Certain songs not playing in iTunes

[CrzyCanuck72]

Some songs in my iTunes library don't seem to be playing, but it's an intermittent problem, and it seems to be limited to songs I've added to my library recently. Last night, these songs were playing fine, but this morning, when I double-click on a new song, it won't play. The files are in my music folder, so the exlamaition mark doesn't appear, they just won't play. My music is all on an external harddrive, and I've been getting the "error 36 - coulds not read or write to disk" a lot lately, but it's just weird that some songs play fine while others don't, and it's a discontinuous problem. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be?

TIA!

 

[quigleybc]

When you navigate to the actual file on your HD, can you get it to play in quicktime?

If so, then the file is fine, maybe try a reimport?

Not sure...

 

[CrzyCanuck72]

Some of them won't even open in QT ("the movie file could not be opened"), some will open in VLC but not play (same thing as in iTunes), and some will open in VLC and start screetching...but they were all playing fine yesterday, and nothing's changed on my HD since then.

 

[mkrishnan]

Did you verify / fix the external drive using Disk Utility (this is possible, right?)?

 

[quigleybc]

If the files won't play in Quicktime, then I think the files got corrupted or something...

 

[mad jew]

Definitely try mkrishnan's idea. Where did you get the music from? Is it music that you imported from a CD using iTunes?

 

[CrzyCanuck72]

thanks for the replies, everyone. I verified the disk, and it says it needs to be repaired, but I can't do that till I can get another HD to back everything up on.

In the meantime, the music isn't from CDs, it's from...other sources, it's just bizzare cause it was all playing fine yesterday, and other music from the same...source is also playing fine, it's just music I've added to the library in the past couple weeks.

 

[mad jew]

Repairing the disk shouldn't lose your data although it's always a good idea to back up anyway.

 

[mkrishnan]

Not to mention that attempts to back up files will choke on the files that overlie disk problems anyways....

 

[iMeowbot]

"error 36 - coulds not read or write to disk" a lot lately

I take it that's -36? That's an I/O error an very unlikely to have anything to do with where the files came from. Forget about the timing, you really need to get that disk fixed.

 

[CrzyCanuck72]

so you guys suggest I repair the disk ASAP without a complete backup? What're the chances of losing everything?

 

[iMeowbot]

so you guys suggest I repair the disk ASAP without a complete backup? What're the chances of losing everything?

A backup first would be a good idea if you can do it, but those errors may prevent you from getting a complete and intact copy. Saving some is better than none, so yes, if you can, try it.

It's possible with that error code that your drive may be preparing for an early retirement ("I/O error" covers a wide, vague range of problems, so it could be a big or small problem).

Either way, make sure that you get a backup after the problem is fixed, and backup new files regularly thereafter, so you don't have to worry about this kind of thing again.

 

[CrzyCanuck72]

well, I just threw caution to the wind and repaired the disk, and everything seems to be ok now! The files that weren't playing previously are now playing, and I just tried copying a file over to the external HD, and didn't get an error -36.

thanks for your help, everyone!

 

[mad jew]

Haha, nice one. I'm glad it's all working for you again. Keep an eye on the drive (check the disk with Disk Utility every now and then) because something like this can sometimes (rarely) be a sign of a failing drive. Chances are, you'll be fine, but keep everything backed up all the same.