I can no longer play my iTunes music, DVD work outs or some of my audible books. I looked on support sites and tried to correct the problem but with each attempt, I lost more information. I sent an inquiry to Macx.com on Sunday, but have not received a reply yet. I am not sure the question went through because as I was attempting to enter information about my system it kicked me off the page and I was unable to return to it.
I have a MacBookPro, with Leopard 10.5.6 version, 2.2 Ghz Intel core, 2 GB Memory. My new external HD is a WD Passport Elite. I am slightly more than a beginner tech person. I have worked on computers primarily during the last 6 years. Initially a Dell PC for word processing, e-mail, and a tiny bit of publisher stuff. When I bought my first iPod about 5 years ago, I decided to use my husbands Mac lap top to create my music library rather than my PC (mostly because a friend who was helping me was more familiar with Macs and because when we go to Mexico for a couple months each winter we would only have his lap top along). So as not to tie up his computers HD with my music, I bought my old ext. HD that I stored all the music, etc. on from the beginning. Over the years, I have copied all my CDs onto my old ext. HD, as well as books on tape, work out DVDs etc. and accessed them problem free. In the fall of 2007, as I was retiring from a job that I used my desktop PC - I finally bought my own Mac lap top (and have barely turned the PC on since), and bought a new iPod (when my original one died).
With a bit of help from my friend, I was able to make my old ext HD full of music, etc. work on my new computer, and was able to transfer my play lists (but not my ratings) from my husbands computer to mine. I worked back and forth between our computers to get the library on my new computer caught up (with ratings). And then, now that I finally had my own Mac I seriously went through my song list, item by item to rate it, eliminate duplicates, pick out my favorite versions of particular songs, and really worked on play lists. I was almost done with this process. And was looking forward to completing it and going beyond this winter while I am in Mexico.
Shortly before leaving the USA, the fire wire cable stopped working on my old ext. HD. I was concerned that it might stop working on USB as well so the day before departing to Mexico, I began copying music to a new ext. HD to travel with. Its been down hill ever since.
First, I did not know that I could/should export/import all my play lists and ratings until it was too late. I just expected my new ext. HD to work as my old one did with the same library, which was not the case. After following a friends advise to erase my old library (because it related to my old ext. hd) then bringing the music, etc. back into my library from my new ext hd. I also was able to find some play lists as text files that I was able to import as well, but unfortunately, I didnt know to export new and updated play lists and ratings before deleting my old library. So I arrived in Mexico with the ability to play most of the items (some still said it could not locate the file folder), and with some of my play lists.
In Mexico, I noticed that the song list in some of my play lists were in the same order as the play lists were on my iPod (which were organized by ratings) so I was able to get those ratings re-entered as well. So, at this point, I had a music library with some of the songs working, some of my play lists and some of my ratings in my library. I was hoping to get some more rating info off of my husbands computer, but his internal HD died last summer, and he had a new HD installed on his Mac, I hadnt realized he lost the music library I still had there. (I guess I should have deactivated his computer but I hadnt). He doesnt play music, so he wasnt aware that it was gone either.
Then I had the hope that all the songs on my iPod which had ratings (but were not in play lists would transfer the ratings if I synced my iPod on my computer. I intended to do this manually and slowly so I could check to see if I was successful. I held down the option + command keys when connecting my ipod, but it began syncing anyway. I guess I didnt hold they keys long enough. I did not gain the ratings from my iPod into the library, and I lost the nearly 80 GB of rated playable music and audio books that had been on my iPod (about half of my library),
I was so discouraged! I have been looking on line at support sites trying to figure out solutions. I followed advice entitled iTunes for Mac/ Moving your iTunes Music folder that didnt work, and I am afraid I made things worse. Because then, the next day when I went to play an exercise DVD, I received the message that it couldnt locate the file. I had successfully been able to play these the previous two weeks that I have been in Mexico. I then found that I was no longer able to play any music too. From iTunes library, I am able to play some podcasts and some of my audio books, thats it.
I did discover that I am able to play music directly from my ext.hd. if I select the song from the list on the ext. hd window rather than the iTunes library window. And I can see that the path to the music folder is different on my ext hd, than it is on the get info window for the same song. (see snapshot). So I tried consolidating the music to see if that would solve it but it didnt. I dont understand when to consolidate, and when not to.
I think I should export the library again; then open a new library window, drag all the songs from my hard drive into it again, and then import the library xml or txt back in. but I am afraid to try anything else until I hear back from you, since each step I take makes things worse.
Also after re-syncing my iPod, and wiping out so much music there too, of the play lists I do still have - they loaded incompletely onto my iPod. For example a play list that has 12 songs on my iTunes library shows up as only 5 songs on my iPod. The time I spend in Mexico is the time I most enjoy my music and Mac but so far this year it has been a nightmare. I wish I would have just left it all home, along with my old hard drive so everything would still be intact somewhere. Had I known how difficult this would all get..
