Q: Not all my songs are showing in itunes even though they are in the Itunes Media file directory

iTunes reads the content of a database file, not the media folder. Put the songs back where they came from, then see Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.

tt2

Hi,

Did you use the Add File or Add Folder tool to reimport your music?  If so, iTunes will not have recognised that the same songs are already in your library as it matches the file name, not the music tag info.  As your original links were broken, it will have assumed that these were all new.

If you do not want to preserve play history and ratings then simply delete the tracks with empty file references.  As these are not visible in the track listing, create a smart playlist called All Tracks with a criteria of Artist is not "xxyegiugiug" (any random string of letters will do) - this will create a playlist of all tracks whether broken or not.  Then create a standard playlist called Live Tracks, highlight all tracks in your library and drag them to it - only tracks with an unbroken link will copy over (this may take a while).  Then create another smart playlist called Missing Files with criteria of Playlist is all Tracks and Playlist is not Live Tracks.  This will select only those tracks that have broken links.  As you cant delete from a playlist highlight the broken files, right click and select GetInfo.  Then change the album name or artist to Broken Links or something not in your library.  Go to the full music library and select the tracks that now show as Broken Links - you can then delete them.

If you want to preserve play history and ratings then it is not so easy.  Using the list created above you could go through double clicking each one to play it. As the link is broken you will get a dialog asking you if you want to locate the file, and you can then relink it manually.  This will unfortunately take a great deal of time.  Alternatively there are scripts that can do it in one go - one for Windows can be found at http://samsoft.org.uk/itunes/scripts.asp  I haven't used it so I can't verify that it will not cause more problems that it solves.  Having relinked you can then delete the duplicates by sorting by Date Added - the dups will be the most recent additions.  As they will link to the same file DO NOT choose to delete the file to the recycle bin select KEEP.

Apple's official advice on duplicates is here: Find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. It is a manual process and the article fails to explain some of the potential pitfalls such as lost ratings and playlist membership, or that sometimes the same file can be represented by multiple entries in the library and that deleting one and recycling the file will break the other.

Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display duplicates as this is normally a more useful selection. You need to manually select all but one of each group to remove. Sorting the list by Date Added may make it easier to select the appropriate tracks, however this works best when performed immediately after the dupes have been created.  If you have multiple entries in iTunes connected to the same file on the hard drive then don't send to the recycle bin.

Use my DeDuper script if you're not sure, don't want to do it by hand, or want to preserve ratings, play counts and playlist membership. See this thread for background, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.

(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed.)

The most recent version of the script can tidy dead links as long as there is at least one live duplicate to merge stats and playlist membership to and should cope sensibly when the same file has been added via multiple paths.

See also Make a split library portable for some thoughts on best practice when it comes to organizing the library and media files.

tt2

You're welcome.

tt2