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You are here: Home / Q & A / iTunes: Can’t Import CDs; Fix
Running into iTunes Error 14? How-To Fix

iTunes: Can’t Import CDs; Fix

By SK 41 comments Last updated January 29, 2019

Some users have reported an issue where they can’t import CDs. It appears that they can no longer import either MP3 or AAC files from audio CDs after their update to the latest version of iTunes.

Contents

    • 0.1 Related Articles
  • 1 When this can’t import CDs problem occurs, the following behaviors may take place
  • 2 Fixes for When iTunes Can’t Import CDs
  • 3 Reader Tips
    • 3.1 Related Posts:

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  • Download Podcasts from iTunes
  • Common Questions and Answers with iTunes 12.5
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When this can’t import CDs problem occurs, the following behaviors may take place

  • The macOS or Mac OS X Finder recognizes the CD and mounts it, but iTunes rapidly switches between the CD and the music library–what some have called a “strobe-light” or flashing effect
  • iTunes recognizes the CD. When you attempt to import it, it displays the message “disc cannot be found”
  • The CD does not mount at all. And iTunes does not recognize it.  But when you quit iTunes, the CD mounts.
  • You see the error “the required folder cannot be found”

iTunes 12.4 Common Problems and Suggestions

Fixes for When iTunes Can’t Import CDs

  • Turn off track name downloading. Navigate to the iTunes menu, then Preferences.  Click “General” at the top of the window then deselect “Automatically retrieve CD track names from the Internet.” Close preferences and quit iTunes.
  • Change the order of start up.  If you open iTunes first then put in the CD, try the opposite. Put your CD in before opening iTunes. Or vice-versa.
  • Start iTunes again and re-enable this option; you may now be able to import CDs. If not, turn the option back off.
  • If you have more than one CD or DVD drive, try using iTunes with each drive.
  • Hold down spacebar while launching iTunes. Oddly, it appears that holding down the spacebar while iTunes is launching may allow import of CDs. Strange but many folks say this works the best!
  • Restart or Force Restart. Restarting your computer or your iDevice often fixes this issue. To force restart an iDevice, press both the Power and the Home (or Volume Down) buttons until you see the Apple logo. Then release. Wait until your device fully starts up before opening iTunes.
  • For Windows, check permissions on your iTunes library folder: by default, C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes.
  • Downgrade iTunes. If all else fails, you can downgrade to an earlier version of iTunes
  • Connect Directly to Computer. Similar problems occur when you use a USB hub or other peripheral hub to connect your computer to an external the CD drive. Always plug your CD drive into your Desktop or Laptop directly when importing CDs into iTunes.
  • Choose Help > Run CD Diagnostics and choose DVD/CD Diagnostics to see if iTunes can find any problems with your CD drive.

Reader Tips

  • For Windows Users & iTunes. Change the drive letter on the optical drive. Once the letter is changed from A: to virtually anything else, such as Z:, X:, etc., then iTunes will recognize the disc and work as usual.
  • If error correction is turned on, it takes longer to import CDs. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or iTunes > Preferences > General and select Import Settings. If the “Use error correction when reading Audio CDs” checkbox is not selected, select it. If it’s already selected, deselect it. Insert the CD and import the songs again. iTunes: Can't Import CDs; Fix
  • Make sure your CD isn’t dirty or scratched. If it’s taking a long time to import a song (more than 10 minutes) from an audio CD, clean it and try importing again.

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Show 41 Comments

  1. David Learmonth says

    February 3, 2019 at 2:24 AM

    Here’s a thing: why don’t Apple just fix the problem???

    Reply
  2. Mic says

    January 29, 2019 at 2:23 PM

    2019 and the “Press the space bar when launching iTunes” worked for me. My MacBook would recognize old CD’s through an external optical drive but not new ones. Space bar trick fixed the error!

    Reply
  3. Haley Harding says

    June 16, 2018 at 3:31 AM

    on certain cds after importing them onto iPod they wont play and a fault code shows on iPod.

