Rented movie - original file could not be found

Tonight I rented a movie, started watching it in itunes on my computer, paused it, hooked it up to my LCD TV, restarted it and got this message...
"The movie "Choas Theory" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
Any assistance would be appreciated...
Cheers,
Steve

thankyou chris
and it worked -but it wont work on my external HD i had to move the music folder back to my computer and
i still have the odd one that i have to self link.
"why ask?
Perhaps you want to remove it from your library"
also if i wanted to remove it from my library i would delete it, not click on it like i was going to play it..no?
Thanx for the help

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I have movies in my movie library but i cannot play them or drag them into my ipod.There is an exclamation point next to each of them.Then when i click on it to play it it says the movie cannot be used because the original file could not be found.

I have movies in my i tunes library but i canot play them or drag them into my i pod.There is an exclamation point each of them.Then when i click on them to play them on my pc it says this movie cannot be used because the original file could not be found.Help?

Read threads list over on the right under the heading of More Like This
Allan

My iTunes account sayscould not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it? whenever i click on a song and i didn't move the songs anywhere. I don't know if i saved them to my hard drive so i can't find any songs

I downloaded something that was told to me to get to put some of my itunes songs onto my android phone. I think it synced my account, though. Whenever i click on a song an exclamation point comes up and something pops up and says "could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" and i don't remember ever backing up my songs (this computer is fairly new) and now none of my songs come up. I have no idea what to do but ive spent hundreds of dollars on this account purchasing from the itunes store. Please help me!

Tunes works through a database file which has a list of your tracks. When you click on a track it looks up in the database which file it needs to play, then plays the file. If something breaks this link then you get ! The two main ways to get ! are to move a file from where iTunes expects it to be, or to delete it altogether. I don't know which has happened in your case. You can try using Spotlight to find a file for the one referred to in a broken link. If the files have been moved then they need to be moved back. If they were deleted completely you will have to restore them from a backup or download them again from the iTunes Store and rebuild your library.

I have moved my file from my old computer. Now that I am trying to play songs and movies iTunes says the original file could not be found. How do I reverse this problem?

I have moved my file from my old computer. Now that I am trying to play songs and movies iTunes says the original file could not be found. How do I reverse this problem?

Put the files back where iTunes expects them to be.

The movie could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?

The movie “Airport (1970)” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?
The above message appears whenever I try to play a purchased movie?
What are my options

Thanks for the reply. Is there an automated way to restore the links without dragging all 150 movies back to iTunes from their folders? A bit of a pain. I thought about doing a restore but the media folder is 500GB and it didn't see, to be populating in Time Machine. I had thought about restoring an older library but wasn't sure which file to pick.

The Movie could not be used because the original file could not be found

The message " the movie could not be used because the original file could not be found" comes up when i try the play certain movies, ive not deleted them or anything and will still play bacause they are also saved in my movies and work with windows media,
any ideas what i may have done
Thanks

This kind of error, with anything iTunes uses, happens when someone moves the origonal file. I whould sugest deleteing the files tat are having this problem from iTunes only, then adding them back from where the files are.

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...

"The song could not be used because the original file could not be found"

