\WDMYCLOUD\Oliver\Itunes\iTunes Music Folder and this did nothing, at all.
10. I have opened the Itunes Library XML that is saved onto my WDMyCloud from my Laptop, and it shows the script as:
<plist version="1.0"><dict><key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer><key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer><key>Date</key><date>2014-05-24T16:40:35Z</date><key>Application Version</key><string>11.2</string><key>Features</key><integer>5</integer><key>Show Content Ratings</key><true/><key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost//WDMYCLOUD/Oliver/Itunes/iTunes%20Music</string><key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>5C3728163E81BB1D</string><key>Tracks</key>
<p
^^ Now I'm not really sure how clumped up that is going to look once I post cuz when I tried copy/pasting it from the XML on to here it came out looking super weird, but as you can see the key thing there is that the file it says it's looking in is the Itunes Music file in my WDMyCloud. So I don't know what could be wrong with the XML script path if there is anything wrong with it at all. The rest of the XML is super super long list of all my tracks and albums an such which is obviously unimportant to this matter. But maybe this can help figure out my problem.
Anyway, that's about as far as I was able to get after 10 hours of research, and like I said, still no solution. I'm stuck! Please please please help me figure this out! One of the biggest reasons I purchased this WDMyCloud was to use it as a consistent Itunes mediator between my devices and I absolutely MUST free up space on my Laptop ASAP and this is the only way! Thank you so much for your help in advance!!

See Make a split library portable for some general advice on making a working library portable. It should be less hassle than fixing a broken one.
Since the library works perfectly on the laptop I would suggest you start over and do it like this;
1. Create a new iTunes folder in the root of the external as \\WDMYCLOUD\iTunes (capitalised as shown please, just to appease my OCD)
2. Copy into it the following items from C:\Users\Oliver\Music\iTunes
Album Artwork
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
sentinel
3. Shift-start iTunes and open the library at \\WDMYCLOUD\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl
4. Under Edit > Preferences > Advanced change the media folder to \\WDMYCLOUD\iTunes\iTunes Media (again capitalised as shown please)
5. Use File > Library > Organize Library. Tick both boxes, or the one that isn't greyed out, then click OK.
iTunes will gather in copies of all your media files, putting them into the correct locations so that the library is in the modern layout, and able to be moved from one machine to another.
I'd recommend you clone the entire iTunes folder to another drive (see this backup tip) before you think about cleaning the originals.
If your library is large then having the library files on a network share will slow things down as the database has to be written out almost any time you do anything with your library. Once you've connected the library to the new computer and had it opened and working you can copy the library files and Album Artwork folder into the local C:\Users\Oliver\Music\iTunes folder (deleteing what is already there first) then shift-start-iTunes and connect to C:\Users\Oliver\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. If/when you want to move the library to a different drive/computer copy the files back out to the drive and access the library there at lease once before the move.
tt2

Is there a way to overwrite the ORIGINAL songs with my iTunes library info?

Hi there,
I would like to know if there is a way to overwrite the original songs with my iTunes library info? What I mean is, I have MANY songs that I have transferred to iTunes (and were obviously not purchased from iTunes) and I always put the info (such as the album name, the album art, artist, composer, etc.) and it leaves the original song (like the songs that are in "My music" section that is in "My Documents") with the same info. For example : The song that I put into the library will be "chamiionaire feastureing flip"... and in the iTunes, I put it as "Chamillionaire ft. Lil Flip". How do I make it so that it replaces the "original" info (located in my documents) with the info I put in?

Same question. Used to have an iPod. Lost it (best digital player ever), now I use other portable device. The mp3 files have their id3tag edited in the original file, but the .m4a don't!.
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What is manually manage songs and playlist?

I had some issues earlier and it seems to be resolved now,but in the process it had me set the IPod to manually manage songs and playlist. I want to close ITunes now and go to bed but I don't know how to exit ITUnes without losig my music. I used to click sync IPod and put a check mark next to the song I wanted loaded to the Ipod and when it was over I would take the check mark off,but now what do I do?