What help can you give me? Getting music back on itunes, getting play lists back, getting ratings back, getting ipod music back?
I have a MacBookPro, with Leopard 10.5.6 version, 2.2 Ghz Intel core, 2 GB Memory. My new external HD is a WD Passport Elite. I am slightly more than a beginner tech person. I have worked on computers primarily during the last 6 years. Initially a Dell PC for word processing, e-mail, and a tiny bit of publisher stuff. When I bought my first iPod about 5 years ago, I decided to use my husbands Mac lap top to create my music library rather than my PC (mostly because a friend who was helping me was more familiar with Macs and because when we go to Mexico for a couple months each winter we would only have his lap top along). So as not to tie up his computers HD with my music, I bought my old ext. HD that I stored all the music, etc. on from the beginning. Over the years, I have copied all my CDs onto my old ext. HD, as well as books on tape, work out DVDs etc. and accessed them problem free. In the fall of 2007, as I was retiring from a job that I used my desktop PC - I finally bought my own Mac lap top (and have barely turned the PC on since), and bought a new iPod (when my original one died).
With a bit of help from my friend, I was able to make my old ext HD full of music, etc. work on my new computer, and was able to transfer my play lists (but not my ratings) from my husbands computer to mine. I worked back and forth between our computers to get the library on my new computer caught up (with ratings). And then, now that I finally had my own Mac I seriously went through my song list, item by item to rate it, eliminate duplicates, pick out my favorite versions of particular songs, and really worked on play lists. I was almost done with this process. And was looking forward to completing it and going beyond this winter while I am in Mexico.
Shortly before leaving the USA, the fire wire cable stopped working on my old ext. HD. I was concerned that it might stop working on USB as well so the day before departing to Mexico, I began copying music to a new ext. HD to travel with. Its been down hill ever since.
First, I did not know that I could/should export/import all my play lists and ratings until it was too late. I just expected my new ext. HD to work as my old one did with the same library, which was not the case. After following a friends advise to erase my old library (because it related to my old ext. hd) then bringing the music, etc. back into my library from my new ext hd. I also was able to find some play lists as text files that I was able to import as well, but unfortunately, I didnt know to export new and updated play lists and ratings before deleting my old library. So I arrived in Mexico with the ability to play most of the items (some still said it could not locate the file folder), and with some of my play lists.
In Mexico, I noticed that the song list in some of my play lists were in the same order as the play lists were on my iPod (which were organized by ratings) so I was able to get those ratings re-entered as well. So, at this point, I had a music library with some of the songs working, some of my play lists and some of my ratings in my library. I was hoping to get some more rating info off of my husbands computer, but his internal HD died last summer, and he had a new HD installed on his Mac, I hadnt realized he lost the music library I still had there. (I guess I should have deactivated his computer but I hadnt). He doesnt play music, so he wasnt aware that it was gone either.
Then I had the hope that all the songs on my iPod which had ratings (but were not in play lists would transfer the ratings if I synced my iPod on my computer. I intended to do this manually and slowly so I could check to see if I was successful. I held down the option + command keys when connecting my ipod, but it began syncing anyway. I guess I didnt hold they keys long enough. I did not gain the ratings from my iPod into the library, and I lost the nearly 80 GB of rated playable music and audio books that had been on my iPod (about half of my library),
I was so discouraged! I have been looking on line at support sites trying to figure out solutions. I followed advice entitled iTunes for Mac/ Moving your iTunes Music folder that didnt work, and I am afraid I made things worse. Because then, the next day when I went to play an exercise DVD, I received the message that it couldnt locate the file. I had successfully been able to play these the previous two weeks that I have been in Mexico. I then found that I was no longer able to play any music too. From iTunes library, I am able to play some podcasts and some of my audio books, thats it.
I did discover that I am able to play music directly from my ext.hd. if I select the song from the list on the ext. hd window rather than the iTunes library window. And I can see that the path to the music folder is different on my ext hd, than it is on the get info window for the same song. (see snapshot). So I tried consolidating the music to see if that would solve it but it didnt. I dont understand when to consolidate, and when not to.
I think I should export the library again; then open a new library window, drag all the songs from my hard drive into it again, and then import the library xml or txt back in. but I am afraid to try anything else until I hear back from you, since each step I take makes things worse.
Also after re-syncing my iPod, and wiping out so much music there too, of the play lists I do still have - they loaded incompletely onto my iPod. For example a play list that has 12 songs on my iTunes library shows up as only 5 songs on my iPod. The time I spend in Mexico is the time I most enjoy my music and Mac but so far this year it has been a nightmare. I wish I would have just left it all home, along with my old hard drive so everything would still be intact somewhere. Had I known how difficult this would all get..
What help can you give me? Getting music back on itunes, getting play lists back, getting ratings back, getting ipod music back?