lots of broken song links in itunes! help!

[derangedgoose]

ive been searching the forums for hours. today i opened up itunes to find that a good chunk of my music (all from the limewire folder) is missing! not all of my limewire music was deleted, but a good number of songs from a whole lot of artists. they are listed in my itunes with an exclamation mark, denoting a broken link, but the files are on my ipod. i ALREADY searched my hard drive for traces of the songs, but no such luck. and i didnt "accidentally" delete anything from the limewire folder (i never go in there anyway). Worst come to worst, is there anyway i can get them from my ipod onto my hd? i really dont want to have to redownload these songs. many thanks for your help.

[derangedgoose]

wtf can i please get some help here

[Only A Hobo]

Do not plug your iPod into the computer! That's the first thing.

There are applications to get the files back off the iPod despite Apple's assurances that it is impossible I can not find the name of any at present. Googling should work. If I find out I shall post back.

Why the files are lost is a mystery to me and perhaps you should leave the iPod alone until you have solved that. .... were you sharing all the songs you have lost?

[dullboy]

Yes, I get the same problem where some of my downloaded songs on iTunes all of a sudden won't play anymore and that damn ! exclamation mark comes up. Sometimes the songs are still on my hard drive and I can access them via Real Player, but how the hell do you get them back on iTunes?

[Only A Hobo]

If you still have the tunes on your hard drive, I can only imagine you must, somehow have moved them. If you right click >open with>iTunes they will again play in iTunes. You have the option in iTunes preferences>advanced>general to add a copy of files thus added to your iTunes folder. You will need to delete the old listing in iTunes. Alternately you could try to open them in iTunes and you should get a browse to find the file option.

I hope this helps.

[dullboy]

I know I didn't move them, and in fact, I did go to the actual file in my folders section and selected "open with iTunes" option and nothing happened. I also have the "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" option checked in the Preferences section. I don't understand why these songs in my Limewire Tunes section of iTunes get those damn exclamation marks and won't play anymore.

[Only A Hobo]

I have had a few files do this after playing fine a few times. It means there is something wrong with them or possibly they were made in some slightly dubious way. Some of mine also played ok in Real Player.

If you have a great number it is puzzling. I believe it is possible to repair mp3s I have not tried this but

See this link.

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...126#post159126

You have nothing to loose .. give it a try and let us know how you get on