jbortz22
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Q: Locating multiple missing songs

How do you locate multiple missing songs in itunes? 

Posted on Aug 28, 2013 8:24 AM

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jbortz22

Q: Locating multiple missing songs

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  • by jeremy_v,

    jeremy_v jeremy_v Aug 30, 2013 12:55 PM in response to jbortz22
    Community Specialists
    Aug 30, 2013 12:55 PM in response to jbortz22

    Hi jbortz22,

     

    Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.

     

    The steps in this article can help with finding missing songs in iTunes:

     

    iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads

    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408

     

    Regards,

     

    Jeremy

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Aug 30, 2013 1:06 PM in response to jbortz22
    Level 10 (88,163 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 30, 2013 1:06 PM in response to jbortz22

    Select a broken track and press CTRL+I to Get Info. Say no when prompted to locate the track, then look at the location given on the Summary tab that begins file://localhost/. Now look for the true location of the same file. Post back both paths and I can suggest the most efficient way to fix things.

     

    tt2

  • by twmissmt,

    twmissmt twmissmt Dec 2, 2013 10:20 AM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2013 10:20 AM in response to turingtest2

    Hey turingtest2,

     

    I too have lost ALL my itunes song on an old iMac running OS 10.4.11 and iTunes 9.1.1.  EVERY song I click on it tells me it cannot locate it.  When I follow the stated path under "Get Info", the song title does not show up.  The above article is of little use as nothing is showing up in the pathway that it suggests.  Can you help?

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Dec 2, 2013 10:29 AM in response to twmissmt
    Level 10 (88,163 points)
    Apple TV
    Dec 2, 2013 10:29 AM in response to twmissmt

    Do you not see something that begins file://localhost/ on the summary tab?

     

    tt2

  • by twmissmt,

    twmissmt twmissmt Dec 2, 2013 10:53 AM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2013 10:53 AM in response to turingtest2

    Yes, here is a typical pathway I get:

     

    file://localhost/Users/twill/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Garth Brooks/Garth Brooks/11 The Dance.mp3

     

    yet when I manually follow that pathway I get as far as iTunes Media and there is no folder entitled Garth Brooks.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Dec 2, 2013 11:01 AM in response to twmissmt
    Level 10 (88,163 points)
    Apple TV
    Dec 2, 2013 11:01 AM in response to twmissmt

    So where is the Garth Brooks folder? Spotlight ought to be able to find it for you.

     

    tt2

  • by twmissmt,

    twmissmt twmissmt Dec 2, 2013 11:14 AM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2013 11:14 AM in response to turingtest2

    Spotlight returns: No Results Found

     

    When in fact there IS a Garth Brooks folder ... but it ONLY contains ONE song which is a song with a unique name (DIxie) that Spotlight managed to find.  But it doesn't find others and doesn't even recognize the Garth Brooks folder when in fact I have over 100 Garth Brooks songs.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Dec 2, 2013 4:22 PM in response to twmissmt
    Level 10 (88,163 points)
    Apple TV
    Dec 2, 2013 4:22 PM in response to twmissmt

    OK, but where are they? If they're not on your computer, or a backup, then it looks like you're in trouble. Are they on a device at all? Did anything significant happen before you noticed this problem?

     

    tt2

  • by twmissmt,

    twmissmt twmissmt Dec 2, 2013 6:56 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2013 6:56 PM in response to turingtest2

    That's my question, where are they?  I can't figure it out.  I rarely use this computer.  It has not had anything significant happen to it yet my music seems to have disappeared.  I can find random songs in spotlight and they'll all of a sudden and magically show up in the media folder but that doesn't happen to every song.  With close to 5000 songs I really don't want to spotlight check every one.  Very frustrating....

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Dec 2, 2013 7:06 PM in response to twmissmt
    Level 10 (88,163 points)
    Apple TV
    Dec 2, 2013 7:06 PM in response to twmissmt

    Do you have a Time Machine backup of the iTunes folders?

     

    tt2

  • by twmissmt,

    twmissmt twmissmt Dec 2, 2013 7:10 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2013 7:10 PM in response to turingtest2

    Unfortunately no.  Old machine, old OS.  But it makes no sense that some songs will randomly materialize and others will not.  At this point they are ALL invisible except for the two I have found with Spotlight. They're there ... somewhere, but my system is just not recognizing them.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Dec 2, 2013 7:13 PM in response to twmissmt
    Level 10 (88,163 points)
    Apple TV
    Dec 2, 2013 7:13 PM in response to twmissmt

    I hope you are right, but I've seen a worrying number of posts that suggest that in some cases iTunes is discarding files.

     

    tt2

  • by twmissmt,

    twmissmt twmissmt Dec 2, 2013 8:10 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2013 8:10 PM in response to turingtest2

    WHAT! Discarding files!  How could it do that and why would it do that?

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Dec 3, 2013 2:59 AM in response to twmissmt
    Level 10 (88,163 points)
    Apple TV
    Dec 3, 2013 2:59 AM in response to twmissmt

    How is easy enough, but why is beyond my ken. It cannot be intentional, but it is hard to conceive what kind of bug might be responsible either. I just know that I see the occasional post where people complain that their original media has gone missing.

     

    Hardware & software can both fail which is why you really ought to maintain a backup of your data.

     

    tt2