iTunes Songs Suddenly Unplayable

[lockjawdavis]

I've recently noticed an exclamation point appearing to the left of some songs in my iTunes library. When I click the song I get a message like: "This song can not be played because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" In many cases, I simply loaded these songs into iTunes from a CD.
Why are these songs suddenly disappearing? I'm lost, so any suggestions would be great.
-thx

[BigIzz]

You have probably moved them from one folder to another, changed the file name in some way or deleted the actual file.

[lockjawdavis]

None of the above, unfortunately. At least I don't remember altering or moving any of the files in question. Besides, if I take a disc and import it into iTunes, isn't iTunes then the source?

Feel free to slap me for my ignorance here...

[BigIzz]

When you import a file into iTunes, it will put the file in a specified location. The file isn't in iTunes, just the location of the file. If the file is moved in anyway, the folders name changes, the drive letter changes, etc., then iTunes won't find the file it is looking for.

Go to Get Info on a song and see where it is supposed to be. Then go into my Computer and see if the files are were iTunes expects them to be. If not, just delete the old records and drag and drop them back in.

[studogvetmed]

Did you actually import these songs are just play them in iTunes from the CD. If it was the latter, you can't play them unless the CD is still in.