An "invisible" song

Question

Level 1

44 points

An "invisible" song

This something I've not come across before.
I am trying to put a song from iTunes &/or my music folder to my Garmin GPS device.
All I get is a popup window saying "the item can't be replaced because it's invisible"

The song in question is playable perfectly either in my music folder or iTunes. All other songs I want
are placed on my GPS as moved.

Any one with some suggestions as to how I can make it "visible"

Imac i7 (10.6.4), Mac OS X (10.6.4), 500 GB ext.H/D

Posted on Jul 26, 2010 7:17 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

manolo

Level 1

29 points

Aug 8, 2010 3:52 PM in response to ribbo39

I'm having a similar problem. I'm trying to move a file from one mac to another and each time I try, I keep getting the same error message:

"The item 'xyz' can’t be replaced because it’s invisible."

How do I make this visible again? How did it become invisible in the first place?

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Answer 2

Aug 14, 2010 7:06 AM in response to ribbo39

I'm also having this issue. I cannot move a song out of my iTunes, though I can see the file in Finder, it won't let me move it from there either.

This thread is marked as answered when it clearly shouldn't be.

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Answer 3

Dec 13, 2010 5:49 PM in response to ribbo39

The question is far from answered and needs to be resolved as I am currently having the same issue which is a royal pain in the arse. What does this mean invisible? What does it all mean.? Anyone with ideas? Anyone, anyone, Bueller?

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Answer 4

Dec 13, 2010 6:55 PM in response to Brobot Doc

i am very interested in this question...have never mention it

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Answer 5

Feb 8, 2011 10:14 PM in response to ribbo39

I just had a similar issue, trying to drag a file from itunes to an external drive.
I just rm'd the "invisible" file in terminal in the directory where I wanted to copy it. Then I tried to copy it again and it worked.

If you aren't familiar with this, then:

-Open terminal and navigate to the directory to where you want to copy the file.
-type: "cd " (no quotes, with the space after)
-drag the folder to where you want to put the file into terminal, that will save you typing
-hit enter
-type: rm yourFilename.ext
-hit enter

You should be able to copy that file now.

Message was edited by: J.Squires

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Answer 6

DLH1512

Level 1

19 points

Feb 10, 2011 6:08 PM in response to ribbo39

I was dragging mp3 files from my iTunes library to my B&N Nook and a few random files said the same thing? At least I'm not the only one having this problem. I'm tired of hearing "Operator Error" from my wife. haha

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Answer 7

Feb 19, 2011 8:21 PM in response to J.Squires

sorry but this is a forgein language to me and makes apsolutly NO sense at all! What terminal directory are you refering to? When I click and drag there is no place to type anything!
Can fixing the invisible song problem please be explained in simple layman terms. Sorry I just don't understand computer terms???

All I know is that when I click a song and drag it to my mp3 player some songs come up with an error saying "file is invisible" but it plays fine in itunes. Some of the songs are on an album with 30 songs and only 1 or 2 are "invisible". I even purchased ALL my music none of it is downloaded from free sites.

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Answer 8

Feb 20, 2011 8:31 AM in response to Stylekitty

Sorry about that, hopefully I can make this easier to understand.

1. Open your source folder (where the file is that you want to copy, if it is in iTunes then you'll need to go to yourname/music/itunes/... etc. Or, in iTunes, right click the file and select "reveal in finder"
2. Open the destination folder (the folder to where you want to copy the file)
3. Keep both of those folders open.
4. Now open terminal. (In applications/utilities/terminal)
5. Type cd (which means "change directory", or folder) and then a space
6. Then drag the destination folder into terminal, and it will paste the path in terminal
7. Then hit enter

Here's how it should be, roughly, before hitting enter
user@computer:~$ cd /user/whatever/destinationFolder

8. Then type rm (for "remove") and a space
9. Then type the name of the file that keeps saying it is "invisible"

So you should have something like this before hitting enter:
user@computer:~/whatever/destinationFolder$ rm songName.mp3

10. That will remove the invisible file.
11. Now drag the files you want to copy from the source to the destination folder
12. It should copy and everything should be okay

NOTE: if your song file looks like this: "01 first track.mp3" (that is, it HAS spaces) then this is how you type it in: "01\ first\ track.mp3" (where a "\" comes before each space.
(Also, don't type the quotes)

Hope this helps!

-J

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Answer 9

Feb 20, 2011 8:44 AM in response to Brobot Doc

Brobot Doc wrote:
The question is far from answered and needs to be resolved as I am currently having the same issue which is a royal pain in the arse. What does this mean invisible? What does it all mean.? Anyone with ideas? Anyone, anyone, Bueller?

Um, he's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

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Answer 10

Oct 22, 2011 5:45 PM in response to J.Squires

thanks JS. that totally cured my headache. now on to copying files over. woo!

😉

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Answer 11

Nov 15, 2011 8:22 PM in response to ribbo39

go to "Show in Finder" of the target file. remove the unrecognizable text or symbols that are used in naming the file.

Eg; 05 Set fire to the rain - adelde

Name it as: set fire to the rain - adele

quick and easy.

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Answer 12

iBlink

Level 2

180 points

Dec 18, 2011 8:12 PM in response to ribbo39

If possible, you can always delete the folder/directory you are trying to copy to and create another. This worked for me. However I can see this not always being a possibility.

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Answer 13

M1SSB

Level 1

38 points

Dec 27, 2011 5:47 PM in response to ribbo39

I found an EASIER solution! And open iTunes then, "Reveal in finder", change the name of the file, if it's "04 Song Rihanna.mp3" try using hyphens "04-song-rihanna.mp3", that will solve the problem! and No need to open terminal and that stuff 🙂

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Answer 14

Jan 22, 2012 10:01 AM in response to ribbo39

Thank you to 'Yang Loong' and 'M1SSB' for thier responces to this thread. I was stumped by this same issue. Now I just pull the selected songfrom iTunes onto my desktop, change the tltle, and drag it into whatever device or folder I need. No more problem. Thanks again!🙂

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Answer 15

Jan 22, 2012 4:56 PM in response to ribbo39

All you have to do is:

1. Go to your dropbox folder on the dropbox website itself

2. Delete the file there, that should have a size of 0kb

3. Try moving the file from iTunes/music folder/any folder to dropbox again

That should work! 🙂

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