downloaded music not copying to music folder

After I changed preference setting, exclamation points appeared in left column of the music and I can't go to the organize and copy function because I get "itunes library file cannot be saved. The required disk can not be found" In fact, I can no longer open the library because of it. And the itunes icon on the dashboard keeps jumping up and down.

Okay, when I do this I go to the preferences window and set the media folder location. Then I immediately click the organize button. Exclamation marks means itunes has detected changes and can no longer find the files associated with the location it has on record for them. However, until you click on okay then iTunes hasn't actually changed anything, so I am puzzled by exclamation marks appearing (which they should not do at all) since you should not have even clicked okay to anything yet at this stage. Is this precisely and completely the sequence of events?

I am totally puzzled by what is going one because none of it makes sense. The disk location was just there because you were using it when changing the preferences. Why can iTunes not find the drive to which is was just referring a few seconds earlier? Frankly if you had asked me to guess what it was that created that message I would have wondered if you had unplugged the drive just after clicking okay! Furthermore, even if you completely messed up in the assignation of a folder location, iTunes would just move everything there and continue to use it from there. I am puzzled by the number of times you have seen exclamation marks appear in this activity.

So, in simple clear sentences, where do we stand now? Can you even open your library? What about doing the option key thing? Is there still a library file on the ehd? If there isn't then something seriously wrong is happening because there is no way iTunes can delete a library file and you have serious drive problems.

If you can open the library do you see exclamation marks next to everything?

In Finder, click on your hard drive and File > Get Info.

What "Format" does it report? <-- Need answer.

It should be "Macintosh Extended" (with or without "journaled") for best use with a Mac. "MS-DOS" might work, but can sometimes be unpredictible.

While in this window, also check at the very bottom if "ignore ownership on this volume" is checked or unchecked. <-- Need answer.

What are your general plans for this drive? Will you only be using it for storing iTunes things, or photos, or other things considered "data"? <-- Need answer.

Open Utilities > Disk Utility.

All your drives will be displayed on the left, once as the actual hardware, then again as the partitions on them.

Click on the indented ehd name and run first aid verify on the drive (don't repair permisssions which you probably won't be able to do anyway). Does it verify okay? <-- Need answer.

It will only verify if the format is Macintosh extended. If the formatting is okay but it reports an error, try using the First Aid repair.

Since this is a weekend my presence as the computer may be sporadic, but I will try to glance at it now and then. 🙂

The formatting is good.

Ignore ownership is good since you will just be using this for data storage.

Verified is okay. There's nothing immediately obviously wrong with the drive.

I wonder if the slow checking last time was because you did a radical change in the library organization. When you open iTunes I think it does a quick scan of the library file ("iTunes library") against the files actually listed. If it sees something has been changed as for location it re-analyzes each media file and that takes time. The second time you opened it, it didn't see anything changed in location and didn't re-analyze the files.

I went to organize library-the the first option was unchecked. should I check it? the second option was still faded-out.

I am wondering if those options are reset each time you open that window. Consolidating is a single action and once it is done it is done. As long as the "organize" button is always checked when you open preferences then your library is being organized.

I am still puzzled as to why that second option is not viable. Did you put a folder called "Media folder" (spelled exactly as outlined in the link I provied earlier) in the iTunes folder? I guess it doesn't matter except it would be nice to get it all updated to the new format.

So right now all is working?

The copy to button is checked?

The organize button is checked?

What do you have set for the media folder location?

Have you emptied the trash? Each drive has its own invisible trash are, although you only see one on your desktop. To empty the trash on a drive it must be connected.

I have never bought a song from iTunes so cannot speak with experience. I would think it would automatically add it to iTunes.

As for the opening issue, that is the message you get when iTunes cannot find the library last used to start up iTunes. Once you set iTunes to start from an external drive it will continue to try to start from it as long as the drive is running and mounted on the desktop before you start iTunes. People will see that kind of message when experienceing connectivity issues, but that is usually the case with wireless drives or NAS systems, not plain old external hard drives.

Since organizing didn't seem to do it (I wonder if that is a feature of newer iTunes), try manually consolidating instead of the checkbox which does not seem to be putting things where they should go.

turingtest2 post on consolidating old and new iTunes library structure into one - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3933432?answerId=18327128022#18327128022

Um, you don't always answer my questions (from a couple of posts ago) so I cannot always provide you with definite, sound advice. Among others I wanted to know exactly what you now have designated as the media folder location in preferences. The link on consolidating is for a newer iTunes and makes certain assumptions about folder structure, namely that the person is already using the new structure. You are not. You need to consolidate to the new folder structure so you have to have the media folder set up as indicated in the second half of that iTunes 9 folder transition article I linked yesterday. Once you have that designated correctly (spelling may be important) in the media folder location you can proceed with consolidating.

Also note in the instructions on consolidating the menus have changed. Those are with reference to iTunes 10. I have 7.5. You have 9, so you will have to do a bit of exploring for where that consolidate command is located. In my version of iTunes it is under Advanced.

You sound good to go on the media file location. It is basically the current structure. Consolidating should copy items to it. Once you have consolidated (this will copy everything so make sure you have room), double check you are happy with locations and you can delete the older iTunes/iTunes Music folder.

There is a reason for doing this with consolidating, by the way, and not just renaming the music folder. It's a nuisance but iit makes sure iTunes updates its database with the new location.