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

Total message states: The song "..." could not be used because original could not be found. Would you like to locate it? And then has a LOCATE button or a CANCEL button. This particular song was uploaded to my iTunes library about 3 months ago from a CD I purchased, and I show my play count in iTunes library indicating I played the song directly from the library 4 times. Now, all of a sudden, it cannot be located, and I am certain I did not move it. I tried to find it, but do not know where to go. This is the same for several other dozen songs in my library. I appreciate any feedback you may have, do not want to have to unpack all these CD's and put back on my computer. Thanks.

The media is not where iTunes expects it to be.
If you moved it, put it back.
If it was moved by another program, put it back.
Any other reason, restore the files from the backup of the computer.

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The song... Could not be used because the original file cannot be found....Any suggestions?

I just got a new computer and I transfered all of my old music via an external hard drive to the new one. All the music showed up in itunes fine so I deleted the old files. Then I went to sync my iphone I got an error that said "The song... Could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Please help, this has happed to about 500 songs!

You'll need to help iTunes locate the files for you then reacquaint your library with your files. Here are some articles that can help you:
No content shows up in iTunes after updating
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1967
This article may also be helpful:
Instructions for finding missing music and video downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408

My music library seems corrupted. Nearly every song (431 albums) displays "the song ... could not be used because the original file cannot be found". Is there any way to correct this? Please help, thanks, Kelly

Almost my entire itunes music library seems corrupted. Nearly every song (431 albums) displys "the song ... cannot be used because the original file cannot be found". Is there any way to correct this? Please help!
thanks,
kelly61

Select one of the songs in question and right click, then select "Get Info". On the main dialog page you should see where iTunes thinks the file resides. Then use Windows Explorer to see if the file is actually there. If not, find out where your music is stored.If there is not a correlation between iTunes and reality, go into iTunes and delete all of the files which are not found. Then, in iTunes, select File->Add Folder to Library and select where the music is stored. iTunes will re-add all of the music into your library.

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"
I moved my iTunes library to my external hard drive some time ago and I followed the directions listed here on the apple support page. It did copy my library and now is on my hard drive... I can open iTunes and use it to sync all of my devices but I would like to play my music... I can see all of my music files but can not play them if I click on an album or song it says the following: "(file name) could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" I click locate but do not know where to go from there? I need a way to access all files and not to hunt down one at a time on my hard drive... I am pretty sure I deleted the original library to make space on my internal drive which was the reason for moving it. I have tried and tried to fix it and do not have a lot of time to do so with a one and two year old at my house who do not like it whenI sit down at my computer. What to do??? Any help is much appreciated!!!

See Make a split library portable. Move all of the bits of the library together in the the correct shape and it should work. Or undo exactly what you did and then start over.
If you're a former Windows user don't try merging two folders together that have the same name by dropping one into the same folders as the other, as that goes badly on a Mac.
tt2

Photo could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found

I've drawn a blank. This error message gets touched on in places, but I cannot find a direct answer.
I have never used iPhoto.
After installing and without changing any settings, I got to import folder.
I select my photos folder and begin to import all my photos.
Every single photo of the 3500+ pops up the error:
"The photo "xxx.jpg" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found"
And I have to press Cancel (and then it imports it anyway) for each of the 3500+ photos.
What is going on?
I need to employ a chimp to press Cancel thousands of times...
I have not imported, deleted, moved or done anything. Apart from install iPhoto and then IMPORT.
TIA

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Try this
To create and populate a new library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

I am trying to download photos from my camera to iphoto on my mac book (which I have done many times before). This time I am getting an alert that saysThe photo "IMG_5965.JPG" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found. Help?

I am trying to download photos from my camera to iphoto on my mac book (which I have done many times before). This time I am getting an alert that saysThe photo “IMG_5965.JPG” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found. How can I fix this?

There is a fair likelihood of an explanation of this symptom
in another ASC discussion thread; see the reply by léonie:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20165563#20165563
You may have to research any newer possibilities in trouble-
shooting or resolving issues by use of iPhoto Support page.
Since I don't use iPhoto as a primary editor or storage, the
details on the topic aren't so good. I prefer ToyViewer editor.
•iPhoto Support
•iPhoto Video Tutorials
Hopefully the error is easily corrected.
Good luck & happy computing!

Iphoto update "The photo "X" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found."

Updating iphoto and get the Alert "The photo “X” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found." Which is because I have archived thousands of photos offline. I can't go through the entire list one by one hitting the "cancel" button, but iPhoto apparently won't update unless this is done. Is there a way to skip this step? I can't run iPhoto at all with the alert live.
Mac OS X 10.9.2

Do you have a referenced library (The iPhoto advanced preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library" has been unchecked) which is strongly NOT recommended.
If so then your only choice is to restore the originals back to the exact path they had when you imported them or to rebuild your library using iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - without them
LN

Help - photo could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found

I keep getting the following error message for about 10 different photos: "The photo “IMG_0123.JPG” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found." It prompts to cancel or find these photos every time I open iPhoto. Is there any way I can stop this. I don't know if I still have the photos and, at this point, I don't care. I just want it to stop. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD

HT5129 The photo "claire-66.jpg" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.

because of the mobile me switch i can not use my iphoto. i had some albums in my mobile me web gallery and one of them i had deleted the original files so it will not allow me to use my iphoto because it keeps giving me this error message and i can't get rid of it.
"The photo “claire-66.jpg” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found."
I don't have the original photo anymore so i can not link it to it.

