Q: Apple TV not playing (already paid & downloaded) music & movies. "Content not found" error. (iTunes library on external drive)
Hi all
Firstly I have resolved this buggy issue but I have fought with it for a couple of weeks so hopefully my solution will help someone else.
A quick summary of my situation:
- iTunes Library is located on external drive. Redirected iTunes to use the library located on the external drive. 'Seemed to be working fine'.
- used Apple TV to play movies & music downloaded onto my local network (not streaming through iCloud)
- my Apple TV is ethernet connected to my local network
- Home sharing was turned on (on the both the Apple TV & iTunes app)
PROBLEM
- sometimes the movies & music would play but then drop out & give me an error 'content not found'
- sometimes I couldn't see any of my movies & music under library
- sometimes I could see the movie but to click it, the error 'content not found' would come up
I'm going to quickly state that I tried everything (reset my router, Apple TV's, even rebuilt my whole dang iTunes Library couple of times!). The last three issues would arise or resolve (temporarily) with these fixes yet it kept reoccurring.
This error turned out to be NOT with the Apple TV but with the setup of my iTunes folder on the external drive. The problem was caused by my iTunes library files (.itdb & .itl files) being mixed in with my iTunes Media folder content. I had selected the iTunes folder instead of the iTunes Media folder. The result was causing my Apple TV to be very temperamental about whether it would see or play my files.
SOLUTION
Firstly open the iTunes app. Under iTunes > Preferences > Advanced look for the location of your iTunes Media folder on the external drive. It should look something like this
/Volumes/EXTERNALDRIVENAME/iTunes/iTunes Media
Ensure the following boxes are ticked:
Keep iTunes Media folder organised
Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library
Save & close the app.
Next go to the external hard drive and locate your iTunes folder. Ensure it is organised correctly as follows. Make sure each level only contains these files/folders. ALL music, movies and other content should be located under the relevant (3rd level) folder:
iTunes (folder) >
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Library Extras.itdb (file)
iTunes Library Genius.itdb (file)
iTunes Library.itl (file)
iTunes Media (folder) >
Automatically Add to iTunes (folder)
Downloads (optional folder)
Home Videos (optional folder)
Mobile Applications (optional folder)
Movies (optional folder)
Music (optional folder)
TV Shows (optional folder)
Finally reopen your iTunes app & select File>Add to Library...>iTunes (folder located on your external hard drive). It should reorganise your iTunes library to look exactly as above (double check your external hard drive to ensure it still looks correct).
I personally suggest consolidating your library as well, as it makes it easy to spot duplicates which can then be deleted.
I hope this helps.
Apple TV
Posted on Jul 12, 2016 5:45 AM