Where are my music files?

Ah, do you have a subscription to either iTunes Match or Apple Music? If so have you enabled Sync Library yet? Alternatively if you've been fortunately to retain the content on the iPhone 13 having had it copied from a previous device see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community.

tt2

The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes or Music expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, the drive it lives on has had a name change, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). It is also possible that iTunes or Music have changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place, or that you've been too aggressive when deleting duplicates at some point.

Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Cmd-I to get Song Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location the library thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drives. Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive label has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. If everything is where it is supposed to be try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Mac - Apple Community.

In some cases the library may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info, or when playing a track, but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.

If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:

1. The location of the media folder under iTunes|Music > Preferences > Advanced
2. The location of a sample missing track shown under Song Info > File > Location that begins file://
3. The true path to the file whose details you gave in 2

See also FixLinks - an AppleScript to repair broken links in Music - Apple Community.

tt2

Hello, Staynavytom.

We understand that you're attempting to play songs that you've imported to Music on your new MacBook, and you see the error shown in the screenshot. It appears you're attempting to play from The Top 25 Most Played playlist, and your Mac is unable to find the song.

Are you able to locate the song(s) using the steps in "Locate your Music files" here? This may give you a clue about where they're located:

Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support

Check to see if the song is listed in Songs just above your playlists. If it isn't, you may be able to find your missing music using Finder, try the steps outlined in "If a song no longer appears in Music" next.

Warmest Regards.

In Music see Music > Preferences > Files tab for the media folder location. Not sure if there was a missing screenshot that showed the location.

Your answer 2: - file:///Users/thomasboyer/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Café Chillout Music Club/Paraiso del Mar - Café Chill Out Music at Paraiso del Mar Lounge Ibiza 2011/01 Rio del Mar.m4a - shows the expected location for this file. Can you find the file called 01 Rio del Mar.m4a somewhere? If not do you still have the old Macbook?

tt2

The Music Media folder location is typical for a library that started out in iTunes pre-Catalina and has been migrated into the Music app. One expect to see the music somewhere inside that iTunes Media folder. Do you not see anything inside that folder?

The list of associated devices you posted earlier shows devices or computers that have been used to download content from your purchase history. Adding your computer to that list won't suddenly give it access to content you don't actually have. Without more information to go on if seems as if you may have moved the database from one computer or OS version to another, but left the media behind. Do you still have access to a previous computer or backup that would have all of your media?

tt2

So nothing if you drill down through Music and then artist to album? Just empty folders? Is there a Time Machine backup or any device that has your music on it? Prospects for recovery are not looking hopeful.

tt2

See Authorization vs. association - Apple Community for more on that device list.

tt2