Hello,
I purchased the new iPhone 3G 16gb White on friday afternoon at the local AT&T store(they were all sold out,of course),so i went ahead and ordered it for gauranteed delivery within 7 to 10 days.It says to be sure and sync you're old iPhone once more before coming back to AT&T to have the iPhone 3G set up to be installed and turned on.
So i figured i would upgrade my iTunes to 7.7 and upgrade the software to 2.0 before i get my new phone,that way i will be ready when it comes in.
I was just doing what the apple website said to do and went ahead and tried to upgrade to iTunes 7.7,which worked out good,EXCEPT that now all the music has an exclamation point next to it and nothing will play because the original file could not be found.I know i'm not the first here to have this problem,but i cant find a post that explains what procedure i need to do to fix it so i can play my music on iTunes again.
I have my iTunes music folder located on an external hard drive (Drive i ). It used to be Drive H,but i plugged in an SD Memory card into the front panel of my computer tower and now my external hard drive is recognized as being on Drive i. How could that have changed?
I have it on a 500 gb external drive,because my C & D drives are both almost filled up and i wouldn't have enough room to put all my cd's into iTunes if they were on those drives.
I have an iPod Classic 160gb that i want to fill once i get all my cd's into itunes.
Anyways,when it asked me what drive to put iTunes under when i was installing it,i chose the "i" drive.That is where my iTunes music folder is located with almost 10 gigs of music in it.
But now when i go to play anything it wont play as it can't locate the music.
Sorry for rambling on so much.Just trying to explain,in detail,what my setup is so someone with knowledge can instruct me as to what to do to fix it.
Thank's for the help ahead of time,
Dan

I am getting this same message. I recently bought a new Macbook Pro and the geeks transferred my files from my mini-mac. Perhaps they did not transfer something critical? I follow the "locate" option when it asks to find my files and I get a file folder that has a red circle with a white bar in the middle.
I have the same issues with my downloaded movies but my apps all seem to be fine.
Even more confusing - it seems to allow random songs to play and download on my Macbook and other devices. But most of my music - whether downloaded from iTunes or my CD collection comes up with that message about the original file.
Should I get new geeks to locate these files on my old mini-mac?

The TV show could not be used because the original file could not be found

"The TV show “Blah-blah ep.23” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
I know this problem is listed (and unanswered) from quite a few users in the forums for song files, but I haven’t found any that mention TV shows. To add to the heap, and help emphasize to iTunes that this is a major bug in need of fixing, here is my version of this problem.
I have a variety of season passes to TV shows that normally download on almost a daily basis (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, for example). About once every four or five downloads iTunes decides to silently delete a file. No warning given, no chance to stop it, just gone. ITunes downloads the file (clearly seen in the process in the Downloads part of the Store menu) and then lists the file under its correct menu in the TV Shows Library section (with the correct amount of MB listed for the file). I usually watch the episode right after I download it (with no problems), but of course I have left episodes unwatched when I shut iTunes down.
On the next startup of iTunes, I go in to watch an old episode again or click on an unwatched episode, but it isn’t there anymore and the old “would you like to locate it?” message pops up. After being through this at least a dozen times in the last year, I know there is no point in looking for the file because it’s gone. The only choice is to go into iTunes support and ask them to reset the download, which they’ve always done without question, and then I have to download the file all over again. This is a huge hassle and all the more frustrating because it happens so irregularly.
I’ve tried to find answers in these discussion forums, but have been unable to see any reasonable solution and wish to add to the voices of annoyed paying customers in the hope something will be done. If anyone is interested, the bizarre and time consuming workaround I’ve had to employ is:
1. As soon as any of my TV shows are downloaded, I stop whatever I’m doing to go grab the file out of iTunes’ folder and move it to a location where iTunes can’t get its grubby little silent deleting hands on it.
2. On the next shutdown-startup cycle, I can then go back and move the file back into its correct location in the iTunes TV Shows subfolders and I’ll never have a problem again with THAT particular file being deleted.
Of course, the problem with this solution is that it’s painfully annoying to have to do it every time. I get lazy, iTunes seems to get its evil deleting ways under control and downloads all seem to work again. That is, until they don’t and the issue mysteriously returns with files being picked off anew and I have to return to these forums in the hope of finally finding out why this is happening. After more than a year and two or three iTunes version updates, it’s the problem that just won’t die.
Anyone?

