iTunes For Windows "Song Could Not be Used"

My boilerplate for this issue is below, however the two examples you've shown suggest your tracks might not be in a conventional layout that would allow for easy repair. The locate button allows you to browse to the true location of a track, and then select it, but it needs be there, and you need some idea of where it is. My script can help when the location is predictable from the tag properties. Unfortunately it cannot read the last known location held by iTunes with a view to making some known correction to that path. Perhaps the library has legacy content from a previous computer, or the Alex profile has been removed, along with any media referenced in it.

The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes 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, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter, 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 has 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. See Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely if you're trying to access your media with any other media players.

Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter 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 Windows.

In some cases iTunes 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 another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files, or the library has been moved from OS X to Windows, then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works. It might need some tweaking if your media is in a non-standard layout.

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

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

Note the addition of file://localhost/ (and the flipped direction of slashes in Windows) is normal for a file that isn't quite where iTunes is expecting to find it.

tt2

INetCache is likely your web browser's cache, suggesting you may be playing tracks found on the web in a way that doesn't properly secure a local copy in your media folder. These are going to break the next time you clear your browser cache. Under Edit > Preferences > Advanced I would suggest you enable the Keep... and Copy... options. You might also use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate files. This should bring a copy of any track currently connected to the library, which is located outside of the media folder, and present on the computer, into your iTunes Media folder. It may also as a side effect temporarily highlight all tracks that have broken links with an exclamation mark.

Please note the repair options I suggest above can only work if the missing items are located somewhere on your computer. If they have been deleted then there is nothing to be done, apart from obtaining fresh copies from source.

tt2

Yes, if you consolidate the library then any track that is outside of the media folder and can be located, will be copied into the media folder in the normal \<Artist>\<Album>\## <Name>.<Ext> layout. Tracks that cannot be located should probably gain an exclamation mark at this point, since iTunes has noticed that they are missing. Those are reset when iTunes is relaunched.

To be sure you know what is broken in your library try the following approach.

Lost & Found Playlists

Create a playlist called Found, select everything in the Songs view (Ctrl+A) and drag it into the Found playlist. Create a smart playlist called Lost with the rule Playlist is not Found and matching with Music items. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist.

To manage duplicates see Duplicate songs in iTunes - Apple Community. The iTunes show duplicates feature doesn't distinguish between legitimate and broken files, or originals and duplicates, but my script can tidy up the listings, reducing down to one working copy of each group of dupes, which gets all of the play counts.

The term orphaned file is usually used for items that exist in the media folder but are not connected to the library for some reason. Using File > Add Folder to Library... and picking your iTunes Media folder will add in any such content without making duplicates of any items that are already connected to the library.

tt2

pb7a7 wrote:

The Lost and Found method did produce the only songs having issues. These songs are definitely not on the computer. They are the ones referenced as coming from IECache in one of my posts.

I want to try the DeDuper script, however there is a warning about backing up my library first, which is what I am ultimately wanting to do. I was trying to rid my existing library of issues prior to asking how to back the library up.

Should I just back my library up as is, then work on it, then backup the "cleaner" version?

Yes. Backup before cleanup in case you make any errors that need to be reversed.

If so, how do I go about backing the library up?

See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy - Apple Community for my advice here. It is an older tool, still available but no longer actively supported. It takes a few steps to get it working (see the comments at the bottom), but it is free and does the job nicely.

My backup endgame is for the library to be cloud or external drive based (this computer is becoming very old very soon). I have MS365 which comes with a TB of space, if the Apple based iTunes library can be sent to a Windows based cloud. Also, I have local disk drive space to back the library up there.

iTunes won't work properly unless the data is stored locally. I'd generally recommend placing the library on an external drive, which you can backup to a second for security. You can also look at Apple Music/iTunes Match if you want cloud syncing and availability from a computer that doesn't have sufficient local storage, but you should always keep original copies somewhere.

tt2

When you are signed into your Apple ID you get access to your unhidden past purchases, even in an empty library. An iTunes Match subscription lets you upload your other ripped music, or purchases from other sources, to be treated in much the same way, along with your playlists. Apple Music extends this further allowing you to also pick content from the Apple Music catalog to add to your library and playlists. These can sync across up to 10 devices and computers, no more than 5 of which can be computers. Devices like HomePod and Apple TV can also access your music collection without eating into that count.

iCloud is a separate set of data syncing services, e.g. photos, contacts, files, etc. that doesn't overlap with music.

See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community for advice on moving your library between machines.

tt2