Songs are missing in itunes, find option shows previous libraries

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Level 1

8 points

Songs are missing in itunes, find option shows previous libraries

I switched to a desktop many moons ago. While going through my songs today in itunes, I see there are a lot of songs with an exclamation point next to them. When I go to select it, it says the original file could not be found. When i select locate, previous libraries all the way back to 2012 are displayed. How the heck do I find this song from the pervious library to import to the new library? Is there a way to identify all the missing songs or merge the previous libraries into the new one so I have all my missing songs back? I would hate to repurchase them or attempt to find the cd somewhere.

Thanks!

Posted on Jul 28, 2021 3:44 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

turingtest2

Level 10

278,187 points

Jul 29, 2021 1:43 PM in response to zzyzxcat

The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes or Music expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, the drive it lives on has had a name change, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). It is also possible that iTunes or Music have changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place, or that you've been too aggressive when deleting duplicates at some point.

Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Cmd-I to get Song Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location the library thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drives. Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive label has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. If everything is where it is supposed to be try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Mac - Apple Community.

In some cases the library may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info, or when playing a track, but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.

If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:

The location of the media folder under iTunes|Music > Preferences > Advanced
The location of a sample missing track shown under Song Info > File > Location that begins file://
The true path to the file whose details you gave in 2

See also FixLinks - an AppleScript to repair broken links in Music - Apple Community.

tt2

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Answer 2

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Jul 29, 2021 10:49 AM in response to zzyzxcat

Hi zzyzxcat,

From your post it sounds like you're unable to locate some songs in your iTunes library on your PC. Have you tried selecting one of the libraries in the screenshot and then check your iTunes library to see if the songs load now?

The date of the backed up library is in the title of the file. For example, where you see "iTunes Library 2019-02-25.itl" is the name of the file but also the date that the file was created.

Just in case, previous iTunes Store purchases can be redownloaded using these instructions: Redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books - Apple Support

Take care.

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Answer 3

zzyzxcat Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2021 11:18 AM in response to Leanne_68

Thank you so much for your reply.

For the song above, i dont have a library that corresponds with the 1/27/15 date. So maybe that is a bigger issue.

However, I do have some songs that are missing that actually correspond with the itunes date added date and the previous itunes library date. So, I attempted to select the library that corresponds with the date associated with the song, however the song still did not load. So i went through and selected each one of the libraries to see if maybe it was in a later one. But no success. Unfortunately it wasnt a purchase from iTunes, it was an import from a cd. I attempted to also go through the itunes menu and select File -> Import and then select a previous library, but it doesnt appear to actually do anything or import missing songs.

Odd thing is, there are some songs from that same date that play no problem but others are missing.

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