Why ripped CDs aren't showing up in iTunes?

Just to clarify what ed has told you:

ripping from a CD adds the songs to your husband's iTunes Library on his computer, not to his account (or even a joint account) with the iTunes Store. Those songs are completely separate from an iTunes account. That is; the library and the account with the store are not the same thing.

When you add the copied files to your computer, paste them into the Music folder. Ideally:

• • a single artist album is placed in the My Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/<artist name>/<album title>/ folder
  • a compilation album (various artists) is placed in the My Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Compilations/<album title>/ folder

Then use iTunes' top bar menu File/Add Folder to Library to actually add the albums to your library.

Nverstop wrote:

I'm getting closer. I tried to transfer four compiliations to my flashdrive from my husband's computer. Only two actually transferred. No idea why just the two.

By "transferred", do you mean that the other two albums failed to copy* to your flash drive or that they failed to copy onto your computer? It's an important distinction.

* Call me pedantic, but transfer means to move from one place to another. I suggest that you copy the files on your husband's computer because if you do "transfer" and it goes wrong, you have deleted the original and will have to start again from scratch.

I think you need to check the points below, one at a time. Resolve the first set of steps and confirm that they have successfully completed. Then move on to the second set of steps and repeat the process. Finally, follow the third set of steps.

If something doesn't work, and you are unable to identify the cause, please make it clear which step failed and how it failed.

First:

If the files failed to copy to your flash drive, make sure that:

1. 1. 1. the songs play in your husband's iTunes library. If they don't then that's the issue to look at first
      2. all the songs are in the folder that you selected to copy from. (Note that compilation albums sometimes get split up between different folders, or get placed in a completely different folder to the compilations one. I was trying to avoid complicating matters by discussing this issue, but it can be solved)

If the files did copy to your flash drive, and you copied them to your computer, then check the folder where you expect those files to be located. Are they there? Note that before you add the files to your library, those files must be located on your computer. If you simply add files to your library that are on the flash drive, there will be an issue further down the road.

Second:

If the files are now on your computer, try the Add Folder to Library option but:

• • as stated above, the files must be on your computer. When you use Add Folder to Library, do not be tempted to add the flash drive location
  • make sure that you have selected the correct folder on your computer, just in case the files are still not where you expect them to be. Once the albums are listed in your library, do they play (in your library)?

Third:

I will keep you posted as I don't seem to be able to copy anything to my iphone.

Are you saying that even the albums that you have managed to get in your iTunes library will not copy to your phone? If so, how are you trying to do this?

1. 1. 1. once the albums are in your iTunes Library, do they play in that library? If not, pursue that issue first
      2. if they do play in your library, what settings are you using to add them to your phone? Have you previously copied music from your iTunes Library to this phone and if so, how? The options include:

• • • Manually Manage - where you drag songs onto the phone (I don't recommence this method)
    • Sync Entire music library - which should copy all the music in your iTunes to the phone
    • Sync Selected playlists, albums, artists and genres - which will only add items that you specifically select (or include in a playlist that will copy to the phone)

Nverstop wrote:

The songs were copied to the flash drive. I have now copied them to my desktop on my laptop, and I then copied them into iTunes by using Add Folder to Library. They show in my iTunes.

I recommend that you place them into the folder that they are going to be in permanently, rather than copying them onto your laptop's desktop and then copying them again. If that's what you've done, that means that you now have two copies on your laptop: the one on the desktop and the one in the location that you copied the files to (except, see below).

The message that you get: "...because the original file cannot be found" means that when you added the files to your iTunes Library, the files were in a one location, but you have then moved them to another location, or deleted them, which means that iTunes can no longer find them.

If I click Locate, it takes me to the my desktop and I can play them using MediaPlayer.

It sounds to me as though you told iTunes to add the copy that was on your desktop (which is why the "locate" option goes there), then you deleted that same copy. Having said that though, I'm not sure I understand how you found the copy that Windows Media Player is using.

It also seems to me that you have got confused about which file is where. I'm not sure I know!

So, to move forward:

• • when you copy the files to your laptop, put them directly into the folder that they will stay in. Do not place them on your desktop and then move them. That is the possible cause of this confusion
  • use iTunes' Add Folder to Library after you have placed the files in their permanent location (not before)
  • if, when you try to play a song, you see that "file not found" message, it simply means that the file for that song is not where it was when you added it to your library (or that the file has been renamed or deleted, or the path to it has been renamed or deleted since you added it to your iTunes Library)

... I don't seem to be able to copy anything to my iphone.

That will be because iTunes could not locate the files for the songs. Take into account that a song is listed in iTunes - it is not "in iTunes".

iTunes is a database. It lists the songs that are stored on your computer. Every time that you want to play a song in your iTunes, or copy it to your iPhone, iTunes looks for and uses the file for that song, which has to be where it was when you told iTunes about it. If the file (for a song) is moved, deleted or renamed in Windows, iTunes will still list it as a song, but be unable to find the file for it.

Finally, Windows Media Player:

it takes me to the my desktop and I can play them using MediaPlayer

If you mean that when you double-clicked a file, it opened Windows Media Player (WMP) and played the song, that suggests that WMP is the default player. Unless you have a specific reason for this, I suggest that you change the default player to iTunes.

To set the default music player, use the Windows "start button" and go to Settings/Apps/Default Apps and look for Music player. I assume it will say Windows Media Player. Tap that and select iTunes from the pop-up menu.

Nverstop wrote:

I opened my account on his computer and I thought that was where the music would be stored.

I must have misunderstand, I thought you were looking at your account on your computer, not your husband's.

Anyway, to move this forward:

• • if you used your husband's computer to rip CDs onto his computer, using iTunes, then the files are on his computer and nowhere else. Using iTunes on his computer, look at the entries for the ripped CDs (which are now digital files, not CDs). As previously stated, the actual (music) files for compilation albums will be (or should be) on his computer in the Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Compilations/ folder. In there will be folders for each of the albums, each folder named with the album title.

• • if you can't find the files, look at the songs in the iTunes library and right-click any one of the songs; one of the menu options is Show in Windows Explorer (as shown in the screenshot below):

• • clicking the Show in Windows Explorer option will open the folder with that song in it. The remainder of the tracks for that album should be in the same folder:

• • you need to copy the folder (in the example, that is Beach House 2006 [Disc 1]) and put that on your computer. Don't just copy the files you can see, go back one step and copy the complete folder
  • repeat this for each album

That's it. Signing into your account will not find the songs since they did not come from the iTunes Store (where you have an account).

Find the audio files on your husband's computer and copy them to a flash drive. Then copy from the flash drive to your computer.