Yes, only TV shows. I've never had a random silent delete of a song file. I also considered that Windows might be blocking the file to save space, but with no limitations set in the control panel that isn't the problem either. In fact, I've only had this problem with season pass downloads. It's never happened with a single download of a video or TV episode.
Tonight, when I downloaded my Daily Show episode, I really kept tabs on what the heck iTunes is up to during the process. As many know, iTunes creates a folder called Downloads during the download process. Inside that folder, a video file gets downloaded as “download.m4v” along with another Qtime info file. When the download is complete, iTunes is supposed to use the info file to identify and tag the download.m4v file and then move it over into its correct artist subfolder with the correct file name.
The problem, I discovered tonight in watching this process, is that iTunes (for mysterious reasons) does not do the relabel/move step with some of the downloads and leaves the files in situ as download.m4v in the download file. Additionally, in the iTunes software you can click on the file (correctly labeled and appearing, as I said in the first post, under the correct TV show banner) and watch it one time. However, after shutting down and restarting (and this is where the evil happens) iTunes will delete all files in the Download subfolder as part of a cleanup process. I suppose because it assumes that those files were correctly relabeled and copied into the corresponding TV show folders. So, there is the reason for the loss of downloaded video files (in my case).
There appears to be no way of knowing, from within iTunes, when the file has been correctly copied over to its corresponding folder and when it hasn’t and remains in the Bermuda Download Folder of Death. Again, I have to go into that folder each time (before shutting iTunes down) to make sure the move took place. If it didn’t, then I have to make a copy of the download file and place it outside that folder.
Finally, since this only happens occasionally, I’m wondering if it doesn’t have something to do with the way the info file is being tagged and labeled prior to being made available to download. However, if that were the case then the problem would be happening to lots of users and I would have expected a lot more complaints in the forums.
By the way, I’m not big on fidgeting with any of iTunes folders or settings. It hasn’t been the case where the downloads were fine, I made some goofy change to the folder structure and then it doesn’t work. I haven’t fiddled with the settings for months, but all of the sudden this issue starts to appear and can just as easily disappear in the following week’s downloads.
Still seeking answers or advice.
Cheers.

When I try to listen to a song I purchased last week, I get the message, "could not be used because the original file could not be found. would you like to locate it?" What do I do to find it?

When I try to listen to the songs I purchased from iTunes last week, I get the error message, "could not be used because the original file could not be found. would you like to locate it?" What do I do to fix this problem or locate the song?
Thanks!

I am getting this same message. I recently bought a new Macbook Pro and the geeks transferred my files from my mini-mac. Perhaps they did not transfer something critical? I follow the "locate" option when it asks to find my files and I get a file folder that has a red circle with a white bar in the middle.
I have the same issues with my downloaded movies but my apps all seem to be fine.
Even more confusing - it seems to allow random songs to play and download on my Macbook and other devices. But most of my music - whether downloaded from iTunes or my CD collection comes up with that message about the original file.
Should I get new geeks to locate these files on my old mini-mac?

Less destructive fix for the "original file could not be found" issue

+(Note: this is mostly a copy of the post I just submitted in reply to http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6785594#6785594)+
Most solutions to the "The song xxx could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" issue involve deleting iTunes library files, deleting-then-re-importing everything from iTunes, and other destructive techniques. I found an easier fix for this, but it might be (a) specific to libraries on a network drive (NAS) or (b) specific to me. YMMV, but give it a try. This was on a Mac, so a Windows solution might exist with the same technique. Please post here and let me know if this works for you!
After some investigating and trial-and-error, I discovered that if I viewed a list of songs in Finder, iTunes could find the files again. For example:
*Double click on a song in iTunes and get the "original file could not be found..." error. Do not say 'Yes' to locating it.
*Open Finder and locate that Folder of songs
*Double-click on another song from that album. It should work.
So, my fix: *run a command that lists/touches every file in your iTunes music folder.*
For Macs:
*Open Terminal
*Run this: *ls -R /Path/To/Your/iTunes\ Music \Folder/* (note how you 'escape' spaces in the folder name with back-slashes).
Windows:
*Start - Run - cmd
*Run this: dir /s \Path\To\Your\"iTunes Music Folder" (note that you escape spaces by quoting the dir name.)
My NAS is named "VAULT" so my command was "ls -R /Volumes/VAULT/My\ Music/" You will see the files being listed at light speed -- ignore this. It will run for a while, depending on how many files you have, about 30 seconds for me. After executing this I could listen to any music file in iTunes!
But, every time I lost my connection to my NAS, such as waking from sleep mode, I had to run it again. So I created an Automator application and a Apple Script to run it from within iTunes so I can run it any time I need to. If you don't want to do that, just run the command I specified. If you want to download my Automator app, or see instructions on how to create your own, check out my blog post: http://40withegg.com/2008/3/8/mac-attack-making-itunes-find-those-original-files -especially-on-a-nas
With any luck, my post will be *completely unnecessary* soon because Apple will find a real solution to this.

