iTunes 12.7.3.46 isuue

I launched iTunes today for the first time in a while. Every song in my library had an (!) next to it. I selected a random file and right clicked on it, then clicked "show in finder". I got the following message: "The song “name of song goes here" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I then opened finder and navigated to the following: Music >iTunes>iTunes Media>Music. If memory serves, this is where my music should be and I have never changed the location of my music. Any thoughts as to where it might be or how to get it back?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Mike

Current system specs:
High Sierra 10.13.3
iTunes 12.7.3.46 (installed Jan. 24,2018) via the App Store update.

The music files are located here:

Macintosh HD/Users/your user name/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/

You'll see folders from there which contain the name of the artist or album.

You can follow this guide which shows how to repair/rebuild your music library.

Thank you for the link. Unfortunately it didn't work. I understand where my music files are located but mine are supposed to be in iTunes Media/Music. Not that it matters. When I followed the instructions, there was no library to export because the iTunes Media/Music folder was empty. Is there a way to add the files back into my library from a time machine back up? Thanks

I found a copy of my music on my time machine back up drive. I opened iTunes, went to File, Add to Library and imported all my music from the back up. After all the music was added back into iTunes, I did another back up ... just in case. All is good now. Thank you again for your help, I do appreciate it.

Mike

Thanks for posting back. Good for you for keeping a Time Machine backup! Keep up the good work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Mike

Click to expand...

Hopefully this might help fix your iTunes problem Mike:
How to Fix iTunes Original File Could Not Be Found Error
https://www.lifewire.com/fix-itunes-original-file-could-not-be-found-2000494

I don't know if it's much different from the fix link that Charles posted.




- Patrick
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… I did another back up … just in case. All is good now.

Click to expand...

Good to hear and iTunes can be annoying and a PITA at times. But nice when it works as it should.



- Patrick
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chscag said:

Thanks for posting back. Good for you for keeping a Time Machine backup! Keep up the good work.

Click to expand...

Thanks again.

pm-r said:

Good to hear and iTunes can be annoying and a PITA at times. But nice when it works as it should.



- Patrick
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Click to expand...

Thank you Patrick

I found a copy of my music on my time machine back up drive.

Click to expand...

Just thinking here that it seems a bit odd that one was able to rescue the music from a time machine backup yet the original didn't work.

I guess its database was confused as to where the tunes were and your method forced it to build a new good working one. Good thinking and it seems like a good method to use if and when needed.

Fairly simple as well.




- Patrick
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