How do I get rid of the exclamation points?!?!

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How do I get rid of the exclamation points?!?!

I've used three computers to get music from the Store or to get music from CD's. I've got the iTunes folders from all three computers consolidated into one on the computer I wish to use from now on. The titles of all songs are listed when iTunes first starts up, but when I click on many of the titles I get a message stating: "
The song <songTitle> could be be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?".

I can find each song just fine right where I'd expect it to be, and from then on that song is OK. There are hundreds of titles in this state. Is there any way to get iTunes to rebuild it's index of titles so that it can find them all by itself?

Custom AMD Windows, Windows XP Pro, 4 GB RAM, 2 TB Disks, Dual graphics cards, etc. etc.

Posted on Jun 15, 2007 7:48 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 16, 2007 6:13 AM in response to RichardRay

I have the same problem. Others in this forum have experienced it in earlier posts. It seems most people started having these problems as well as a few others after the 7.2 upgrade. I can attest to that.

I cannot update my ipod with any new podcasts even though they show up in the itunes music folder on the hard drive.

Plus, the itunes libray cannot copy items onto the ipod. I hope Apple comes out with a fix soon.

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Answer 2

StarDeb55

Level 6

19,695 points

Jun 16, 2007 7:14 AM in response to RichardRay

Is the location of the iTunes music folder correct in your iTunes preferences?

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Answer 3

Jun 16, 2007 7:30 AM in response to RichardRay

i have a similar problem when i try to locate the song where the message saying song can not be found comes up i cant find the song at all. has any one found a way to overcome this problem?

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Answer 4

StarDeb55

Level 6

19,695 points

Jun 16, 2007 7:36 AM in response to plumbum29

Your problem is slightly different than the original poster's. I would ask that you go back to the forum main page, click on the "start a new topic" link at the top, & start your own thread. It can get very confusing, very quickly, to help multiple people on the same thread whose problems are slightly different. It's also more courteous to the original poster not to disrupt their thread. Thanks!

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Answer 5

RichardRay Author

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Jun 16, 2007 7:47 AM in response to StarDeb55

Is the location of the iTunes music folder correct in
your iTunes preferences?

I created a new folder at

'C:\Documents and Settings\<logonName\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music 3'

into which I consolidated all music. That file is set as the location in the Preferences.

I also ran 'Consolidate Library'.

The odd thing is that iTunes seems to see the title, but can't find the content. 'iTunes Music Library.xml' has the location key set incorrectly for the titles that can't be found: either it points to the volume from which the music was copied, or to a different folder in the new iTunes directory.

I'm tempted to fire up a text editor and do a bulk replace on the incorrect key and see what that does. Is there a way to get iTunes to rebuild the xml document by just pointing it at a directory that contains all the music to be indexed?

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Answer 6

StarDeb55

Level 6

19,695 points

Jun 16, 2007 7:57 AM in response to RichardRay

I'm not sure but re-creating the iTunes library may help. Haven't had to do it on a PC in a long time, so that is the basis of my hesitation. See what you think.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313

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Answer 7

RichardRay Author

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Jun 16, 2007 8:14 AM in response to StarDeb55

I see what you mean. The doc referenced seems to import the old xml, not rebuild one based on the new structure of the music folder. OTOH, maybe I'll back everything up and give it a shot.

Thanks for help, all, I'm going to be off line for a few days. I'll check back when I'm can access again.

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Answer 8

Litchon

Level 1

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Jun 16, 2007 8:14 AM in response to RichardRay

I have the same problem since I installed itunes 7. The problem disapears when I close i-tune and open it again but then the exclamation point comes back in front of another song... Moreover, I have a message error no 48 saying that the sync cannot be done (but in fact it works well).
So, I can't help but I hope someone will find out the solution:-)

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