Help with missing iTunes songs

[mike2874]

I'm trying to help my son get his iTunes folder straightened out and was looking for a little help. As you can see he has no Media folder so his iTunes is using the older folder structure. Is there a way to convert over to the newer folder structure without causing a complete mess and not loosing all his Playlists?

Not sure how it got this way but if you look at the image I posted (Libraries > Music > iTunes > iTunes Music) it only shows a portion of his library. If you note there is a Music folder within the iTunes Music folder on the next image and that's where most of his music library is.

I need to get everything consolidated like it should be but don't know how. Just since yesterday he's missing whole Playlists, songs in Playlists and songs within Albums in iTunes... even though they are all intact within the iTunes folder.

I uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes today hoping for a miracle but still missing songs in iTunes. He can't think of anything that's changed on his Windows 7 computer since yesterday but something clearly happened.

I don't know if iTunes suddenly got confused on where the songs are located or not. Any suggestions?

 

[twerppoet]

When you import music into iTunes from a folder on the computer you are given the choice of importing it into iTunes Media folder, or leaving the music in place. If you choose the second then iTunes only points at the music. If something happens to those external folders, or iTunes loses track of where they are on the computer, then you get issues.

If the missing music is still in the original folders, you should be able to import it again. If not, then you’ll have to find those files and import them from where they are now. If for some reason the original music was deleted, then you are out of luck unless you can find and import copies from somewhere else.

While many people prefer the old method of manually organizing/saving their music into folders, this is a problem for most modern music apps; which can easily lose track of music files that are stored outside that app’s control.

If this is not what is happening, please add more details and I’ll guess again.

 

[mike2874]

Well twerppoetI literally confused I can't figure out what's going on and was hoping for some specific instructions on how to proceed. My son is blind so (uses JAWS) and using iTunes is not my strong point. His music consists of Cd's imported as Wav files, Albums purchased from iTunes and Live albums purchased online & downloaded. I thought as long as you had everything checked in Advanced Preferences to keep everything organized anytime you purchased or imported into iTunes it should go into one consolidated place?

I'm totally confused on how to proceed. I don't think he should have music in the iTunes Music folder and then within that folder a Music folder that includes 3/4 of his music collection. I just want everything in one place and it shows up in iTunes.

Would having iTunes Match help with the organization?

 

[twerppoet]

My mistake. You are right. If Keep Media Files Organized was checked then all music should have been imported into iTunes own library structure.

Looking over you the structure of you’re iTunes music folder, it looks pretty much the same as mine. The difference are probably the verison of iTunes and the fact that mine is on a Mac. Anyway, I can’t see anything obviously wrong with it; and it’s a bad idea to modify it manually.


Since there are three sources of music, lets see if we can narrow down the problem. What music is missing? Is it the iTunes purchased music, the imported CD’s, or the music downloaded from other online sources?

If it is the iTunes purchased music, then it’s probably a problem with the account. Check to make sure you are signed into the iTunes account in iTunes. You can also contact the iTunes Store Support for this kind of issue. It’s free.

If it’s the downloaded music, make sure it’s not in that Public music folder (or elsewhere on the computer). While iTunes is currently set up to add all imported music to it’s own folders, it may not have been that way when the those trackes were imported.

As for the CD’s, if they were imported using iTunes, then I don’t see how they would could end up anywhere else. If they are missing, and/or the other imported music; then the easiest solution would be to restore the iTunes library from a backup (if you have one).


Turning on iTunes Match only helps for iOS devices, or if you keep your library on two or more computers. I can go into more details on how it works if you want, but I dont’ think it is relevant to your current problem.

 

[mike2874]

Thanks for replying twerppoet.

It turns out it songs are missing from purchases from iTunes, imported cds, and purchases on the internet... just randomly missing.

I do have his iTunes folder backed up to an external drive that is from back in May that I’ll try restoring to. Hopefully this should fix the issue since it just occurred a few days ago.

 

[twerppoet]

Ok. From your description it’s either because something happend to the files themselves, or the library file got corrupted. Restoring from a backup should fix either of those.

Good luck.