Mac 101

July 10, 2009 in Tips & Tricks by Bob Faulhaber

Does your iTunes Library list songs that iTunes says it can’t find? Here’s a simple way, using an available script to solve the problem.

Luckily iTunes lets you know about these files by placing an exclamation point next to the song, but how do you get rid of it? Clicking on the song brings up a dialog box asking if you want to locate the file. Should you do this? No.

Luckily there’s a script out there called Super Remove Dead Tracks at dougscripts.com that will solve the problem and remove all the dead track references from your iTunes library.

Download the disk image from the site and following the installation instructions by placing the script in the [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder on your computer.

After installing, restart iTunes and the script will be in the iTunes AppleScript pull-down menu.

When you run the script, it will ask to proceeed on the removal of dead tracks in your library. Progress is reported for every 500 tracks analyzed and upon completion a log file is created showing you exactly which dead tracks were removed.

Doug’s site has hundreds of useful scripts available and works on the donation model, so if you download and use a script and find it useful, we suggest sending a donation.