Jeffe hello,
I have seen more problems created by the consolidate command than I have ever seen fix things... I'm not saying it does not work but what it does do and what it does not is very hard to work out for most and major problems are the result...
to sort your problem do this...
1. Open your iTunes folder in the Home Music folder and make a backup copy of the iTunes Library file and put on the desktop.
2. Start iTunes and in the Library sort on the Heading 'Date added' ... you may need to install it... control/click on heading-bar and select from popup menu.
3. When you have sorted scroll to half way and you will see the songs are split evenly... select the ones you want to remove with a shift/click and hit delete key... say no about move to trash for now.
4. Check that everything is as you want it... if so carry on... if not come back and tell me what happened.
5. Quit iTunes and put the iTunes Library file in the iTunes folder in a safe place like your Documents folder... drag the copy from desktop and put it in the iTunes folder.
6. Check the name is correct on the 'copy' edit it to be iTunes Library.
7. Start iTunes by double/clicking on the file and go through steps 2 & 3 again but this time when you delete say yes about move to trash... don't empty it yet 1st check that all is OK with your library.
You can edit the good files that you are left with but the addition of '01' in the name will not have any adverse effect on them at all... editing with an Applescript is very easy.
take care Jeffe and let's know how you get on or if you run into any unforeseen problems ... TP

...Because the original file could not be found

Several of my songs can not be played or downloaded yet still show up in itunes with an exclamation sign next to them. I get a message that says 'the song xxx could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?' For example, I used to have the entire B-52's Time Capsule album, but now I'm missing 6 out of the 18 songs. They are no longer listed in the itunes music folder which is C:\Users\Master\Music\itunes\itunes Music
Any ideas? Thanks

Is this a Mac or a PC? .Trash sounds like a Mac naming convention. Regardless, if that is where iTunes "thinks" it wants to look for a file then that is probably the best place to put it, at least on a temporary basis.
The path you've given is missing artist & album components. I expect if you look again closely you'll see that it falls into this pattern: file://localhost/Users/<User>/.Trash/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/<Artist>/<Album>/## <Name>.<ext>
Not having a Mac handy for testing purposes, I can't tell what happens if you put files manually into the .Trash folder and then try to get iTunes to copy them out again. However if you copy your iTunes folder into Users/<User>/.Trash (you may need to copy the folder to the desktop and then move the copy to the trash) you should be able to get the media files to where iTunes expects to see them.
If that works you can then rename the folder Users/<User>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/ as Users/<User>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media (Copy), check in preferences that the iTunes Media folder location is given as Users/<User>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media and then use File > Library > Organise Library > Consolidate Files to get iTunes to reorganise everything back to where it should be.
If that all goes well you can delete the folder iTunes Media (Copy) and then empty the trash, but only after confiming that sample files now have the correct media path in the form Users/<User>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/<Artist>/<Album>/## <Name>.<ext>
tt2

"Original file could not be found" (until re-launch)...?

