Original file could not be found ----PLEASE HELP

Hello,
I have 4,000 MP3s on an extrenal hard drive.
When I open iTunes, I would double click on a song, and it would play.
NOW, for whatever reason, when I double click on a song, a window pops up and says: +Original file could not be found, would you like to locate it?+
I then have to manually locate the song, for it to play.
I do not want to do that for 3,999 more MP3s.
I went to EDIT>PREFERENCES>ADVANCE>GENERAL andmade sure the file path is my F Drive (external hard drive) where my MP3's are.
Still no luck.
The 2 or 3 songs, that I've manually located have a speaker by the title. The other 3,900+ MP3s have and exclamation point by the title.
Can anyone PLEASE help me?

I went to FILE> ADD FOLDER TO LIBRARY and selected the folder where my MP3s were.
This updated my itunes library and now allow me to play every song, but it also made a duplicate of every song.
Example:
Kanye West - Stronger
Kanye West - Stronger
1 plays and 1 doesn't.
I just have to go and delete the songs with the infront of the title.

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On itunes everytime I try and play a track the warning 'the song could not be played because the original files could not be found' please can anyone help me? Thanks

Hi. I have been having problems with my PC and recently removed a lot of rubbish to clear it somewhat. I dont know if that is relavant however on top of that I have just received my replacement iPad2 which i had a proble with and thought I would just tidy up my tunes before sycing. The problem is that everytime I click to play a track in iTunes on my PC, whilst the track is showing on my itunes, it comes up with a warning 'the song cannot be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to find it'. I have tried clicking 'locate', but all that appears is 'music Library' 4 different dates. Help i am very confused, can any shed any light on this
Thank you

Sounds like you have somehow moved your itunes music library to a different location to where iTunes thinks they should be. Your music should be in a folder called "iTunes Media>Music". If they are located there, try going into iTunes, right clicking on one of the songs and then "get info". When the box pops up, on the first screen it should give a location line where it thinks the music is located. If it is differen't to where you music is stored, try and match it up to the location line that was in the "get info" box.

HT4527 After I transfered my music from my old PC to my MacBook Pro using an external hard drive, all of my songs appear with an exclamation mark next to them saying the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Help?

These are all the songs that I have purchased. I'm panicing! I feel like I did everything right with the transfer but maybe not. I need help!

Read this post and do the migration again, putting the library in a portable shape first if necessary.
tt2

Originnal file could not be found (Please help)

I store all my files on an external HD. I recently added a new DVD drive to my comp and by default, took the drive letter changing my HD drives letter to something else. Naturally itunes cannot find these songs now. I have even tried changing the letter of my HD back to what it originally was and the songs in my library still can't be found.
I understand I can readd all of my files but we are talking 20k+ songs here.
Is there anyway I can get itunes to find those songs without adding them manually? All the songs are still listed in the library but itunes can't see them because the folder name was changed.
Thanks for any help.

As noted, change the drive letter back
but itunes can't see them because the folder name was changed.
and rename the folder exactly as it was.

HT2953 i-tunes could not be used because the original file could not be found.could not locate.this error occurs on most of my songs in my library and will not play even though they are in my i-pod and play with no trouble.can anyone please help?

i-tunes could not be used because the original file could not be found.could not locate.this error occurs on most of my songs in my library and will not play even though they are in my i-pod and play with no trouble.can anyone please help?

I was not complete clear.
Since you never changed the settings in the advanced section of iTunes preferecnes, you have to chech that your music is really in the location setted in the folders reported in the advanced section. If not you have 2 ways: reset the position of this folders or in the actual disk organisation or in the pointing on the preferences.
If you press the reset button you just give to itunes its default setting as for the position of the music files: probably this will be a good choice if you have never changed any default preference.
But before I would check the folders and see if the songs are really there
In my iTune I have this, and I believe it is the default.
Users/YOURHOMEFOLDERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music

"original file could not be found" help needed please

Hello and help...please
i have a new laptop, so i saved my itunes music library to an external drive to transfer it to the new machine. I uploaded to itunes with the simple 'add folder' option and all my songs appeared in itunes everything is great i thought.
However, every single song i click on to play comes up with
"the song "insert title here" could not be used because the original file could not be found. would you like to locate it?"
I have searched long and hard through the itunes help etc and found nothing.
can anyone help me? please?
many thanks for taking the time
phill

for windows version, you have to check the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" in preference pane. then every time you add songs to your library iTunes will copy the original files to your iTunes library folder so you don't have to worry about the original files missing or moved.

