iPod Exclamation Mark - Simple Solution !

[kblo]

ok, i'm not asking for help.
i was just too happy for finding the great solution for this problem i was enduring for a while and wanted to share:

i have an external drive with all my music. but all this description would work just the same for an ipod. when i or sb else try to play a song with the ext hd out, itunes doesn't find it and keeps the ****ing "!" besides it (and doesn't play it anymore). itunes believes it's dead.

BUT IT'S NOT DEAD. IT DIDN'T EVEN CHANGE ITS LOCATION!

even if i reconnect the ext hd, it won't play that songs till i expecitly choose it. what can be quite boring when there are too many songs like that and i have to double click them one by one.
an alternative would be restarting the library from scratch, but i'd loose my ratings, playing counters, etc.

so, this link

http://blog.davenicoll.com/2009/04/...rack-with-an-exclamation-mark-is-not-missing/

just gave me the final solution: start itunes pressing the "ctrl" key. (with the hd/ipod connected, for sure)
and those marks will be gone! simple like that!

that's it. hope to be helping.

 

[GGJstudios]

Glad you found it, but it's old news:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8645561#post8645561
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/699165/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/665566/

 

[kblo]

well, i'm maybe too dumb. but i haven't seen there the solution i propose here. neither a simpler one. neither an easier to find, in a 20+-post thread and that was the idea of this post, as its title makes clear.

an important point on which depend the solutions there proposed doesn't work in my case:
my music doesn't fit an only drive. for that, i don't have a "itunes music" folder. neither can keep my music and my library at the same one drive.

the last link don't actually refer to the same problem as i do.

the 2nd one gets close, but it still talks about dialog boxes and choosing databases. that's not what i say. you simply click over itunes icon, and keep ctrl typed till the itunes window opens. and it's done.

 

[GGJstudios]

well, i'm maybe too dumb. but i haven't seen there the solution i propose here. ...

From your link:

just hold down Ctrl (aka “Option”) while starting iTunes (tested on a Mac).

(which isn't accurate, since the Control key is different from the Alt/Option key.)

From the threads I posted:

You can select different iTunes Library files (a.k.a. databases, they use the *.itl extension on Windows) at startup by holding down option.

...Hold down the "option" key on your keyboard and then click on the iTunes icon ...

... open iTunes with the 'Option' key held down.

 

[kblo]

From your link:
(which isn't accurate, since the Control key is different from the Alt/Option key.)

so, don't care about the link. it's corrected in my explanation.
what, by the way, overcomes all the other quotes.

 

[GGJstudios]

so, don't care about the link. it's corrected in my explanation.
what, by the way, overcomes all the other quotes.

Holding the Control key while starting iTunes does nothing. I have songs in my iTunes library on my internal drive. I also have songs and videos on an external drive, since my whole library won't fit on my internal drive. If I attempt to play a song that is on the external drive that's not connected, iTunes asks if I want to locate the song. If I click "Cancel", iTunes marks the song with the exclamation mark. If I quit iTunes and and start it again without holding any keys, the exclamation mark is gone, even if the drive is still not connected. It only returns when I attempt to play or Get Info on that song again while the external drive is not connected.

 

[kblo]

Holding the Control key while starting iTunes does nothing.

well, here it does.

I have songs in my iTunes library on my internal drive. I also have songs and videos on an external drive, since my whole library won't fit on my internal drive. If I attempt to play a song that is on the external drive that's not connected, iTunes asks if I want to locate the song. If I click "Cancel", iTunes marks the song with the exclamation mark. If I quit iTunes and and start it again without holding any keys, the exclamation mark is gone, even if the drive is still not connected. It only returns when I attempt to play or Get Info on that song again while the external drive is not connected.

lucky you. maybe another version of itunes, maybe god likes you better. but here the exclamation mark doesn't disappear, and google shows i'm not alone.

 

[GGJstudios]

well, here it does.
lucky you. maybe another version of itunes, maybe god likes you better. but here the exclamation mark doesn't disappear, and google shows i'm not alone.

There is still no functionality that exists in holding the Control key while opening an iTunes library.

 

[kblo]

There is still no functionality that exists in holding the Control key while opening an iTunes library.

well dude, if you don't wanna believe it solved my problem, and that of the guy i linked, it's up to you.

 

[GGJstudios]

well dude, if you don't wanna believe it solved my problem, and that of the guy i linked, it's up to you.

I'll believe it when I see documented facts from a credible source. I'd hardly consider some random guy's blog a credible source, especially if he thinks the Control key and the Option key are one in the same.