Q: Making iTunes library find missing tracks in multiple, not one by one

save the notepad and re-import it back into itunes and it will look for the new path.

So I have tried everything in this feed except for the options that I know would mean the loss of my playlists.  I am not opposed to just saving all of my music to my desktop, deleting the songs on iTunes and re-adding BUT I want to know if there is a way to preserve my playlists and if I do this will the playlists sync up with my songs properly?  I have put a lot of work into my playlists over time and do not want to have to "redo" them as I have had to do that before.

I could not use the Copytrans software as I was on a Mac and quite frankly I did not want to use their instructions on how to create a virtual machine etc. seemed like a bit too much work.  Any other software alternatives to this one that do the same thing?

Looking for some help here as I am quite frustrated with iTunes at this moment in time.

Fake Canadian, read my last two post!   ( meant to be one post) Ive used this method time and time again, since im constantly changing computers, nothing more frustrating then having to redo your entire playlist when you have over 100gb of music collected over the years.

Can you re-explain?  I read what you are saying but am not completely clear how it is going to tell iTunes where my songs are?

So take a look at image 1, I have made a playlist called mymusic, inside is 1 song. so if this playlist cannot find the song then

right click on mymusic > export > call it mymusic and make sure its a txt file. Save

see image 2. open up mymusic.txt file with notepad  and you should see a bunch of info like name , artist, composer, etc.

at the very end you should see the location for where my playlist is looking for my song

"D:\Melchior\My Music\rock alt heavy\Nirvana Discography\Nirvana - In Utero (1993)\Nirvana - 03 - Heart-shaped box.mp3"

so now lets say my drive is no longer D but is E drive. What i can do is go to edit>replace in the notepad and have it "find what" to "D:" and "replace with" to "E:" then click on replace all. After that go to file > save

Go back to itunes and go to file > library > import playlist and find the the modified mymusic.txt

Hi. What is the current state of play? It is pretty easy to get a working library from one place to another, and make it ready to move somewhere else without breaking things. If things are already broken then repair is a little more complicated. What do you have where?

tt2

Originally somehow the files were deleted from iTunes and my computer.  I used a program to pull the all from my iPhone and put them back in their original location.  Playlists are still intact and everything works perfectly on my iPhone.  iTunes library current state of play is that some songs, newly imported since "the issue" all have valid links and iTunes will play them.  All other songs do not have a link and I have to find them in order for iTunes to play them.  I tried the option from a while back unchecking "keep iTunes file organized" and then found a song and iTunes claimed to have found all my songs.  It appears that the problem was solved until I started to try to play music and then when it moves to a new song I have to find it again so the problem is still there.  I have not tried Hastyle's post above as of yet, I would have to do a test run with a song or two that I do not have in another playlist.  Thoughts on the above or any other solutions?

Select a broken song, press CMD+I to Get Info, cancel when asked to locate it, then look on the summary tab to see where iTunes is "looking" for it. Where is it really? Your recovery program may have pulled things to the wrong path. There might be ways to fix things once we know what the difference is. Don't move anything by hand yet.

tt2

Thank you for the script - been mooching around for a couple of days trying to work this problem out.  Worked a treat!

You're welcome.

tt2

Nice simple solution that worked a treat. Many thanks.

How the actual [PG13] is thread under iTunes for Mac, yet have so many [PG13] WINDOWS SOLUTIONS?

I don't know of a Mac equivalent for my Windows script, but it may still be possible to massage your media into a shape that the library can find.

Select a broken song, press CMD+I to Get Info, cancel when asked to locate it, then look on the summary/file details tab to see where iTunes is "looking" for it. The path shown will begin file://localhost/. Where is that file really if you look in Finder? And what is the media folder under iTunes > Preferences > Advanced. With all three paths I should be able to make some useful suggestions.

tt2

Hi I have just read your comments regarding multiple lost files I am using Windows 8.1+ & iTunes 11.1+ I am only partially computer literate

I have over 60,000 trax of which 20,000 are lost [!]
All my files are in an external drive which is set up in 'advanced' correctly - keep iTunes media organised & Copy files to media folder are ticked
I have tried the unticking / 'Locate' / restart iTunes as suggested by others but stiil missing 20k trax

Using 'Locate' I can find an individual trax

Using 'Info'  iTunes is looking in my 'C' drive and not the external drive set up in advanced

Can you tell me how iTunes find the missing trax?

1. What is the location of the media folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced? Full path please. Replace your user name if it appears with <User>.
2. Select a sample broken song. Press Ctrl+I to Get Info. Click No or when asked to locate it. (In iTunes 12.0.1.26 you will need to click No twice.) Look on the File or Summary tab for the location where iTunes is expecting to find the file. It begins file://localhost/. Please post back the path as given.
3. Find the true location of the same broken track in Windows Explorer. Please post back the full path.

tt2