All my music files that were in iTunes are gone!

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Level 1

14 points

All my music files that were in iTunes are gone!

Just opened iTunes for the first time in a few days and everything in my music library is gone. I have hundreds of songs, talks, etc. stored there, a collection going back ten years. I am using a MacBook Pro running the latest version of Mavericks, 10.9.2. Something updated yesterday or the day before and it didn't tell me what it was. Looking at the history of updates all I see is a security update in the past couple of days. Did that do something to my Music library?

This is pretty serious as I can't replace some of the things that I had stored there. I'm afraid to sync by iPhone or my iPad because the content they have will be wiped out. I hope they are still stored on my computer. I'll go look for the library now, but wanted to get this out there in case there is a simple fix.

I read the past day of two of posts here and don't see anyone else with this problem.

Need some help please.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), AP Extreme 11ac

Posted on Apr 24, 2014 3:33 PM

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Answer 1

veehb Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 24, 2014 3:51 PM in response to veehb

Just checked the iTunes music library with Finder and my library is still on the internal disk drive. So it wasn't deleted or wiped out. Thank goodness!

So, how do I get all of these albums and songs back into iTunes. Must be a simple way to do this without having to move them in one at a time.

I was able to pick one song from one album stored on the internal disk drive, played it in iTunes, and moved it into a newly created playlist in iTunes. Must be an easier way.

Why did my whole music library get removed from iTunes? How do I get it back there?

I have a Time Machine backup that I can probably restore from, but not sure that will get the music back into iTunes. The files are on the computer and don't need to be restored. Just want them back in iTunes!

Thanks for some help. 😮😟

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Answer 2

Apr 24, 2014 3:56 PM in response to veehb

Well where is your library located now if not in the iTunes folder? See the links below on what your iTunes folder should look like and put it back together:

What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

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Answer 3

veehb Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 24, 2014 5:09 PM in response to Limnos

Thanks Limnos for the references. Very helpful information, and I marked it thus.

Now I understand how the iTunes files are organized and where they are stored. But, I'm not sure how to get them back into the iTunes desktop screen so that I can access them from there. Any suggestions as to an easy way to get them back there?

Also, any idea as to how they were removed from the iTunes desktop?

Thanks

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Answer 4

veehb Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 24, 2014 5:35 PM in response to veehb

Limnos,

I am a little embarrased. The files have not disappeared from the iTunes Desktop. When I opened iTunes, the menu at the top of the screen was defaulted to "Radio" and was showing me a bunch of Featured Radio Stations. The Music Library was selected, but didn't have a file count to the right, as did Podcasts and Apps. I thought I'd remembered seeing the file count in Music before. Probably not so. When I moved the top menu to Songs, Albums, etc the content was there.

So I just wasted a couple of hours on a "fire drill", but at least I learned a lot about iTunes.

So, thanks for taking the time to send me the references to educate me about iTunes!

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