So, your iPhoto Library is now corrupted.
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

Iphoto wont open,keep getting Alert:The photo IMG_3515.jpg could not be opened,because the original item cannot be found. It opened fine two days ago. Any suggestions? iPhoto 9.3.2

iphoto wont open,keep getting Alert:The photo IMG_3515.jpg could not be opened,because the original item cannot be found. It opened fine two days ago. Any suggestions? iPhoto 9.3.2

No changes were made. I saw in one of the threads where someone said to repair the database(which didn't work) or Rebuild the database(which did work). Thanks to one all for the support.
WP

Re: how do I solve this alert-The photo "evaluation.jpeg" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.

Re: how do I solve this alert-The photo “evaluation.jpeg” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found. How do I get rid of the alert so that every time I open iphoto or sync my iphone it will not come up anymore.
Thanks

The issue is with iPhoto. When it opens it is looking for a photo that either no longer exists or is misplaced. I would post I the iPhoto forum where those experts are.

How do I solve this alert-The photo "evaluation.jpeg" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.

it happened when I did an update on the iphoto
how do I solve this
alert-The photo “evaluation.jpeg” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.

The issue is with iPhoto. When it opens it is looking for a photo that either no longer exists or is misplaced. I would post I the iPhoto forum where those experts are.

The photo "IMG_5310.JPG" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.

Each time I open iPhoto or plug in a device and iPhoto automatically opens, the following message appears five times, looking for photos I assume I deleted, perhaps the wrong way.
The photo “IMG_5310.JPG” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.
I've searched the computer for the images, but they seem to be permanently deleted. How do I "reset" iPhoto from looking for these photos and remove this "Alert"?
Sincerely,
Mark T

mark, you are asking about iPhoto on your Mac, right? This is the iPhoto on IOS devices forum - iPads, iPhones, etc. Next time please post your question in the iLIfe iPhoto forum; you will get more help there.
But to your question. This error message usually occurs, when original image files are missing from your iPhoto library. iPhoto keeps the original images and the edited versions, and when the originals are removed from the iPhoto Library by deleting them from the Finder, then the photos can no longer be edited, exported, printed.
Does iPhoot open correctly, after the alert appears? Can you work with it, after the alert finishes? Then delete the corresponding edited versions of the missing originals from your iPhoto library. The versions probably will be marked by an exclamation point, when you browse your photos.
To prevent this from happening again, open the iPhoto "Preferences" > "Advaced" panel and make sure the option "Importing: Copy items to the iPhoto LIbrary" is enabled. Otherwise original files may be stored outside your iPhoto library and you can accidentally delete them and loose valuable photos.
Regards
Léonie

"The photo "EGY_7895.jpg" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found"

I'm getting the following message when I click on any photo in my most recent import: "The photo “xxx.jpg” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found". The thumbnails are in iphoto but it dosen't seems to reconize the files when I try to go in to edit. I have iphoto version 8.1.2. Help please.

Are you running a Managed or a Referenced Library?
A Managed Library, is the default setting, and iPhoto copies files into the iPhoto Library when Importing. The files are then stored in the Library package
A Referenced Library is when iPhoto is NOT copying the files into the iPhoto Library when importing because you made a change at iPhoto -> Preferences -> Advanced. (You unchecked the option to copy files into the Library on import) The files are then stored where ever you put them and not in the Library package. In this scenario you are responsible for the File Management.
It sounds like this batch of photos were imported as Referenced.
Regards
TD

Selected App cannot be used because the original file cannot be found and must be re-downlaoded from the iTunes

1- on the beginning i used to purchase any App from iTunes and will be downloaded to my MBAir with out any problems .
2- But, after 2 or 3 days i will get Apps icon as inactive icon in the itunes Aplication and cannot copy them to my iPhone neither cannot open them in his iTunes and i will get an error message " selected App cannot be used because the original file cannot be found and must be re-downlaoded from the iTunes".
MBAIR with Mac OS 10.8.4 with the latest iTunes version 11.1
thx.

And redownloading doesn't work...?

Error: this song cannot be played because the original file cannot be found

I recently purchased a new computer and restored my music to the new computer. Although all of my songs are being displayed in the itunes library only half will play. When I try to play the remaining songs I get a message that says "this song cannot be played because the original file cannot be found". I'm at a loss and need help because all of the songs are in the same folder.

Hi
I've pretty much got exactly the same problem. We've just replaced our old computer with a laptop and I've transferred my iTunes library over but I can't open almost all of my songs as "the original file couldn't be found." I've tried the "locate" prompt but that gives me so many different options, all to no avail. However, I have added a few new CDs since transferring the library to the laptop and they open up without any problems.
Can anyone help? I've got to go through all of this again soon as my daughters both have ipods as well!

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

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