Bonnir wrote:
I have read that my pc randomly stashes some bits in places itunes can find, so what is the solution?
Ignore that, it's not relevant and will not help you sort out the issue. (A computer stores the data in the spaces it can find, so that would appear to be random. That's very different to what iTunes does.)
iTunes tidily stores the files by album title in a folder for that artist, or by compilation album title (each separate song is a "file" as far as your computer is concerned). So all the songs on one album should be in the same folder.
Look in your iTunes folder, for the iTunes Music (or possibly the iTunes Media) folder. In there;
- you will find a folder for each artist for which you have an album. In that folder will be the songs for that particular album
- if you have any compilation (various artist) albums, you will also see a Compilations folder. In the compilations folder will be a folder for each compilation album in your Library. In that folder will be the songs on that album
The exclamation mark tells you that the file for that song is no longer where it was when you added it to iTunes. So the first question is, have you been moving the files (using Windows Explorer) or renaming them after adding them to iTunes (or even deleting them)? If so - don't. If you have, move them back where they were, or rename them back to the original filename. (We'll come to getting them working in your library in a moment.)
Now that you understand how iTunes stores the files for your songs;
- choose an album that has a missing song
- find the folder for that album in Windows Explorer
- if you cannot find the correct folder (but the other songs on the album play okay), in your Library choose a working song on that album and right-click/Show in Windows Explorer. That will open the folder with that song in it and the rest of the songs should also be there
- check the folder to see if the missing song is there. If it is, correct whatever you did that caused iTunes to lose track of it. If it isn't there, post back here and I can give you further tips on finding the file
- once you know where the file is located, go back into your iTunes Library and select (or possibly) double-click the "missing" song. You should see a message asking if you want to locate the missing file; yes you do. Now use that to navigate to the location of the file, select it and click on Open (or OK). The song should now play
Once we confirm why the songs have gone missing, we can take steps to avoid it happening in the future.
