Sometimes an icon appears to the left of a song title, and it looks like a circle with an exclamation point inside it. What is it and why does it appear? When this icon appears I can't play that song.
I am using the most current version of iTunes.
Thanks, Mark
Windows 10
OK, I'm back to being confused again.
#1. Your answer was so long that my mind went numb. By the time I got to the link I just couldn't think and gave up. SIMPLE is what I need. I can't stress it enough!
#2. In my playlist's artist column under Boston I have 2 "More Than A Feeling, 2 "Peace Of Mind", and 2 "Foreplay / Longtime"
#4. OK so what do I do to find it? Type in "Windows Explorer" in my Chrome search bar? Once I get Windows Explorer do you want me to enter this in THEIR search bar? C:\Users\Mark\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Compilations\International Superhits\05 Basket Case.m4a
OK, those "possible alternatives for that track" is making my mind numb again. Is this absolutely necessary?
Maybe the old name for my media folder is because I ONLY use my iTunes for listening to my playlist and buying songs each month. I don't use Audiobooks, Movies, Podcasts or TV shows.....only music.
How do I Please find 05 Basket Case.m4a and tell me where it is.???
To me, it's not looking like we are going to solve this by the end of my 3pm deadline.
Mark
#1. You should be backing up the whole library. Don't worry about it for now.
#2. Thanks. I'll keep thinking about how to fix that issue.
#4. Hold down the Windows Logo Key (between Ctrl & Alt at the left of your keyboard) and then press E and release both keys. This will open Windows/File Explorer probably looking at Computer. Use the navigation tree at the left to find C:\Users\Mark\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music and then explore the various subfolders to look for the track. I'm sitting in front of Windows 7, so it might be slightly different on 10, but I have a search box at the top right of the window. Typing 05 Basket Case into that would search all subfolders of the currently selected folder looking for a file with that name.
tt2
#1. OK, good!
#2. You're welcome.
#3. I was just about to tell you that I don't have a Windows Logo Key when I realized you meant on my keyboard. Sorry. Dumb attack. 😉
OK, my bad again. When you mentioned "File Explorer" I didn't realize that the little manila folder icon on the bottom of my task bar is called that. Thanks for all your patience!
OK, my "navigation tree" on the left says music with the > symbol to the left of it. I clicked on > and got > iTunes. I clicked on > next to iTunes and got three folders: > Album Artwork, > iTunes Music, and Previous iTunes with no > symbol. I then clicked on the > next to iTunes Music and got what appears to be the alphabetical list of song titles where I go to find a song I just bought so I can back it up. There is no search bar within the above paths, but there IS a tiny search bar on the top right of that entire "File Explorer" page. It is to the right of another long search bar called "Quick Access." So, I copied and pasted 05 Basket Case into that tiny search bar and another file came up entitled 05 Basket Case. I then double-clicked on 05 Basket Case and a box popped up called "Groove Music" and it started to play the song Basket Case. I don't see any code to copy and post for you to see. To me, "Groove Music" looks like a Windows 10 alternative to iTunes.
What now?
Is this what you want?:
This PC\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\COMPILATIONS\International Superhits
I found it after I posted my last reply as it was saved on File Explorer under "Recent Files" The above code is to the right of a music looking icon and the words "Basket Case."
By the way, COMPILATIONS is in all caps because I changed it years ago so I could find it easier. I hope that's OK because I have never had a problem with it that way.
Hmm, This PC\Music will (or at least should) map onto C:\Users\Mark\Music, and the rest of the path agrees with what iTunes is telling us it is looking for. Which leaves us the question why had iTunes lost it in the first place? 😕
Can you please try using Explorer to drill down through C:\ then Users\Mark\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\COMPILATIONS\International Superhits just to confirm the file 05 Basket Case.m4a is there?
Ah, check the spelling of COMPILATIONS. Windows file commands are supposed to be case insensitive so it ought not to matter if you only changed the case, but iTunes might have changed under the hood. If you made any error in the spelling that would break iTunes links for anything in the Compilations folder, which seems to match your symptoms.
tt2
OK, I "drilled" all the way down to COMPILATIONS and Basket Case was there.
I checked, and "COMPILATIONS" is spelled correctly. HOWEVER, I did recently change the file COMPILATIONS to "C O M P I L A T I O N S" so I could find it even easier! I did that on the 1st of this month when I backed up the songs I bought. So, do you think that's why I am getting those circles? Should I now change it back to COMPILATIONS or Compilations? I KNEW it had to be something I did. What a dummy.
Would that also be why the program you originally had me download didn't work, and ended up going sideways after I clicked "YES" all those times?
I too am leaving (at 3PM) but I won't be back today. So, hopefully you will be around when I log on tomorrow morning, Pacific Standard Time.
Mark
Yes, I would rename the folder as Compilations as it ought to be. This will fix all of the links that were broken. We can discuss the orphan files caused by mislinking once that has been covered and tested.
You can create a shortcut to that folder on your desktop if you need a way to open the folder quickly. Why do you do that by the way? Once the tracks are added to iTunes there is no real need to explore the folders where they are stored.
tt2
Hi turingtest2,
I guess this site was down most of the day. Don't know when it came back because I kept refreshing the page but I guess that doesn't work.
Anyway, I changed C O M P I L A T I O N S to Compilations and the circles re gone! YAY!
I've been going down my playlist A to Z all day checking for that "circle" and looking for duplicated songs. So far I am down to the "S"s and have found no circles, but 12 duplicated songs which I have written down for when this site was up and running again. We can deal with that tomorrow morning if you're around and I can log on.
