My entire iTunes library is deleted, all of my songs have the exclamation point next to them, and the original library file is gone, what can I do to get my music back?

So while trying to make extra room on my hard drive, I accidently put my iTunes library in the trash, and emptied it, every song in my library can not be located, and I don't have Time Machine.

Take a look at this link, https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

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Help! I deleted some playlists from my iPhone 4S, and it deleted the playlists in my iTunes library as well! What can I do to get my playlists back?

Please help... I've been trying to get rid of a ton of unwanted music on my iPhone 4S. The music I had marked in iTunes to sync to my phone was not the only music showing up. In my attempts to get rid of the unwanted music, I decided to delete all the music on my phone. Even after unchecking the "Sync Music" tab, there were still 3 songs left as well as my previous playlists. So, I deleted the playlists... which appears to have simultaneously deleted the playlists from my iTunes library! Also, I can not get rid of the remaining songs no matter what I try!! Please help!!!

If you keep the 4s and send back the 4 you ARE stealing their device. If the decide they want the device back, send them the device that they purchased.
Switching SIMs is irrelevant to the discussion.

HT201272 several of my purchased itunes songs have an exclamation point next to them, they will not play, How can I fix that problem??

Hello, Can someone assist me with trying to figure out how to locate previously purchased songs on my itunes library that are showing up with an exclamation point infront of the titile. I try and play the song and i get a message stating that Itunes cannot locate the original file... HELP:/

This happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout,or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes .
tt2

After downloading itunes on my new computer all of my songs have an exclamation point in front of them and it says the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. How do I fix this?

After downloading itunes on my new computer all of my songs have an exclamation point in front of them and it says the song could not be used because the orginal file could not be found. How do I fix this?

Hey waltee911,
It sounds like you're seeing something similar to this picture:
If that's the case, the following article has troubleshooting steps to solve the issue:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
Welcome to Apple Support Communities!
Sincerely,
Delgadoh

TS3212 over 100 of my songs stored in my library have an exclamation point next to them. When I click on the song it says that the song will not be downloaded to my phone because the original song cannot be found, and would I like to locate it? I need h

Over 100 of my songs in my itunes library have an exclamation point next to them. When I attempt to sync them with my phone it says that the song cannot be synced because it cannot locate the original song? Do I want to locate it? Can anyone help me figure out where my music is on my computer and where to locate it and how to send it back to itunes?

See this article: iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
B-rock

When looking at my Itunes songs that I have purchased and imported from CD, every song has an exclamation point next to it and says it can't be found. Why? and how do i fix it?

all of my songs in itunes have exclamation points next to them - why?

Hi Paula!
The exclamation points are due to iTunes not being able to find your music. This can be caused from either music being deleted from the computer or if the music folder has changed locations.
iTunes does not actually store the music in the program. All music is saved on the hard drive of your PC. iTunes just creates a link to their location and if that link is broken the exclamation points appear.
I see you're using a windows computer, the best way to locate these songs and add them back in to iTunes is to search for them.
You can click on your start menu, then in the search field type either the title of a particular song or .M4P
This should locate the music for you. Once you locate all the music or the one in particular you can right click on it and select properties. In properties you will be able to see the location.
An example of a location is, C:User Name/Documents and Settings/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media
Once you have that location you can go back to iTunes, click on a song with an exclamation, it will ask you if you would like to locate the file. Say yes and then direct the path to that song and after you select the appropriate song for that 1 file iTunes will ask you if you would like it to locate the other songs that are missing. Just say yes and your library will be back!

When I view "On this iPod" on my iTunes, nearly half my songs have an exclamation mark next to them. Does this mean I have to go back, download these songs again and upload them to my iPod again?

I've never had this problem before but today, when I connected my iPod to my computer and uploaded some new music to it, I finished and ejected the iPod properly but about 6GB of music was missing. So I connected it again and when I went on to "On This iPod", the songs that were missing were named on there but had an exclamation mark next to them. Why is this and how do I fix it?

I posted this in the iPhone forum seeing someone had an issue there about this. I had the exact same issue but with my iPad. It was really annoying. I had to delete all the songs in iTunes that it thought were still on my iPad, but weren't. Then I was able to manually put the songs back onto the iPad. If I didn't delete the songs with the exclamation point, then the syncing was very slow and sometimes would freeze when "waiting for changes to be applied".
About a third of my music was deleted (about 6GB) and so were some of my videos. I updated to the most recent iTunes too. I've never had this issue before and did take a lot of time. I'm running Windows 8.1 (I know - has many issues) and I wondered if that maybe did something?
I don't think you have any option than to delete the songs with the exclamation points and put them back on the device. Hopefully Apple will figure out the issue - ios 7.0.3 or the new iTunes.

Our I tunes is not allowing us to sync and update our music on any ipod. We can see our songs in music library but as soon as we plug ipod in to sync all songs have an "!" is next to them and it erased our ipods. How do you fix this?

We can see our music in the library of our I~tunes account but we can not click on a song to listen to it. As soon as we do an "!" comes up beside it. And we tryed to sync our ipods... as soon as we plugged them in they are recognized but they erased our ipods and an "!" was put beside each song. We can sign out and leave itunes and when we get back on our account our songs are there with NO "!".(until we plug an ipod in again) WHAT IS GOING ON!!!???

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.

HT1430 Restored my iphone 5s now my itunes library won't sync no matter what I do. What can I do to get my music back on my iphone?