Since i download the new version of i tunes i canot play the songs of my library...it say that "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found" what i do to just play the songs directly? please someone help

since i download the new version of i tunes i canot play the songs of my library....it say "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found".
would you like to locate it.i just want to play directly..what i do? please help thanks

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

Library Lost - Please HeIp I tried updating my old ipod & now all 10,000 songs in my library have an ! next to them and I get the error message "song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found" on every song I try to play

Please help - this morning I tried updating one of my old ipods for my wife (this ipod hasn't been updated in 2-3 years). I plugged it into my pc, it was recognized and the software updated. I created a new playlist and tied to sync the ipod. This ipod had never been used on this pc/itunes since the pc is only 2 years old. When I tried to sync the ipod it stated that it would have to erase all the old songs on the ipod prior to syncing. I clicked ok and it proceeded to wipe out the old ipod and sync the new playlist (~1000 songs). When the sync was complete there were only 6 songs from the new playlist (all purchased this morning from itunes) on the ipod and to my horror all ~10,000 song on my pc in itunes now have a ! next to them. Only my recent purchases from itunes do not. When I click on a song with the ! I get the error message "the song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I correct this issue - I am scared to hook my ipads or other ipods to my pc for fear of losing everything?!?!? I spent 100s of hours burning the 10,000 songs from my cd collection and do not want to have to do it again.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

This "original file cannot be found" thing 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

Can someone please tell me the cause of the msg-The song could not be used because the original file could not be found- and how I might correct that problem?

Can anyone please tell me the cause of the msg-The song" " could no be used
because the original file could not be found-and how I might correct that problem? Lou

I stupidly tried to copy my music files to an external drive so I could transfer them to my new iMac (old Macbook Pro is being retired). I now know I should've tried home sharing or something to transfer the music.
Anyway, the situation I am in is that I have not managed to transfer anything and I now cannot access the music on my old Macbook Pro either! I have the message "the song 'xyz' could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?". I understand that this is because iTunes cannot locate the files. When I try to locate the files I find nothing.
I have tried searching my whole Macbook Pro for mp3 files and m4a files and Spotlight cant find any! The tracks are all still listed in iTunes. I also searched the external hard drive. I definitely haven't deleted anything. So where could they have gone and is there anything else I can do to search for them? I have a feeling I am just not searching for them in the right way because I have not deleted anything.
Old computer is Macbook Pro OS X 10.6.8 with iTunes 10.4.1
New computer is iMac OS X 10.7.2 with iTunes 10.5
All I want to do is to set everything back to how it was so I can try the transfer a better way.
Please help. Thanks, Dashford.

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". need help

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". But when I have my external hard drive plug in the song will play with no problem. What do I need to do to play my music without having the external harddrive plug in ???????? Please help

Because the location for each song in your library is on your hard drive. If the hard drive isn't there, how can iTunes play it?
You'll have to move/copy the music from your hard drive to your computer's hard drive.
Basically, EASIEST way to do all this, if you don't care about your play counts, etc...
-Delete EVERYTHING from iTunes, so that your library is now empty.
-Go to "Advanced" inside of the "Preferences" window, found in the "Edit" drop-down. You can also access Preferences by pressing Ctrl+, (Press Ctrl and the comma key)
-Change your iTunes Media Folder Location to something simple, but on your computer. I use C:/iTunes. Make sure "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to...." are both checked. You can close Preferences now.
-Now, drag and drop your music from your hard drive into your iTunes library. iTunes will automatically add the music to your library, as you would expect, and also creates a copy of each file to place into that iTunes Media Folder you just created.
Shouldn't have any more problems...

I have a new computer that downloaded all of my playlist. but i cannot play all songs. i get a error that say "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. would you like to locate it? but it does not help to resolve.

i installed itunes to my new computer and transfered all my playlist from the older computer. the software came with the new computer hp link up. the problem
comes in where i want to play a certain song on a playlist and this error pops up "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found.
would you like to locate it? which is of no help.
is there a solution to this problem?

