iTunes Help Query: Is there an easy way to get rid of the tracks in my library that have an "!" next to them (i.e. I no longer have the files, just the metadata)?

(or maybe that's not what metadata means). Either way, how do I clean up this thing?

there are scripts to do it, or if the size of llibrary isn't prohibitvely large:

make a new playlist
switch to library
select all
copy to playlist

! marked files don't get copied there, so you can make a smart playlist that is "playlist IS NOT playlistX". if yout have podcasts - you might need to exclude them to as well as your straight library

it is weird that this is not more directly accessible :-(

Stuff like this is why I don't use iTunes.

glad to know that.

couldn't you just, like, select every one you wanna get rid of and hit delete?

I have this problem too and it's a lot harder to hunt and peck to get rid of them when Itunes is grinding for any change and you've got three hundred "!" tracks among a hundred thousand tunes. Alan, I may try your solution; that sounds clever.

Sorry to be dense - but in Alan's solution, do you just use that playlist as your library from then on out?

I used to delete my entire library and then recreate it from the hard disk. It takes ages but is simple enough to do and can just leave it while it chugs away.

It is a pain in the ass. I use iTunes to delete tracks from the hard drive in the first place to avoid this problem.

quite.

ben. you could. but the idea is that you can make up a smart list that then contains the reverse of that list (just the ones that didn't copy) and then you can delete everything that appears in that list.

i think to delete things from the library from a smart-playlist list you need to hold down a modifier key (alt on a mac) when you hit delete

http://www.technotuesday.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/subway_loser.jpg

I do what Mark does.

If they aren't copied in the itunes folder but are in some other folder, you could just delete them all and then reload them from whatever fold they're in.

You didn't say if you were using a Mac or Windows, but if you're on a Mac you can use this script.