I did a complete delete & restore on my iphone 5s . Icloud restored all my settings. When I went to sync from itunes, (all songs & videos are checked, as well as the "sync only checked music & videos") it acts like thre's no music to sync & just finishes up. Itunes is up to date: 11.1.3.8.
Box for maually managing music & videos only says "Manually manage videos".
After I connect my iphone via lightning wire & click on the "iphone" tab on the right side, then I click on the "music" tab, all I see is a check box telling mme that I can sync my voice memos. Nothing else. SOMETHING is wrong!!!!
I've restarted everything, my pc, (windows 7, constantly updated), my iphone 5s several times, but nothihng doing.
PLEASE HELP!!

Settings>iTunes & App Store>Show All>Turn offf

After getting a new dell laptop, I was able to easily move my itunes library from my old mac to my new laptop,however now when I try to sync my music to my iphone,my songs have an exclimation point next to it and cant sync most of my music. HELP!

I recently was given a new dells windows 7 laptop. I then was able to successfully move my itunes library from my old mac to my new dell. Now I am trying to sync my whole library of music back onto my iphone 4, but when I try it says most of my music can not be located. I have exclimation points next to the majority of my music (I have 368 songs in my itunes acount). Please help me be able to sync my songs to my iphone. I am only able to sync about 31 of my songs.

Copy them from your old computer, or your backuo copy of your old computer. to your new one.
The music sync is one way - computer to ipod. the exception is itunes purchases.

I have a 5th Gen iPod Video, I no longer have the original computer i used to synch with, how do I get my music from my iPod on to my iTunes on my new computer?

I have looked on here, and all I can see are solutions involving the use of both old and new computers, as I dont have the old one anymore I am hoping someone might have a workaround.
Thanks

Connect the iPod to your computer and look at the storage used by the various categories as shown in the colored bargarph in iTunes.
Come back with the results.
An "other" larger tha about 1 1/2 usually indicates that the "other" includes corrupted files.
First try:
"First you go settings/general/usage/music/then left swipe over music and press delete and you would think it deletes your music but it doesn't instead it deletes your other but make sure your ipod is connected to a computer while doing this"
as recommended by:
How do I get rid of "other" storage: Apple Support Communities
Next, usually restoring from backup eliminated the corrupted files. However, sometimes restoring to factory settings/new iPod is required.
To restore from backup see:
iOS: How to back up
To restore to factory settings/new iPod see:
iTunes: Restoring iOS software

HT1689 i tried to download ios 5.0 on the 3gs and it took all my information. So i tried restoring my information but i didnt get it back. What can i do to get my information back?

i tried to download ios 5.0 on the 3gs and it took all my information. So i tried restoring my information but i didnt get it back. What can i do to get my information back?

This has solved loads of people who have this issue and have used an alternate DNS setting. Below are instructions for both iPhone OTA and on you Mac
If you are getting the error message "Unable to check for update" when you try an OTA (over the air update)
Change DNS Servers
Settings -> Wi-Fi
Click the blue arrow on your connected network
Delete everything in DNS and replace it with 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
Try again
If this works, you will probably want to remove the WiFi network using "Forget This Network" and then reconnect to it to get your original DNS servers back. Alternatively, make a note of the original DNS servers before deleting them and replace it after you are done.
If you are getting the error message "Unable to check for update" when you try through iTunes
On your Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Network.
Select the network connection service you want to use (such as Wi-Fi or Ethernet, unless you named it something else) from the list, and then click Advanced.
Click DNS, and then click Add at the bottom of the DNS Servers list. Enter the IPv4 address for the DNS server.
You can use OpenDNS
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
or
You can Google Public DNS if you want
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
I have actually repointed my routers DNS so all my devices now point to OpenDNS servers

TS3988 My wife bought an iPad Air and synced contact from our PC (Outlook), now all our contacts in Outlook have gone and we have to go to iCloud to get them, and even then they are a bit jumbled. How do I get my data back onto my PC?

My wife bought an iPad Air and synced contact from our PC (Outlook), now all our contacts in Outlook have gone and we have to go to iCloud to get them, and even then they are a bit jumbled. How do I get my data back onto my PC?

If you can see the iCloud contacts in Outlook, you can copy them back to your PC by selecting all the contacts (click one, then press Control-A), then drag and drop the selected contacts to Contacts under My Contacts on the left sidebar of Outlook.
If you want to copy your calendar back to Outlook, select your iCloud calendar on the left sidebar of Outlook, switch to the list view (select View from the ribbon, then click Change View>List), select your events (click on a single event, then press Control-A), then control drag and drop them to Calendar under My Calendars on the left sidebar.
Then you can sign out of iCloud on the iCloud control panel and your local copies will still be there. If you want to add your iCloud email account back to iCloud, you can do this with these settings: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4864.

HT204053 Me and my daughter had been using the same apple id, she was triyng to change it now all of my iphone contact are gone, what can i do ti get it back , this is very important to me.

Me and my daughter had been using the same apple id, she was triyng to change it, now all of my iphone contact are gone, what can i do ti get it back , this is very important to me.

Your contacts are helpd on the server, so if you sign out from your iCloud account and sign into another one they will disappear. If you sign back into the original account they will reappear.

I recently installed MacKeeper on my iMac. It was a disaster. I lost applications and files. Fortunately I had back up. Worst of all it did something to my system software that it takes about 7 minuts to stat-up. What can I do to get it to start-up f

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I recently installed MacKeeper on my iMac. It was a disaster. I lost applications and files. Fortunately I had back up. Worst of all it did something to my system software that it takes about 7 minuts to stat-up. What can I do to get it to start-up faster?
Thanks

How to Remove MacKeeper
Given you have a backup you may want to think about erasing the hard drive and reinstalling Snow Leopard then restore your backup.

My entire iTunes library is deleted, all of my songs have the exclamation point next to them, and the original library file is gone, what can I do to get my music back?

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