iTunes cannot locate my music files

[mikenyc2]

Hi all,
I am running on Compaq computer running Vista. When I import one of my playlists into the ITunes library, all is well and I can play the music fine. On the Advanced tab in Itunes, I DO NOT have checked the "Keep Itunes music Folders organized" and "Copy Files to Itunes music folder when adding to library".

All is well until I closed down ITunes and then start it up again. When I try and play music from the library, I get the exclaimation point and a message saying that is doesn't know where to find the song, do I want to find it.

Why does it work the first time I import the playlist and then after closing ITunes I lose the locations. I never move the files. I looked at the iTunes Library.xml and there is a path to each song but I don't think that ITunes is using the path.

I even deleted the iTunes Library.itl and that didn't work (I thought that the database would have been re-created from the xml file). It was like ITunes created a new database.

I need my playlists working every time. There is software for the IPhone I want to try where I can stream music from ITunes to my IPhone. This will save me on storage on my IPhone.

HELP!!

Thanks all.

 

[Jeremy]

Try putting a few songs in the iTunes Music folder and do those still show up correctly? I've never run into the problem you are having.

 

[mikenyc2]

Bad Ash,
I see the problem. It is a bug in ITunes. When I import a winamp m3u file, it does the import but does not keep the location correctly. ITunes leaves out the drive letter. When I drag/drop a folder, then that works fine and the drive letter in ITunes Library xml file. I should be able to use an m3u file (since it is allowed by ITunes) where I have my music set up the way I like it, not haphazardly when u drop in a folder.

Thanks for your help, I think this is a Apple issue.

Mike

 

[Jeremy]

How many songs do you have in that particular format? I know how frustrated you have to be at this point. I have over 40 gigs of complete cds on my computer and everything has to be perfect.