    Reply
  4. David Crawford says

    April 2, 2018 at 3:03 PM

    The first thing I tried work for me, when my iTunes wouldn’t open CD to import.
    Close iTunes
    Go to your main drive mine is C:\
    Go to PROGRAM FILES\iTunes\iTunes.exe
    Then double click on iTunes.exe to open iTunes. Install CD to see if it ask to import. If it does it’s just a corrupt desktop shortcut.
    Delete desktop shortcut
    Right click on the iTunes.exe folder and create another shortcut.

    David

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      April 2, 2018 at 9:08 PM

      Hi David,

      Thanks so much for sharing what worked for you! We’ll add it into our readers tips section. We really appreciate sending us your tips. They definitely help others.

      Cheers,

      Liz

      Reply
  5. Julian Charles says

    November 5, 2017 at 6:23 PM

    Hmm. This thread is 7+ years old and the problem continued. One would think, given all the passive aggressive updates coming out, if Apple were motivated to assist their customers this basic functionality would have been fixed by now. Ciao Apple,.

    Reply
  6. Richard Elmes says

    August 5, 2017 at 9:08 AM

    I bought some newly remastered Led Zeppelin and was raring to load them onto my my old iPod but iTunes -(what a bitch that product is) told me it couldn’t fine the files or the library. I tried the Spacebar trick but no good. However, after a hard reboot, it decided to work. Sometimes I loath Apple and I always loath iTunes

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      August 5, 2017 at 9:21 PM

      Richard,

      Thank you for sharing your tip! And yes, there are quite a few folks joining you in your iTunes assessment. Enjoy that Led Zeppelin!

      Cheers,

      Liz

      Reply
  7. Kristine says

    April 23, 2017 at 6:22 PM

    MIND BLOWN. The space bar thing actually worked. How did you figure that out?! Regardless, thank you.

    Reply
  8. Juan R Toro says

    July 30, 2016 at 4:51 AM

    THANK U SO MUCH!!!!

    Reply
  9. Robert says

    October 14, 2015 at 11:40 AM

    Nothing worked for me. I can’t delete iTunes 10 to install iTunes 9. I tried the space bar that did not work. I tried turning off retriving song names that did not work. What else can I do????

    Reply
  10. John P says

    August 14, 2013 at 11:18 AM

    Not worked for me, I still have a bunch of CDs iTunes won’t have anything to do with.

    Reply
  11. Nawaaz says

    August 11, 2013 at 8:42 AM

    Got an iPod touch as a gift. Must rank as one of the worst products Ive come into contact with. Apple really sucks viva samsung viva. Can’t download anything from my countless CD’s. What a waste of money.

    Reply
  12. john says

    April 10, 2013 at 3:33 PM

    Thank you – it worked perfect

    Reply
  13. Sharpy says

    December 26, 2012 at 2:58 PM

    WOW it worked ha

    Reply
  14. Abi says

    October 11, 2012 at 8:27 PM

    Wow been trying for ages to upload CDs and itunes just wouldn’t recognise that a CD was in the disk drive. Tried holding the space bar and that worked! Thanks

    Reply
  15. Dan says

    September 18, 2012 at 9:42 AM

    Turned off the name downloading and held the spacebar for good measure.
    Don’t know what did it, but it worked.
    For things to happen like this in Skyrim I get, but in an Apple soft?

    Oh well. Thanks a lot!

    Reply
  16. Loz says

    June 15, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    Thanks heaps, turn of the track naming, solved the problem for me 🙂

    Reply
  17. Peter de Braux says

    May 27, 2012 at 5:34 AM

    I cannot imprt CD’s either .
    I have iTunes 10 and this is May 2012!!!
    What is going on??
    I own Apple stock, nbut will sell if they are not interested
    in solving this very small problem (a big one for my iTunes!!!
    Peter

    Reply
    • Mic says

      January 29, 2019 at 2:25 PM

      Space bar trick fixed the problem for me. January 2019.

      Reply
  18. Alex says

    April 29, 2012 at 8:50 PM

    Hey; I’m actually trying to burn a CD for a project at school; and since my friend doesn’t own blank CD’s and I do; I’m doing hers too. Now my Mac is having a stupid problem where it doesn’t recognize when I put a CD in. I tried your options and they didn’t work for me; any other ideas???

