another itunes question (sounds, reset, connected, program)

[Rtom45]

Recently put a song in itunes library from the itunes store. When I tried to sync the ipod, only the new song was added. Got a message that said all the other music couldn't be found. So the ipod now has 1 song on it. All the music still shows up in the library, but I can't tranfer it to the ipod. Any thoughts?

[Sayantsi]

Have you tried to play any of the songs in iTunes? Do you get a little symbol to the left of the song when you try to play it? It sounds like iTunes cannot find the music files on your computer - did you move the folder the music resides in? Do you use any other applications to play music on the computer? At some point, it sounds like you changed where the music on your computer resides, and now iTunes can no longer find it.

iTunes is a database that links to files elsewhere on your computer. It has to know where the music files are to play them or sync them. The one song you bought from the iTunes store is apparently the only song iTunes can find because it is the only song in the iTunes music directory now.

There are two ways to fix this. The simple, dirty way is to find your music files on the computer, select all of them, and drag them into iTunes. This will add them all, but it will duplicate anything already there, and if you have any ratings or playcounts you want to keep, they will all be tied to the "missing" files still. I don't recommend this unless you don't care about that information - if not, then select all the songs in iTunes and delete them (except the one you bought) so you don't have duplicates. Otherwise -

In iTunes, go to Preferences, then Advanced.
You will see at the top a sections called "iTunes Music Folder location"
Whatever that file path is, that's where your one song is, and that's where iTunes looks for songs.

You need to either change that location to where all your music is, or move all your music into that directory. You can manually do that, or have iTunes do it for you. Also, make sure the two check boxes below are selected.

To manually move your music files in, you need to find them all in one Explorer/Finder window, find the iTunes music folder in another window, and drag all the music files into the iTunes directory. Once you do that, iTunes should find all your music.

To automatically do it, go to File->Library->Consolidate Library. This will have iTunes search your entire computer and move all the music files into the iTunes music directory. I'm not sure if it will create duplicates or not of what's in iTunes.

[scarmig]

Having played with iTunes a bit, I had this problem a *LOT* because I kept my music on a shared drive that only connected when I wanted it.

I dumped iTunes and went with WinAmp and have been much happier. It doesn't reset the entire library if I accidentally start it without connecting to the shared drive first.

[Sayantsi]

You're talking about something different - you kept your library on a mounted drive, so if you start iTunes with the drive not mounted, it will not be able to find the music. You have to mount the drive then start iTunes so the links are made - it doesn't reset the library, it just will not make links once you've started iTunes without any music present. If the music isn't available because you didn't load the drive, no program will find it.