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klr8014

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 21, 2011
5
0
:mad: I recently upgrade my iTunes to 10.5.2 and in doing so it lost my library.

When I got to play a song in iTunes it says "The song XXXX can not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate?"

When I say yes (Locate) it finds nothing.

The songs are all still listed in the library but won't play. The only ones that do play are ones I purchased directly from iTunes, everything else seems to be gone.

Does anyone have a similar problem or know how to fix this? I tried looking it up and using old ways (it seems this has happened in other upgrades previously) but those don't work.

When I look in the iTunes media folder again it only has the songs that I downloaded from iTunes and nothing else. Is this permenant?

Also, it will not import new songs from a CD...

This is very frustrating...I doubt I have backed-up everything so that means in order to get this library back together I have to find them all and reload them...ha which I can't do because it won't import. Wonderful!
 

MacForScience

macrumors 6502
Sep 7, 2010
481
5
USA
When you go into you Music Folder: iTunes Folder can you find the actual music files?

If so your library just needs to be re-linked to the media. Check in the iTunes preference and check where iTunes thinks your library is.

On a side note why would you not backup your media? That is ridiculous considering how easy it is to backup data these days.

Cheers
 

klr8014

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 21, 2011
5
0
I do back-up but I just recently downloaded some newer stuff and hadn't gotten around to doing it yet.

Only very few songs are actually located in the file.

iTunes thinks it is here:
D:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media

However, when you go there in the computer there is again just the small amount of song, not the whole library.
 
Last edited:

SplicedBanjo

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
109
0
I think you must have done something that caused your songs to be moved or deleted. I don't think updating iTunes can cause that to happen. It might help to know what you did, but nonetheless your best option is to restore from backup.

What happens when you try to import CDs?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
941
However, when you go there in the computer there is again just the small amount of song, not the whole library.
Do a search in Finder for all music files. Updating iTunes will never delete your files.
 

SplicedBanjo

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
109
0
Do a search in Finder for all music files. Updating iTunes will never delete your files.

Since the OP used the phrase "D:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media," I assume he is on Windows.

I would guess the Windows file search command would still work, though.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
941
Since the OP used the phrase "D:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media," I assume he is on Windows.

I would guess the Windows file search command would still work, though.
Thanks, I missed that post. You're right, they can use Windows Explorer to search for all .mp3 files.
 

klr8014

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 21, 2011
5
0
I am on windows (Dell). I honestly did nothing to my lirbrary simply upgraded itunes.

Weird part is when I sync the iphone it updates everything and the songs are still on the phone but again not in the computer just like 50 songs out of roughly 4000.

When I looked on itunes support it gives you steps to find missing media...I did this and it still found nothing.

I will try searching for all mp3s and see what happens.
 

klr8014

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 21, 2011
5
0
Searching for .mp3 files found most of them...I still have no idea where they were. I put them back into the iTunes media folder and it seems to have worked. I just have to find the last maybe 100 or so files that are missing. Thank you for the info.
 

SplicedBanjo

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
109
0
Searching for .mp3 files found most of them...I still have no idea where they were. I put them back into the iTunes media folder and it seems to have worked. I just have to find the last maybe 100 or so files that are missing. Thank you for the info.

Did you search for .m4a and .m4p files?
 

Violator22

macrumors newbie
Jul 22, 2011
17
0
Same problem, put files back into the media folder, but they do not show up in Itunes, nor can i import them using the Library import function, nor drag and drop, am on a MBP. Lost about 600 songs, files are there on the drive, they just don't show in itunes nor in the cloud. :O getting a tad perturbed. Thanks for any help on this. A lot of this music is from Amazon, and a few other places like that.
 

SplicedBanjo

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
109
0
Same problem, put files back into the media folder, but they do not show up in Itunes, nor can i import them using the Library import function, nor drag and drop, am on a MBP. Lost about 600 songs, files are there on the drive, they just don't show in itunes nor in the cloud. :O getting a tad perturbed. Thanks for any help on this. A lot of this music is from Amazon, and a few other places like that.

Putting files into the media folder doesn't automatically add them to the iTunes Library. You should be able to use the "Add To Library" command, or drag and drop. Can you elaborate on what happens when you try to do these things?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
941
Same problem, put files back into the media folder, but they do not show up in Itunes, nor can i import them using the Library import function, nor drag and drop, am on a MBP. Lost about 600 songs, files are there on the drive, they just don't show in itunes nor in the cloud. :O getting a tad perturbed. Thanks for any help on this. A lot of this music is from Amazon, and a few other places like that.
If you want to add music to iTunes, use File > Add to Library, then browse to where the music resides. Be aware that iTunes may not recognize all audio file types, so make sure the music is of a type that iTunes can read.
 

klr8014

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 21, 2011
5
0
So the dilemma continues...yes the files are in the media folder, but still will not play in iTunes. When I try to add to the library they are still not found even when "all files" are selected in the media folder. Ideas?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
941
So the dilemma continues...yes the files are in the media folder, but still will not play in iTunes. When I try to add to the library they are still not found even when "all files" are selected in the media folder. Ideas?
What format are the files?
 
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