    Reply
  19. Carrie Robinson says

    March 29, 2012 at 1:30 PM

    Worked like a charm. Thanks!

    Reply
  20. Wendy says

    February 23, 2012 at 6:01 PM

    Long live the spacebar! Thank you so much, I was ready to send back the cd…

    Reply
  21. zeb says

    February 17, 2012 at 9:50 AM

    WTF??? Spacebar? I thought this was a joke, but it works fine, buy WHY???? Is it some kind of safe mode or something????

    Reply
  22. SAn says

    January 1, 2012 at 3:06 PM

    A genuine wtf-erlebnis. Fix #1 worked for me (Why for the love of…) so thanx

    Reply
  23. Jody says

    November 6, 2011 at 9:38 PM

    Oddly enough – the space bar worked!? I tried pretty much everything I read about, including turning off the automatic name retrieval and the automatic CD import. I upgraded my CD/DVD driver. I even uninstalled and reinstalled several versions of iTunes – including 9.2.1. But when I did that – it said it could not read the library because it had been made with a newer version (10.)
    I tried directly importing from the folder by SELECTing and OPENing – that seemed to work once, but I couldn’t replicate it. Then I tried manually copying files from the disc into the iTunes folder – but that didn’t work either.

    So I tried the space bar – and it worked. No clue why.

    Reply
    • sean says

      January 1, 2012 at 2:53 PM

      Agreed. The space bar worked, after I turned off the auto name retrieval.

      Reply
  24. Amiri says

    November 2, 2011 at 9:27 PM

    Did NOT work for me.
    Is there a command line to make it recognize the disk? I’m trying to convert aa files into aac, and needed the disc to be the medium.

    Reply
  25. Rob says

    February 13, 2011 at 1:46 PM

    That worked for me, thanks a bundle.

    Reply
  26. Rob says

    February 13, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    Thanks for the tip, the space bar did it for me too!

    Reply
  27. Tanya says

    January 21, 2011 at 11:27 AM

    The space bar fix worked for me. Thanks!

    Reply
  28. marciano chinappi says

    January 6, 2011 at 6:45 PM

    Unbelievable!!!!!! The space bar thing worked. I would love
    to have been there when that was figured out. Thanks

    Reply
  29. Thomas Gustavsson says

    November 28, 2010 at 2:54 AM

    Holding down the space bar when starting ITunes 10.1 really works for me.
    It would be interesting to know how and why.

    Reply
  30. MacAdmin says

    November 19, 2010 at 6:42 AM

    iTunes 10.1 update appears to resolve the issues with audio CDs.

    Reply
  31. Terry says

    November 17, 2010 at 3:42 PM

    turn off track naming and hold down the space bar ???
    PLEEEEEEEEEZE ! that is so goofy nor did it work

    Reply
    • Aviv says

      March 30, 2012 at 8:51 AM

      Spacebar holding totaly fixed it!!!!!!!!!!!
      Thank you 🙂

      Reply
  32. stefan says

    October 28, 2010 at 4:59 AM

    Thaaaaaaank you … disabling worked for me.

    Reply
    • pdmike says

      February 9, 2015 at 5:25 PM

      Me too!

      Reply
  33. Illumed Rebel says

    September 9, 2010 at 10:27 AM

    I also have this problem. After inserting a audio cd and using the cd import function, iTunes tries to connect to the CDDB database. Any fuc*** occurs and the cd icon disappears in iTunes and in Finder.

    This error is so commonplace, I can’t believe it – that attitude is meanwhile typical for apple – apple really sucks!

    Reply
  34. Andrew says

    September 9, 2010 at 6:30 AM

    I had this problem while still using 9.2.1. Deleting and reinstalling 9.2.1 didn’t help. However, while I was in the [user]/Library/Preferences folder, I noticed the “CD info.cidb” and “CDDB Preferences” files. Since the problem appears to be somehow related to iTunes connecting to the online CDDB database, I decided to delete them. Once I restarted, everything’s been fine.

    Reply
  35. Roger says

    September 8, 2010 at 7:14 AM

    I had this strobe problem on my MDD with OSX 10.5.8. I reinstalled iTunes 10 and all was well.

    Reply

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