Author Topic: itunes library disappears  (Read 2641 times)

demondenim

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itunes library disappears
« on: May 18, 2015, 09:39:57 AM »
I realize this may be inappropriate-- even outta line (and I may have spelled "disappears" wrong) but I'm compelled to go for it.

I opened my itunes library up to see that every piece of music that I hadn't purchased through itunes (read: "most") is pretty much gone ("...file could not be found...")

As a devout listener to The Best Show, I know that Tom had a similar issue...I'm also pretty sure he mentioned it was resolved.

I googled the issue but the lack of real info was depressing. I was at a wedding this weekend with a bunch of music nerd friends and no one there had experience with the issue/real advice. I am somewhere between denial and anger on the stages of grief right now.

Like I said: I realize it may be obnoxious to bring the issue here but between knowing Tom already dealt with the issue and how great a community the FOT are, I'm compelled (in part, out of desperation) to ask...

Ignore this if I'm outta line, though any and all help is appreciated.

fonpr

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Re: itunes library disappears
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2015, 12:48:40 PM »
I ran into this problem a while back. If I remember correctly, the music was in a folder. I dragged everything back into iTunes and then I had two of everything. They have a "show duplicates" option. Use that to clean things up. I left the podcasts doubled since they don't use much storage.
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yesno

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Re: itunes library disappears
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2015, 02:20:17 PM »
If you have iTunes set to manage your music/copy files to your library (which you really should), you'll have an iTunes folder.  On a Mac, it would be at ~/Music/iTunes.  (~ means "your home directory").

That iTunes folder contains several files, such as iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library.xml, and at least two folders, Album Artwork, and iTunes Media. Inside iTunes Media are several further subfolders.

Anyway, the iTunes folder, despite how you can look inside of it, is best to treat as a single unit.  You never change stuff inside it manually (though you can put music into the "Automatically Add to iTunes" subfolder). If you're adding music to iTunes from some random folder, it should make a new copy of the music in the iTunes library, and then you should delete the original files. And you never keep your music elsewhere, even though the iTunes settings give you the option to do so.  You can simply move the whole unit from place to place.  In fact, if you keep it on an external drive, you can open it on one computer, then another.  (Even between Mac & PC though that's not recommended for technical reasons I won't get into.)

One quick point:  When you add music to iTunes from *within* the iTunes folder structure, it doesn't make a new copy; it simply moves the music to a folder that is determined by the file's metadata.  This is what happens with the "Automatically Add" folder, also, if you have music in your Music subfolder that for some reason is not reflected in your library, you can just add it and it won't duplicate.  In fact, you you add your entire iTunes Music folder, that is in your iTunes library structure already, back into iTunes, it won't actually duplicate anything you already have.  Or at least, not the last time I checked.

When you launch iTunes, holding down option lets you choose to open one iTunes library or another.  It's always going to pick the last library it opened by default.  You can open different libraries in iTunes in the same sense you can open different documents in Word.

When people lose their libraries, sometimes what has happened is they have a library on an external drive, and they launch iTunes when the drive is not connected.  So iTunes creates a new, empty library in the default location, and opens that every time, until you tell it otherwise, by holding down "option" upon launch.  (Shift, I think, on a PC.)

Anyway, the above might not be at all your issue.  Your hard drive may have flaked out, etc.  But understanding exactly how iTunes deals with libraries & the location of files would save a lot of people a lot of trouble.

demondenim

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Re: itunes library disappears
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2015, 02:32:04 PM »
fonpr & yesno--

Thank you so much-- I was really just hoping for some good info to help get me started trouble shooting and I really think this will get me some traction.

I had manually moved a bunch of files into itunes from Box after a friend had set me a collection of music, so it seems the points about files (and moving stuff into itunes manually) are a good clue to get me started.

Thanks again. Hope to have a chance to return the favor.

fonpr

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Re: itunes library disappears
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2015, 07:57:58 PM »
iTunes is weird. I think this happens when they're checking for DRM violations. They wipe out your stuff and see if you "really" have it.
"Like it or not, Florida seems dedicated to a 'live fast, die' way of doing things."

BadGuyZero

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Re: itunes library disappears
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2015, 08:27:09 PM »
It's probably U2 clearing some space so they can leave a special gift for you.

buffcoat

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Re: itunes library disappears
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2015, 09:21:14 PM »
It's probably U2 clearing some space so they can leave a special gift for you.


Solid work.
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!