I downloaded music to my itunes. It stays on for a few days & then will say file could not be found? Help!

Question

So, having played successfully, and downloaded to my ipod, it then, after a few days, says in my itunes "The song could not be used because the original could not be found. Would you like to locate it"? The file it then takes me to when I say "Yes" is one entitled 9SHUD56D. It says 'itunes' at the top of the page but holds none of my missing downloads. The files within it just appear to be unrelated internet files. I am a complete technophobe and would deeply appreciate a simple explanation on how to cure (and prevent) this problem please. I've already re-downloaded all the songs again and the same thing happened a few days later. AHHHHH! Please help this technically inept music fan. Thanks!

Answer 1

well it depends if you move the folder where the file was itunes isnt going to be able to find it

put all your music in one folder so you dont have to move it than you shouldnt have the problem anymore

Answer 2

In XP, you might not have your main drive (the 'C' drive) configured to INDEX, which will keep track of where files are stored physically on that drive making it harder to locate them later.  I also suspect you're not doing the 'disk tidy' work.

Open  'My Computer'  and right click 'C' drive > Properties > General : near the bottom of this page check both the boxes (compress & index).

It may say it will take 2-3 days to do, but this number drops drastically as the process goes along.  Still, it may take a couple of hours, so just let 'er run  till it finishes (it will close itself when done).

Next, go to 'Start' > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Defragement > Start; here again it will take some time if your screen shows a lot of red lines.  These change to blue color after they get worked on.

Next, do 'Disk Cleanup' from this same 'System Tools' folder.  Go ahead and check all the boxes, and let 'er run.

Doing all this at one sitting will take quite a while if you let these go unattended for a while, so get the habit of doing them once a week, or so.