"song XXX could not by used because the original file could not be found"

[bignose888]

I've noticed a bunch of songs in my i-tunes library won't play on my PC: I get the icon of the exclamation point in a circle to the left of the song name, and the message says: "song XXX could not be used because the original file could not be found." What causes this to happen to a song file in the first place, and what can I do to correct it? I tried following the instructions to locate the file, but I can't get anything to happen. Thanks!!!:

[bobb-mini]

One of the most common, but ezly fix probs.

Since u imported the song(s) to iTunes, u have moved/renamed them. DON'T!

Clear (from iTunes lib) the offending items from iTunes, re-import, and this time...

[bignose888]

thanks. i guess that means that once i import a song, i should never - NEVER - rename it or move it - is that right?
thanks again

[ataway]

Try this as well, I just moved a bunch of albums out of the Compilations directory into their Artists folders using explorer and it completly messed up my library and I ended up with lots of (!) exclamation marks and iTunes telling me "the file could not be used because the original file could not be found..... and finding them one by one wasn't an option (why can't itunes go and find them!)

So anyway select all the files (in itunes) and go Edit delete, so delete them from the library. Then go to File, Add folder to library, and load whatever folder you want. If you load your entire library (ie folder) that works.

Then to stop the stupid compilations thing sucking normal albums out of the artists directory into compilations, select all the songs in that "compilation" album, right click, get info and somewhere on that form you select that it's NOT part of a compilation.

Anyway hope that'll help someone.....and maybe Apple will put in a smart search facility so we don't have to do all thees work arounds when you move the files....

[tashabear]

Why should they, when you're the one that messed up the database in the first place?

[dwainew]

That's pretty harsh, tashabear, especially when there's no obvious batch move feature in itunes!!

Isn't that what software is supposed to do, make things easier, even if the user "messed up"? (if you could call moving your own files messing up...), make it easy to change things, move things, organize things the way you want? Is it too much to ask itunes to recognize all the files that were in drive C folder X to now be located in drive D folder Y?

My issue highlights the next obvious question that this thread fails to address. What if itunes displays the above error when the user has NOT moved any files? Should they fix that?

My files have been in the same location on my computer since I started keeping music on my computer, 2/2001, a little bit before the ipod was around. I finally broke down last year and bought an 80 GB and loaded up my 9000+ songs coming in at 45+ GB. It took quite a few hours to load up.

It's been about a month since I connected my ipod to my computer, but now EVERY song in my library "can't be found".

What a bummer, and, tashabear, THIS is why they should! Nodody's perfect. AND, changing a 200 byte path is a little better than dumping and reloading a 10+MB mp3 (times 9000), don't ya think?