Any iTunes experts out there? Need to mend my library

[OneDay]

I have nearly 10,000 tunes on my iPod, all of which play fine and the tags are updated (last played, star ratings etc). I also have a number of playlists set up which also work fine.

My issue is that I have built this collection over a number of years and on two or three different computers. All my music files are now in one place (on an external hard drive). However, iTunes still has the files listed in the .xml file in their original locations, so many of them cannot be found by iTunes. (so whereas a file may now be at, say, S:/music/artist/album/file, iTunes thinks it should still be at C:/My music/iTunes/artist/album)

So my question is this: is there a way to tell iTunes where all the individual files are now without having to click on each one and locate it (for example by doing a find/replace in the xml file)?

[promark]

I don't have itunes installed anymore to check, but in preferences > advanced (i think) you can change the path to the itunes media library, maybe you have already done that

[jed2705]

In preferences > advanced there is a tick box for copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library, if you deselect the box then use File>Add Folder to Library you should be able to import all the files from your external drive without them being added to the iTunes media folder. If you are feeling brave, and are sure everything is on the external drive, you could delete everything from iTunes then copy all the files back in.

[OneDay]

Thanks Jed. Ive got a feeling if I do that I'll lose all my playcounts etc

[jed2705]

Don't know if this is of any use to you, uneasysilence.com/how-to-backup-your-windows-itunes/. It seems that if you make copies of these two files, iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml, which contain all your playlist and playcount information you can paste them back in to your itunes folder on a fresh install.

Paul

[ragjoy]

if you have a store local too you just go in there and they will be more than happy to sort it out for you.
there very helpful in there shops.
you might find booking a 20 min slot with there tech people the best way, just ring to do this or i think you can book it online.

[santa668]

Yes, OneDay, you can do a find and replace on all those locations - useful if you want to quickly move your library from one hard drive to another (unless iTunes manages your music, in which case it's much easier). If I remember rightly (it's been years since I last did this), you edit the "iTunes Library.xml" file, then delete (or rather, move to a different location - just in case ) the "iTunes Library.itl". iTunes then rebuilds the library from the xml file. The instructions should be on google somewhere...

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Ah, here's one: apple discussion link and an older but clearer explanation - makeuseof.com link and aha, a more detailed explanation - hifiblog link.
Can't seem to find one which references iTunes 11 so don't know if there's been any changes to the process - but remember, back up back up back up!

I can't remember what happened to my playcounts when I did it - *possibility* of losing them, but YMMV. The major difficulty is that everything gets added in with the date of the move, losing your original date added.