Why do I do that? Every month after I buy a few songs I go to File Explorer / Music / iTunes / iTunes Music. I then plug in my flash drive to back up the songs I just bought. I scroll down the alphabetical list of songs, find a song I bought, and then drag it to the flash drive notation which appears in the "tree" to the left.
When you reply, include that link to Sync Toy. Okay? After we deal with the duplicated songs I plan to back up my entire play list.
Great, glad to hear that did the trick.
I suspect you've gone for the day, but when you pick this up I'd like you to do two things.
1. With iTunes closed open your iTunes folder in Explorer. Select the iTunes Library.itl file, press Ctrl+C to copy and then Ctrl+V to paste. This creates a backup copy of the database in case there is any need to go back to it. A refinement would be to move the copy into the Previous iTunes Libraries folder and name it in the same way as the other files in there.
2. Open iTunes. Use File > Add Folder to Library, then select the folder C:\Users\Mark\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music. This will scan the iTunes Music folder and add in any files not already connected to the iTunes library. Everything already connected to the library will be left as is.
This should put you almost back to where you were before things first went wrong, but with some duplicates, and you'll be missing the ratings, play counts, and other iTunes only data related to the files that were mislinked. Some of that data is attached to the duplicates. I have some thoughts about how to capture that data and put it back if those things matter to you, otherwise we can discuss how to clean up the duplicates safely while keeping at least one copy of each track.
tt2
Hi turingtest2,
OK, as usual I have some questions:
A. Regarding the two things you want me to do, is it necessary to do step 1 before step 2? I don't think I am doing step 1 correctly and I will wait for your answer. Let me explain what's happening:
#1. Before opening my iTunes I went to my File Explorer. In the "tree" on the left I selected Music then iTunes. At first I didn't see iTunes Library (as a manila folder icon) so I selected "Previous iTunes Libraries." On my keyboard I then pressed Ctrl + C, then Ctrl + V but nothing at all happened. So, I went back and this time, below the manila folder icons were white folders with a blue design in them and I found: iTunes Extras, iTunes Genius, iTunes Library, and iTunes Music Library. Note: None of these folders had the ".itl " at the end of the word Library. So, this time I selected iTunes Library and on my keyboard and my iTunes playlist popped up. I then pressed Ctrl + C then Ctrl + V again and nothing happened again.
Question: Regarding all the duplicated songs, can't I just delete one of each duplicate? It sure seems a lot simpler to me. As I said in my last post I have gone down my playlist from A to Z and I am currently in the "S"s. I have found 12 duplicated songs (so far) and I wrote them down on a notepad. So I know where they are and I can easily find them. Why can't I just delete a duplicate?
Since I am already having trouble with your first step I will most likely have trouble understanding your second step as well, and I was really hoping to wrap this up today. I will be gone by 3pm today and I won't be back until Monday.
1. Backup: OK, I selected iTunes Library, did the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V thing in succession, and this time a new list popped up. At the top of the list it says: iTunes Library - Copy. Is that what you wanted?
2. Add New Files: I opened iTunes and clicked on File / Add Folder to Library and entered C:\Users\Mark\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music into the search bar. Another box popped up saying "Adding Files." Is that also what you wanted?
3. Duplicates: Before I proceed I want to make sure what I did in steps 1 & 2 were correct. Also, when you say "select one of the duplicates" do you mean I should: Open iTunes, use my "artist" column, select an artist that I know has a duplicated song(s), and delete it? I have deleted songs before so I know how to do that, but I have never used the "Keep File" option. Nice to know! 🙂 And no, I am not worried about ratings or play counts.
OK all done! I also checked three artists that I knew had duplicate songs and the duplicates were gone. There were a lot more duplicates than I had written down, so I must have missed them.
THANK YOU!!
OK, so now onto Sync Toy. Can you please reply with another link. Also, after I select the 64 bit option and it starts to run and back up my iTunes, don't I need to transfer it to an external source? If you recommend a flash drive, then I feel I should buy another larger flash drive because I figure the one I've been using won't have enough space. So, today I just want to run Sync Toy and note where it's located on my PC so I can find it after I get another flash drive. And, please also give me instructions how to transfer Sync Toy to a flash drive IF the process is somehow different than how I have explained how I back up purchased songs each month.
Finally, do you have some kind of survey form that I can fill out so your boss will see how PLEASED I am at all the help you have given me this week?
THANKS AGAIN!
Mark
OK thanks again. Do you recommend that I use a Flash Drive? If so, how large of a Flash Drive do you recommend? After doing what you said it says the size is 27.0 GB. Also, I was wrong at first as I now believe I have around 3,500 songs on my playlist. By the way, is there a way to find out exactly how many songs I have on my playlist? Older versions used to indicate that, but not this latest version.
Also, once I download Sync Toy where will I find it again? I want to write it down on a note pad.
Use Ctrl+/ to show the status bar at the bottom of the iTunes window.
A 32Gb drive might just cover you for now. A 64Gb drive would be better, but more expensive. You can probably pick up a 1Tb hard drive for the same as 64Gb flash which would give you oodles of space, but in a bigger less convenient package. It really is up to you to work out what suits you best.
Once installed SyncToy will be available in the Start Menu.
tt2
OK, I was close. I currently have 3,543 songs on my playlist.
I will price the cost of 32 and 64 GB flash drives. What is a "1Tb" hard drive?
Since I only have around 40 minutes left today, I will download the 64 bit Sync Toy on Monday morning.
I cannot tell you enough how helpful you have been, even if I didn't understand most of your "computer speak." 🙂 Thanks also for your patience with that.
Next time I come to this forum is there a way that I can deal with only you again. Do you have a contact number or code?
Mark
iTunes Playlist Icon Question
