# iTunes error message question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-error-message-question/574446 "2011-03-12T19:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-error-message-question/574446/1 "2011-03-12T19:22:46Z")
About a year ago or so, I uploaded all of my CDs to iTunes. For some reason, I get an error message on all of the rock music to the effect that “couldn’t find the original file, etc.”. I don’t understand what’s going on. It’s only the rock music. All the jazz and classical is playable, but the rock tunes have a little exclamation mark next to them and won’t play. Any ideas as to what’s going on? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-error-message-question/574446/2 "2011-03-12T19:25:29Z")
Yes. Your itunes library only has references to the original files (ie - they didn’t get copied into the library). At some point, you moved, deleted, or renamed the original files. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-error-message-question/574446/3 "2011-03-13T00:10:33Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Yes. > Your itunes library only has references to the original files (ie - they didn’t get copied into the library). At some point, you moved, deleted, or renamed the original files. So if I re-record the CDs, things should be hunky as well as dory? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-error-message-question/574446/4 "2011-03-13T01:05:56Z")
If the files are still on your hard drive, you can redirect iTunes to locate them. Double-click on a file with an exclamation point. It should bring up a message saying something like “iTunes cannot locate this file. Would you like to locate it?” Click on the Locate box. It’ll bring up a popup window with the files on your computer. Navigate to the song you want to locate, click on its file, then click “Open.” It will then ask if you want iTunes to use the location of that file to locate any other missing files. Click Find Files and the process should be automatic. It will recover the majority of your missing files. It may miss some and you’ll have to locate them manually, but it should restore most of your tunes to the library. If you deleted them altogether, then, yes, you’ll have to re-record them. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-error-message-question/574446/5 "2011-03-13T01:22:38Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > If the files are still on your hard drive, you can redirect iTunes to locate them. Double-click on a file with an exclamation point. It should bring up a message saying something like “iTunes cannot locate this file. Would you like to locate it?” Click on the Locate box. It’ll bring up a popup window with the files on your computer. Navigate to the song you want to locate, click on its file, then click “Open.” It will then ask if you want iTunes to use the location of that file to locate any other missing files. Click Find Files and the process should be automatic. It will recover the majority of your missing files. It may miss some and you’ll have to locate them manually, but it should restore most of your tunes to the library. > > If you deleted them altogether, then, yes, you’ll have to re-record them. Hard telling. I probably screwed the pooch when I transferred files from my old computer to this one. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-error-message-question/574446/6 "2011-03-13T03:52:37Z")
What OS? In Vista/7, look at C:\users(username)\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music Although that might vary a little depending on how long you’ve had iTunes on the computer and such. Do you see folders of the different artists there? Then under them, the Albums, then the songs. If the stuff isn’t there, then you didn’t tell iTunes to keep itself organized and copy things to it’s library (Edit \> Preferences \> Advanced). In which case it could be anywhere and you’ll probably need to manually search for it. If you have that structure and everything is missing, the it got lost somehow. Find it, drag it back into iTunes, delete the one with the ! next to it because that’s basically a ghost with nothing behind it.