By default the iPod is set to "automatically manage songs and videos", whatever changes you make in iTunes are reflected on the iPod the next time you connect it. In manual mode you can directly access the content of the iPod and play it through iTunes and you can drag and drop whatever you want to the iPod from your library: Managing content manually on iPod
Something to remember about using an iPod in manual mode is that the "Do Not Disconnect" message will remain on the display until you physically eject the device. In that case use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the Windows system tray on the desktop and check this link for alternative methods:: Safely Disconnect IPod
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Where is the "Ratings" Info Stored?

I moved my music from an external 400GB drive to a new 750GB external drive.
My first issue was 30% of the links to my 66,000 songs were severed.
I had to re-build the song library by dropping my music back in to a blank iTunes Library. I then imported my former iTunes Library.xml document. My playlists came back but all the ratings info did not come over.
Where does iTunes store the ratings infomation?

I have much the same issue - a system failure, iTunes library restored by importing old 'iTunes Library.xml' file as recommended on this site, but I am left with no meta-data - in particular ratings. I still have backups of all the iTunes library files - how do I restore meta-data from them?
Thanks.

Itunes can't locate songs stored in external drive

i had created playlists and added songs to the playlists in itunes 7.02. these songs are stored on an external drive. i did not sync my ipod immediately but tried it a few days later. despite the external drive being connected to my laptop, when i tried to sync the ipod with itunes, for 90% of the songs there was an exclamation mark next to the song & i had to manually double click on a song name in itunes, and locate it in the external drive, in order for itunes to be able to sync it.
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Hi there,
I'm having the same problem, I'll list it in case I'm somehow different from the other case but unfortunately directing iTunes to that folder doesn't seem to do the trick...?
Have bought a Seagate 320GB external drive, copied my iTunes library (that was located in my /Users/Shared folder) to a new location on my external drive and redirected iTunes to the new location. It said it was updating the folder which took a while and I assumed was a good sign due to my 8948 songs but alas the dreaded exclamation mark has appeared next to every track. If I redirect one to the new location it works fine but f*ed if I'm gonna do that for the other 8947. If I quit iTunes and reopen it, it's still directed to the same correct place and the previously located still works but the rest don't. Is there a) some reason this may not be working correctly; or b) a quick way to redirect every song to their location? Thanks so much for your help.

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I can no longer see anything in the "Manually Added Songs" field when managing music on my iPhone4. why?

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Otherwise, I'm sorry for wasting your time.

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Itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

This work for the most part:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20361846#20361846

Authorized device was erased. Downloaded iTunes. Says my iPod is already synced to a library. Where do I access that library and how do i get it back on iTunes? I tried manually move songs in disk mode. Bunch of data on ipod, how to remove?

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When I use find file http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/30073/find-file (which does tend to find files that "Finder" can't), it's not coming up with any other itunes library files that have been modified in the past week, which I know it would have been - unfortunately, I don't have a very recent backup of the hard drive. It would be a few months old so it wouldn't have the complete library on it....any ideas? I'm wondering if restarting the computer might help but have been afraid to do so in case it would make it harder to recover anything...I was looking at this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4211589?start=0&tstart=0 in the hopes that it might have a helpful suggestion but it's definitely a different scenario.

I moved my iPhoto libraries from one hard drive to another and have to manually locate the photos, every time!!!

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The problem is that when I close and open iPhoto, it does not remember where the files were and I have to locate at least a file, all over again.
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By default, iPhoto will store its library file under ~/Pictures. To select a library manually in iPhoto:
Ensure that iPhoto is closed.
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Click on Choose Library.
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For more information on moving your iPhoto library, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229.
Hope that helps, have a great day.

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When I manually add songs to iphone 4s many appear gray and won't play. How do I fix this? I have the manually manage music button checked, and I can play them on itunes, but on my iphone they appear gray and won't play. There doesn't seem to be any reason, as one song from an album will play, but the other 9 won't....

