iPod The song ______ can not be used because the original file can not be found." What??

[Whackintosh]

I'm not at all sure what to do. All of a sudden, when I try opening roughly 80% of my Itunes library, I get the message "The song ______ can not be used because the original file can not be found. Would you like to locate it?" . I haven't changed anything with regards to where my music files are stored on my drive, and I'm not sure what prompted this to happen, or how to fix it. Can anyone help?

 

[dukebound85]

i have had that too and I did not want to relocate each and every one of them again

Here is what I would do

1) Move all your music/app/etc files to a folder on dektop
2) Nuke the remaining stuff in the itunes folder...namely the xml and library file
**note that this will delete all your playlitsts and ratings

3) in itunes, select all the titles and delete them

4) drag the folder you had made in step one into itunes, effectivly reimporing your muisc



There may be a more elegant solution but not one that I have found

 

[Lloyd Christmas]

you could always use your time machine back up. this way you are able to keep your playlists and the such. the same thing has happened to me a few times, i usually just bit the bullet and found each file by itself. this was before i got smart and invested in an external for my back ups. Lloyd

 

[Whackintosh]

No time machine backup, I'm afraid.

Would my best option be to do a restore from my Ipod itself?

Incidentally, my laptop is a MBP but my desktop is a PC, and my Itunes files is on my PC. Getting an Imac at the end of the week so I`ll finally break the Windows chains, so I need to have my Itunes library in shape before I move everything over. Help!

 

[Whackintosh]

PROBLEM SOLVED! For some reason, Itunes had decided that my music folder was in an altogether different drive on my system. Not sure how this came to be (!), but pointing it back to the right drive has solved all troubles. Big relief!