Why does ITunes still play my video files but not sync them to my iPod?

April 5, 2009 5:05 PM

Why does ITunes still play my video files but not sync them to my iPod?

So I have itunes (newest) installed with all my video files in it. The video files are in a network drive.

I opened itunes and started to sync my ipod touch. I got an error saying that almost all the files were not found. So I look at my library and see that all my files have that exclamation point next to them. Next I just click on the video and it plays no problem. Even removes the exclamation point. I can then sync that file.

My question is do I really need to play all of my videos to fix this? I mean I have 100+ videos and run itunes on a little netbook. So you can imagine how long that would take.

I guess my only other solution I have right now is to just delete my entire library then re-add it, then resync my ipod from scratch. Have done it before just takes a few hours.

I wonder how this happened. I don't open itunes when not connected to my network for fear of this. Does itunes scan my library while closed?

Thanks a lot.

posted by notchristopher to computers & internet (6 comments total)

You are apparently on Windows XP.

iTunes is telling you the problem: the files were not found. iTunes is not a resident database; it's a reference database. In other words: the songs in your iTunes aren't in iTunes; iTunes just remembers where they are and can manipulate them from there. However, the files that iTunes is managing have to stay in the same place for iTunes to be able to manipulate them.

In order to fix this easily, all you have to do is find those 100+ videos again - on your hard drive, not in iTunes - and put them back where they were so that iTunes can recognize them.

You must have moved them or deleted them. For your sake, I hope it's the former.
posted by koeselitz at 6:01 PM on April 5

Wait, whoa. I didn't catch that it's playing them properly. How odd.

For some reason, it seems like what's going on is that your netbook won't access the network drive at the same time that it's accessing your USB cable for the iPod. This sounds distinctly like a hardware conflict to me; maybe there's some way to test that...
posted by koeselitz at 6:15 PM on April 5

"Does itunes scan my library while closed?"

I'm not 100% sure, but I suspect that the answer is maybe.

If you have iTunes installed on your computer, which you do, you almost certainly have a windows service running in the background every time you boot Windows called ituneshelper.exe. This service is described as;

"... a process belonging to Itunes MP3 streaming tool by Apple, which allows you to play MP3's. This process speeds up iTunes when it starts, and the program also monitors for connected iPod devices."

I suspect that the way this service speeds up iTunes when it starts is by monitoring all the media it has in its database when you boot up Windows to ensure it's all there. That way, when/if you do decide to start the actual iTunes program, it already knows where all the files are and which ones, such as those stored on a removable network drive, are not, rather than needing to do it when iTunes starts.

The service is described as being non-essential, meaning you could stop it via msconfig.exe and try and see if the problem persists.
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:46 PM on April 5

What kind of netbook do you have? What operating system are you on?
posted by koeselitz at 7:33 PM on April 5

I'm assuming you have either one of those Asus eees or maybe a little hp; I don't know.

How are you syncing? Is it automatic? If so, have you tried just selecting all the videos and dragging them onto your iPod?

If you've tried that, maybe you could set it to auto-sync.
posted by koeselitz at 7:33 PM on April 5

Why exactly do people ask questions and then never respond again?
posted by koeselitz at 5:39 PM on April 6