Click here and follow the instructions.
(66255)

Can't manually add songs/video

So I've read the help file, which says to go to the "Summary" tab and select "Manually manage music and video" or something like that.
The only problem is, no such button or checkbox or anything exists on the Summary tab, or anywhere else that I've been able to find.
Truly, this is why I hate iTunes, and I was reluctant to buy an iPhone because of it. It's ridiculous that all I want to do is a few simple things that are easily done on non-Apple products, but with iTunes, there always seems to be something that makes the process painfully tedious.
So, IS there a way to manually add songs and video?? Or must I put EVERY song and video on my computer on my iPhone, or else none at all?
Message was edited by: ToyMachine

It's great that you've found this forum, and a quick search would have found the answer. Make a playlist, put the songs you want to put on your iphone in the playlist, sync that playlist to your phone. Anytime you want to change what's on your phone, just change what's in the playlist, then sync. Add tunes, remove tunes, whatever you want. It all works through the playlist.
If you find this process so tedious, consider that if you have different devices you might want them to have different tunes on each of them. Playlists accomplish this brilliantly. You can even have several playlists for different kinds of things, and sync multiple lists to your different devices. For example, if you've got some audiobooks, some tunes, some movies, etc., you can make separate lists for each kind, and sync only the lists you want to any of your devices.

How to "manually add songs" only

A few simple steps to manually manage your music in your iTunes so that your manually add songs to your iPod (provided the song amount, i.e. the Gb used, is less than the storage capacity of the touch device used).
Step 1.
Create a playlist and drag every song into the playlist you wish to be on your iPod/iTouch/iPhone.
Step 2.
Return to the music section in iTunes and press "cmd" and "select" at the same time on one of the 'ticks' to unselect all songs.
Step 3.
Return to the playlist and press "cmd" and "select" at the same time on one of the 'ticks' to select all songs in the playlist.
[Note in doing step 2 followed by step 3, only the songs in the playlist are checked in the music section]
Step 4.
Return to the music section and sort by checked songs
Step 5.
Select all the checked songs and drag them onto the iPod/iTouch/iPhone.
Step 6.
Return to the music section in iTunes and press "cmd" and "select" at the same time on one of the 'ticks' to select all songs.
[Now what you have is only the songs you want on your device and all the songs will show up in the manually added songs section on your device. Also by reclicking all the music in your iTunes library you avoid the unnecessary complications of songs not playing/transferring while listening to music on your computer]
A bit time consuming but it works well who like to carefully manage their library.

Hi Chris,
I will delete this thread and repost with correct terminology to avoid confusion. Also I will include the rationale behind why you would take this approach so that people can choose to see whether they will benefit from it. I'd have liked this to exist prior so I can manage my music statistics.
Your way is right also, but is not the only way to do it and is certainly not the correct way for me. You don't "manage" your music your way.
A few simple steps to manually manage your music in your iTunes so that your manually add songs to your iPod (provided the song amount, i.e. the Gb used, is less than the storage capacity of the touch device used).
Reason: This is a good approach (not the only approach might I add) if you wish for your playcount to be tracked and a failsafe way of managing your songs individually so you do not need to rely on playlists.
Step 1.
Create a playlist and drag every song into the playlist you wish to be on your iPod/iTouch/iPhone.
Step 2.
Return to the music section in iTunes and press "cmd" and click on the "touchpad" at the same time on one of the 'ticks' to unselect all songs.
Step 3.
Return to the playlist and press press "cmd" and click on the "touchpad" at the same time on one of the 'ticks' to select all songs in the playlist.
[Note in doing step 2 followed by step 3, only the songs in the playlist are checked in the music section]
Step 4.
Return to the music section and sort by checked songs
Step 5.
Select all the checked songs and drag them onto the iPod/iTouch/iPhone.
Step 6.
Return to the music section in iTunes and press "cmd" and click on the "touchpad" at the same time on one of the 'ticks' to select all songs.
[Now what you have is only the songs you want on your device and all the songs will show up in the manually added songs section on your device. Also by reclicking all the music in your iTunes library you avoid the unnecessary complications of songs not playing/transferring while listening to music on your computer]
A bit time consuming but it works well who like to carefully manage their library.

TS4124 how can i manually add songs to itunes match ? I currently only have room for 1500 new songs but my library has 35000 songs. can i select the new music i want to add?

Can I manually add songs to icloud match? I currently have room for 1500 songs but my library has 35000 total songs. Can I manually select the new songs to be added?

What do you mean by:
roberthgh wrote:
I currently have room for 1500 songs
Where does this information come from?

Manually locating songs vs. Loss of Ratings Info

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