Howdy,
I run the most recent iTunes, and the most recent version of iPhone software under XP Pro, SP3.
After I sync the phone, iTunes displays my music with bangs (exclamation points) next to perhaps 10% of the tunes. (If, I click "sync" and then immediately click on Music, I can see the bangs appear, all at once...)
If I attempt to play one of those tunes, I get an error telling me that the tune could not be played because "the original file could not be found."
But, if, at that point, I simply close iTunes, and then re-launch it, all the bangs are gone, and all the tunes can be played.
What might be causing this, and what can I do about it?
Sincere thanks,
Kenneth

thankyou chris
and it worked -but it wont work on my external HD i had to move the music folder back to my computer and
i still have the odd one that i have to self link.
"why ask?
Perhaps you want to remove it from your library"
also if i wanted to remove it from my library i would delete it, not click on it like i was going to play it..no?
Thanx for the help

How to BackUp Restore Large Library "original file could not be found"

I've searched the archives for this with no clear answer, and am reposting to avoid confusing anyone.
I am working on a manual and seamless BACKUP-RESTORE process to manage my large 100-gigabyte-plus iTunes library.
+++++
First, my iTunes folder is in default location:
Boot drive> User> Music
I don't keep any music in this folder.
New music is imported into this folder, copied over to my Music Library, and then deleted from iTunes folder (to keep it and my boot drive clean, and my 100GB Music Library folder meticulously organized).
My iTunes folder is set at default:
iTunes> Preferences> Advanced> Change> iTunes Music folder location
My actual 100-gigabyte-plus music folder is stored on a 2nd hard drive:
HardDrive> Music Library
This setup works perfect.
+++++
BACKUP
To backup, I simply:
1) copy my User> Music> iTunes folder (800mb) to a 3rd hard drive.
2) copy my HardDrive> Music Library to 3rd hard drive
RESTORE
To restore, I simply:
1) copy my backup iTunes into User> Music.
2) copy my Music Library back to 2nd hard drive HardDrive.
3) Relaunch iTunes and every works perfect.
THE PROBLEM
However, if I change the name of my 2nd hard drive (where my 100GB music folder is stored) — iTunes shows everything in place — all songs, art, playlists — but I get following error on every song:
THE SONG NAMED ______ COULD NOT BE USED BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL FILE COULD NOT BE FOUND. WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOCATE IT?
Obviously I don't want to have to do this individually for 30,000 songs and am looking for instructions how to point iTunes database back to my 2nd hard drive> Music Library and complete the restore process.
I am hoping this can be done without changing my work flow — and it is a simple and logical move to tell iTunes where all the original files (missing songs) are stored.
+++++
Previous discussions have noted:
Following this Apple Support Doc
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
I was able to Quit iTunes, relaunch iTunes holding Option key, and chose my existing library (from my Music folder) — it works, everything shows up — but iTunes still doesn't know where my songs are (on my 2nd hard drive).
If I point the Option+Open iTunes library prompt to my 100GB Music Library (on the 2nd hard drive), it tells me (logically) there is no library there).
I've also launched and manually verifies iTunes> Preferences> Advanced> Change> iTunes Music folder location — it works, everything shows up — but iTunes still doesn't know where my songs are (on my 2nd hard drive).
I anticipate more complications if I reset iTunes preferences to my 2nd hard drive or start dinking around trying to see what works and what does not work.
+++++
At this point I am trying to make THIS workflow, backup-restore process work — so I am hoping someone else has slugged through this and can take a few minutes to clue me in the right direction (or at least tell me there is no way to do what I am trying).

If I simply rename the second hard drive to the name of the original 2nd hard drive — iTunes is successfully restored.
I am still looking for a better way because I want to change the name of the second HD...

My iTunes says: "The song ".............." could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" How do I solve this ?

My iTunes says: "The song “..............” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" How do I solve this ?

That means iTunes cannot find the music file associated with the listing in its database. The first thing to do is simply say "yes" and then try to find the file it should be. If there are many entries like this, did you rename or move any files or folders with media? Also run disk utility and check your drive isn't corrupted and losing files left, right and center.

Rented movie - original file could not be found

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