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Problems Importing mp3 file into iMovie Project

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I have edited a video in iMovie and wanted to put some music under. My friend sent me the mp3 file of his own composed music. I imported it and it shows up under the iTunes pane, but it is greyed out and iTunes does not allow me to drag and drop it into the project. A window shows up saying "iTunes cannot locate the original source". Is there a way to go around iTunes? How do I get an original music file into iMovie?

I tried to convert it to a quicktime movie file and import it as a movie into events, but this didn't work either. It kept being greyed out

Any ideas?
Thank you
 
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A window shows up saying "iTunes cannot locate the original source"
That indicates that the mp3 file is no longer on your computer. Where did you import it from?
 
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I received it by email and downloaded it on my computer. I just checked. It is still there.
 
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chas_m

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What happens if you simply DRAG the original MP3 file straight from the email into your project window in iMovie?
 
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I tried it but it doesn't work. I have to download the file. And when I download it opens up automatically with iTunes.
 
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chas_m

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By this I take it you mean that the "email" you're referring to is NOT on your local hard drive but is in fact on a server -- probably that you are accessing through a web browser (ie, webmail)?
 
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Yes, this is correct. In the meantime I downloaded the file again from the email and saved it on my hard drive and this time it worked! Not sure why it didn't work the first time!
 
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chas_m

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The reason it didn't work the first time is because the file was not on your computer, it was on the mail server somewhere. Now that you have a copy on your computer's hard drive, iMovie (and everything else) can access it.
 

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