Can't play a songs because "original file could not be found"

I keep getting "The song '_________' could not be used because the original file could not be found" alert on about 40% of the songs in my library when I attempt to play them. I have changed and reset the iTunes library location many times etc.


All of the songs are in their proper location (the path described in iTunes settings). Songs will randomly "get a grey circle", and sometimes "disappear" repeatedly.


This issue has only arisen after subscribing to Apple Music.


I see ancient posts over 10 years old referring to this issue...out of ideas.


Thank you!

Posted on Apr 21, 2019 7:15 PM

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5 replies

Apr 22, 2019 4:20 PM in response to WJGuy

See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for some background on iTunes library structure. Apart form specific manipulations mentioned there moving iTunes content around by hand can cause problems. When you say the missing songs are where they are supposed to be, are they at the paths shown on the file tab of Get Info, and are permissions such that iTunes can see and play the files?


NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. iTunes has been known to lose files when rearranging content on NAS. I just wanted to rule that out as a possibility.


If you use iTunes Match or Apple Music then iTunes will attempt to "match" your tracks with content in the store. It is often successful, but might occasionally mismatch an explicit song with a clean version for example. If it cannot match then it will "upload" your copy which it can then provide to your other libraries or devices. See About iCloud Music Library icons and status - Apple Support for more on the status terms.


tt2

Apr 22, 2019 2:44 PM in response to turingtest2

I had older iTunes libraries in a folder which I just moved from the iTunes music library - no change. I do have a complete duplicate library but on a backup on my Google Drive - completely different path than the one in my preferences. All the songs "missing" are exactly where they should be...and sorry, but what do you mean by "NAS"?


In many cases the songs were played recently but are suddenly invisible to iTunes despite being where they have always been. In some cases, despite the fact I imported some from CDs, they show "matched" versus "uploaded" in the iCloud status.


Thanks, MMM

Apr 22, 2019 12:36 PM in response to WJGuy

Is there a full backup of the library anywhere? Is the media stored on NAS? See About iCloud Music Library icons and status - Apple Support. Apple Music may be revealing earlier damage to the library, since it will attempt to reconcile all of the content in it. Normally iTunes can contain missing tracks which it only mentions when you try to play or transfer them.


tt2

Apr 24, 2019 5:59 AM in response to turingtest2

There appears to be a couple of issues. The first is that the odd artist folder is simply suddenly missing out of my iTunes library, however the music is on my iPhone and I can re-download it. Not sure how that happened and it's not common.


A far more common issue is that the files iTunes is looking for, say "XXX" in the Finder, have been renamed "XXX 1" in the song info panel within iTunes, so that's what it's looking for. Thankfully this is the minority of songs, but it seems I have to manually "locate" each "missing" song.

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Can't play a songs because "original file could not be found"

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