[GIFTown]

In iTunes on my Mac, I decided to burn a disc of about 70 songs, ~600 MB, onto a 700 MB CD-R. It told me that all my songs wouldn't fit, so I split the burn playist in two, and then when it gave me the same message, I shaved a few songs off of the two playlists. It still gives me the same message after trimming down both to a slender ~225 MB each: that's 25 songs! What am I doing wrong?

I have the most up-to-date version of iTunes and Mac OS X.

[cwwozniak]

I believe that iTunes may only let your burn audio CDs of the music files. Depending on the exact type of blank CD-R disc used, you can only put a total of about 72 to 80 minutes of playing on one disc.

[ketsueki13]

The amount of data a disc can hold and the amount of music a disc can hold are two different things. This is why a disc usually lists both MB and minutes.
If you're going to listen to the music you're put on this disc, then you'll only be able to fit about 80 minutes on a disk. If you're using the disc to store the music and not as a music CD, then you can burn the full 700 MB.

[Dawndd]

Hi-
I'm no expert, but when I see people discussing saving I-Tunes on CD's I cringe from my own experience. If you only save to CD's you lose song names, album names, singer, and all the written stuff. Your I-Tunes library will save your songs but will just list something like "song, song, song, etc." When my computer crashed I was able to save the library, but it took 2 weeks to figure out the songs & type all of that info in. I always back up to DVDs. I have about 2000 songs now and I have to use a number of DVDs. It's well worth it.
Dawn

[Dawndd]

Hi again -
I think that I read that too quickly. It doesn't look like a back up issue now. (That's what I'm looking for myself.) I have never been able to burn any songs from my Library that weren't purchased from the I-Tunes store. I used NERO. You look like you are ahead of me in that department. I'm just trying to backup correctly on a DVD.
Sorry,
Dawn

[Byteman]

Backing up your iTunes music from Apple

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1382

The two options you can select from are:

Back up entire iTunes library and playlists
Back up only iTunes Store purchases

Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

[Dawndd]

Thank you Byteman for the information. The reason why that doesn't work is because after you make the choice to back up all of the information in your library then, very often, yellow question marks start to appear in front of some songs. When you research it you learn that those songs are missing from your library (but are on your iPod.) So Apple's instructions don't work. I've Googled this (I've had enough problems going to official iTunes Apple sites) & it's happened to many people. The solution is to copy folders that are on your hard drive, which do have all of the songs. I'm trying to learn how to copy the iTunes files in "My Music" folder. Apparently I have to copy an .xml file and an .itl file. I'm still looking for a good site (Apple doesn't admit this problem or help) that's simple to follow to get that done. The only thing that I have from Apple is iTunes & I've gotten such bad information (many people crash & lose everything just because they update to a newer version, or they follow Apple's advice on other issues and things just get worse, etc.) that I wouldn't buy Apple when my computer permanently dies.
Thanks Again,
Dawn

[ketsueki13]

The files you are looking for are iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml.
If you go into your My Documents folder and then My Music, there should be a folder called iTunes. In that folder, there should be the 2 files mentioned.
To use them just put them on a disk or copy/move them if you're not formatting or anything and then put them in the same folder you found them in orignally.

On a side note, I wouldn't buy an iPod or anything, but I do use iTunes (mostly for their outstanding Unicode support). I've been using them for a few years now, and have never lost my library or anything else due to upgrading. The one time my iTunes library got damaged, but iTunes recovered it quickly and easily.
The only Apple advice I've ever recieved has been on the official iTunes forum, and they've been pretty helpful the few times I've used them.

[Dawndd]

Thank you for the information. I had found the .xml folder & with your help I should now be able to find the .itl folder (whatever I was looking at didn't give me the .itl extension.) I have 7 files in my iTunes folder. Some look like old copies of the Library. I'm a little confused. If I copy them to a disk to back them up, and then I put them back in the same folder, what will be on that disk? Can I actually make two copies of each song? Wouldn't I lose all of my backed up songs on the disk if I just put them back in the hard drive files? Sorry, you can see I'm not too advanced. I was always able to back everything up with NERO until these exclaimation points appeared. Thank you again. I'll follow your advice & at least get a back up. I guess we've had different experiences with the Apple iTunes & iPod help sites. At my skill level I'm sure I've used it more often than you. I see many complaints there, and what really bothers me is that so many questions are unanswered by Apple.I do know that I'll never export songs from my iPod to the library - many people have lost a lot, if not everything. The iPod was a birthday gift. Mom knew that I'm into the ONE charity & she also knew that by purchasing "product" RED items some money would go to that charity. It's even inscribed "Happy Birthday Dawn." I do love it & I use it all of the time.
I appreciate the help.
Dawn

[ketsueki13]

I may not have understood you're last post, but....
This only backs up your library listing. Not any of your songs.
What that'll do is give you your exact library listing, if you have to reformat. You would put it where you found it once you've reinstalled iTunes, and it will overwrite the blank one.
If you need to back up your music itself, this won't help you. The exclamation marks mean that the song is not where it's supposed to be, either it's been moved or deleted or renamed. Something is preventing iTunes from finding it.
If the song is actually on the drive, then you can fix the exclamation mark by pointing iTunes toward the song (you can do that by right clicking and selecting Get Info). If it's not on the drive then you can't back it up because there's nothing to back up. Except the library that I've already explained.