The file path for these songs IS NOT correct per your iTunes Library file.
See: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=listmias for an Applescript to locate these files for re-adding.

Help! "original file could not be found"

I have all my songs in an iTunes Music folder on an external hard drive. I've changed the location in edit>preferences>advanced>general>folder location. When I try to play a song, I get the message "song could not be used because the original file could not be found" I can then go to file locate and locate it on the F drive, but I don't want to do that for all 2941 songs. What happened? How can I fix this for all my songs at once? Thanks so much for any help, I'm lost.

Apple needs to address this ASAP.
I have yet to let go of RealPlayer for the very reason that iTunes fails so horribly with management of missing files due to hard drive management issues. Sometimes on networks (and yes, people have networks at home these days, Apple), drives need to be moved, swapped, updated, and folders need to be moved, etc. All my other applications have no problem reconfiguring themselves in their new environment. But not iTunes, oh, no, Apple refuses to give control to anybody. I don't like the road down which Apple is headed.
And at least with RealPlayer, it will automatically relocate missing files if you help it locate just one missing file. In the end I often end up, deleting my library and reimporting (er, excuse adding back the primary folder) just to get around the hassle of locating thousands of files. iTunes also ***** in that you cannot display filename (and path) and that you cannot display your list to show all the missing files grouped together. These are all features of RealPlayer and have been for years. I expect much more from Apple yet they just don't bother with this most basic of media library needs.
When iTunes can manage itself on its own, that will be a great day but until then Apple needs to give its users better tools to manage its shortcomings.

A song will not play. I have received message: could not be used because the original file could not be found. Will appreciate help on how to retrieve it.

A song will not play.
I have received message: could not be used because the original file could not be found.
Will appreciate help on how to retrieve it.

You will need to go into your Files and locate the song. By default, iTunes saves songs in the iTunes Media Folder which can be found in the following locations:
Mac OS X: /Users/username/Music
Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\
Windows Vista: \Users\username\Music\iTunes
Windows 7 and Windows 8: \Users\username\My Music\iTunes
If you locate your song file, when you try to play it in iTunes, you will be given an option to locate. Navigate to the file in the pop up window and iTunes will re-path the file location.
Most people encounter this issue when moving to a new computer or if you have your music saved on an external drive or folder that you have since moved or removed. The imperative part is finding the song so you can re-map it.

After installing iTunes 10.5 update i get the following message when trying to play any song in my Library "The song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" how do i fix this??

I have an iPod Classic and work on Windows 7.
i recently installed iTunes 10.5 update and since then i cannot play any of the songs in the Library - i get the following message
"The song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
what happened to all my songs (almost 2000) How can i get them back into my music library?
Please help - i do not want to spend another week downloading all my cd's onto my computer !!!!!

Try my script FindTracks. Select a few of the missing files to start with then run the script. Choose No at the first prompt so that you can check how it works track by track, then confirm or edit the location of the media folder where your files are. Once you are happy with how it behaves let it process larger numbers of tracks automatically.
tt2

I recently transferred my itunes library to an external hard drive. Now I get the error message 'the original file could not be found. Could you like to locate it' when i try to open songs. My iPod syncs ok.

I recently tranferred my iTunes library to an external hard drive. Now I cannot open songs and get the error message ' The song "***" could not not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it'. This applies to all 9742 songs!!. My iPod still syncs ok, but I can't play songs on the PC. Can anyone please help.

It would help to have more background about your iTunes collection such as if you keep it on an external drive, or if you have moved or renamed anything recently. iTunes is very sensitive to you renaming or moving files or folders involved with your media. iTunes only keeps a reference to where a media file is located and then goes to look for it when you try to play it. If you have changed things since it was added to itunes then it's like me sending you to look for a friend in my addressbook but that friend has moved.
The other possibility is your computer is starting to lose files. Again, the computer uses a reference database to tell it where on the drive to look for a file. If that database gets corrupt then it starts losing files. Use Dsk Utility's first aid to verify your hard drive.

Original file could not be found ----PLEASE HELP

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