[Dawndd]

Thanks so much for sticking with me. This started because the Apple help area said that if the exclaimation points came up then this would be cured by backing up the iTunes Library.itl. They claim this is where the lost songs are.
Of course I have to copy the .xml file also, for a different reason. (It may also be helpful that there are 3 files of past Libraries in that iTunes folder.) After reading that I opened the .itl file, which takes me to an entire library. I played the "lost songs" through the .itl file. I wanted to see what would happen so I started the process to back it up & no exclaimation points popped up. They said that this was the cure because the "lost songs" were in that .itl file.
I tried right-clicking on the songs in the actual i-Tunes folder library & I got "Get Info" but the song woudn't play no matter what I tried. Apple said the song was on the hard drive & had moved for some reason. So Apple is saying that I can back up my Library in the usual way, and I can get the missing songs from the .itl file. I see that you have a different take. Knowing Apple advice I tend to believe you. If I did what you are saying then I guess I'll get everything but the exclamation point songs if I back up the actual library in iTunes. If it were just a few songs then it wouldn't be a big deal, but it's too many (I didn't count) and almost all were purchased from i-Tunes (nice scam.) I don't want to buy them again. I truly won't know if this will work until after I would have to rebuild (import?) those songs to the actual Library (if that's possible without redoing the whole library.)

[ketsueki13]

They should still be on your hard drive somewhere. Try using Windows Search to look for the file. Search for the title of the song.
If you find the song that way, when you go to Song Info, it should ask you, if you want to locate the file. Click yes, and go to the file you just found.

[Dawndd]

I forgot that when I hit enter I send the letter. I usually have to click "submit" in any other site of this kind. Beside the errors in spelling & grammar, (& the question marked face), I wanted to say that I'm going to save the iTunes program library disks separately from the .itl & .xml disks. It's still a mystery as to why those songs disappear from the library. I could research it again but I have better things to do. I tried to figure it out months ago & I spent at least an hour moving around the Apple help site. This specific question was asked but not answered. I never backed up then. It's too much of a coincidence that the missing songs were almost all bought & downloaded from their store. The songs played fine after the download & they synced onto my iPod. I only found out that they were missing when I started the back-up process for the whole library in iTunes. It was quite bizzare seeing those exclamation points pop up inside yellow "yield sign" shapes. Thanks for sending me in the right direction. This may end the thread, unless you have more direction to give me. Dawn

[ketsueki13]

If you go into iTunes and click Store at the top, then go to View My Account. On that page, you will see a button for Purchase History. Click Report a problem. Go to a song that's missing and click the Report a problem link. It will bring up another page. Sometimes the information on there will help. If it doesn't, go to the bottem of the page and click E-mail Us. This will let you get help directly from Apple. If they determine that you have purchased the song, and it cannot be found. They'll let you redownload it at no charge (In my experience).
However, you'll want to make sure they're not on your hard drive first, since they're going to tell you to do that anyway.

[Dawndd]

God Bless you Hon - I posted here because I tried everything I could, including your latest suggestions. I Googled everywhere, after spending too much time in Apple's "help" area. If I wrote that I got answers or info from Apple I meant it was on a forum & posted by users. Google is how I found that the songs exist on the hard drive. I have at least 60 songs missing (of 1500.) I'm glad that you've had good experiences with Apple. I've never had an e-mail answered, let alone seen Apple answer this on their users' forums (or Help area.) I read that Apple will not download songs again in this situation. I tried what you said & sure enough they wanted proof that the song never downloaded in the 1st place.I have downloaded again right after the purchase, when I never got the song at all. I detest how they download alot of unnecessary large software with their updates. (Apple Mobile Device, etc.?) I often go to www.CNET.com for information. They have instructions on how to find all of the hidden files that Apple downloads & how to get rid of them. This isn't really on topic, just a rant.. I promise that I've tried everything you've told me which involves help from Apple. I got on Tech Guy because Apple didn't give answers or help. If you look at Apple user forums you'll find many frustrated people. Apple is supposed to answer questions there, but they often don't. My e-mails weren't answered. I searched everywhere before I posted a message here. From all I've seen Apple never mentions the .xml and .itl files. I learned it from Google, & with your help also. I backed everything up this morning. The .itl file was as big as the library (with the missing songs.) The only question I now have never found an answer to is: Why do these songs disappear? That mystery is not one I'll waste time on. I've come to know much about backing up all of my songs. I thank you for all of your help & suggestions. Since it's now all backed up I'm on to other things that I've neglected. I can't thank you enough for all of your posts and your kind suggestions.
Dawn