[susa]

I recently upgraded to iTunes 7.1 and now my entire library is gone, broken, corrupted, or mislaid.... The song titles show in iTunes with Library selected, but if I try to play anything an exclamation point shows to the left of the song title, and the error message, "The song... could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" Clicking YES lets me browse to my iTunes library, or what used to be my iTunes library, but the error doesn't go away. And if I try reselecting the library in Preferences, it's grayed out. A search for a song title that should be in there yielded "0 items found." Unfortunately (or fortunately?) it always worked perfectly before so I didn't pay that much attention to where the songs actually were or exactly what that library file looked like. The file that is called iTunes Library is only about 6.5M, I think that is not large enough for my nearly 4000 songs.
What happened to my songs? Are they recoverable? Is it possible that the 7.1 upgrade corrupted or wiped out the library? I have an older backup plus the semi-automatic backups of purchased music that iTunes does from time to time. Can the library be rebuilt from those?
Oh, I have a 450 MHz G4 and OS X 10.3.9.
Thank you,
Susa

[Philmco]

I'm going to take a guess that your files are mislaid. Before you fiddle with back-ups, I would try a couple of things. "Consolidating Library," might be an easy fix, but you ought to try and find where your music is hiding first. (that way, with the inevitable future mishap, you know right where to look). Usually, your music files (mp3', aac's, etc.) live in the "iTunes Music" folder which is usually located within the "iTunes" folder. Clicking on preferences, advanced will tell you the location of the active ("bad") folder. Via the finder, start at that location and "physically" investigate your iTunes and subsequent iTunes Music folders. Verify that somehow you don't have more than one folder labeled "iTunes" or "iTunes Music." That's my starting suggestion. Good Luck.

[susa]

Thanks, but... I've searched everywhere real carefully to no avail. There is a folder in the iTunes folder called Previous iTunes Libraries, that has a file called itunes Library 2007-03-31 and a much older iTunes 4 library, but no songs.
Susa

[joeyjames]

next time dont leave your music folder to the itune library make a music folder place everything there,once you need them just import them to the itunes,,it safe,,,after all you love to play with your mac.

[Philmco]

I may have the terminology wrong, but the "library" file is just the information for your iTunes... titles, playlists, counts, genre, etc. The "music" folder is the one that contains what's missing. Try this: in finder, click on "find." In the first tab click on computer, on the next line select "kind" & "Music" with the two pull down buttons. Finally, on the next line, choose "Name Extension" and in the box try plugging in .mp3 or .aac, etc. If nothing turns up via this method, then your music is definitely missing!

[mdawson]

Philmco is correct, there are two distinct entities here. The iTunes Library file is just the iTunes database of your music library that catalogs your music. The actual music files that make up the library are something altogether different. The iTunes Library file is simply data about your music collection so unless your music collection consists of just one song, the file will always be significantly smaller than your actual music library. For instance, my music library is 62.86 GB, but my iTunes Library file is only 20.7 MB.
To elaborate on what Philmco already posted, OS X by default sets up the Music folder for iTunes and GarageBand. In the Music folder is the iTunes folder containing all the files necessary for the iTunes database. As of version 7 there are four important objects in the iTunes folder: the iTunes Library data file, the iTunes Music Library XML file, the Album Artwork folder and the iTunes Music folder; in some cases such as yours, there may also be a Previous iTunes Libraries folder. By default, any music you rip from CDs or download from the iTunes store is placed in the iTunes Music folder, but you can change the location of the iTunes library (music files) in iTunes preferences. So in my case, the actual music files are located on a dedicated music volume instead of on the system disk where the iTunes folder is set up by the system.
Changing the location of the default library only changes where iTunes looks for the music files (e.g., AAC, MP3, etc.), the data and XML files remain in ~/Music/iTunes. Just as with preference files, if the iTunes Library and iTunes Music Library files are removed from that location, iTunes will create new files in the iTunes folder the next time it is opened.

[radnuf]

I use a 30GB video iPod and a Shuffle. My 12inPB is 10.4.9 and my 15inPB is 10.4.6. Both are suppose to be set as disc use and manually manage. My 15inPB music library is gone. Something happened, Maybe, when I connected the Shuffle, something happened or a choice I made ended up being bad. Don't know.
The first time I used the Shuffle, I loaded music on it from the 15inPB. Same for the second time.
Now, when I connect the 30GB video iPod to the 15inPB, it says that iTunes won't open because the library was created with a newer version. So, I updated my iTunes version to 7.1. Still no old library and no music or anything else to be found.
I have a backup DVD but I don't want to go that route just yet. I used Senuti to copy the music library off the video iPod. Now, I can backup with the DVD or import with the Senuti files.
What happened to the old library files and/or index? I can't find them.

[susa]

Ok, thanks guys for clearing up my mind on what goes where. Now I understand that the actual tunes should be in the iTunes Music folder, and the iTunes Library is a database of pointers to the tunes (and, I assume, to their playlists and other associated files). BUT having searched my internal and external hard drives without locating any other music folders, or any of my missing songs, I now have to assume that they are gone. sniff Are there any special hints or tricks I should know before I start digging out my backups? And what is the purpose of that xml file?
Susa

[radnuf]

Lost my files, I thought, actually on disconnected drive. Now I have two libraries. BU is simple. Put in DVD and open iTunes. It will ask if you want to BU from this disk or set of spanned disks. It's automatic.
My understanding, always limited and allowing for inexactness, is that the xml file is like an index. Think card catalog at the library. Cards are by title, author, subject etc. Music is by playlist. Apple didn't want your computer to search the entire hard drive each time you wanted a particular song.
Edit: For your case meaning there are no files in your iTunes library, there is a check mark for overwriting old files. It won't matter to you about that. I backed up and did not check this so now I have duplicates in my iTunes folder. In addition, I backed up from another iTunes library BU disk but checked overwrite old files to see what would happen. It overwrites the duplicate files that exist but then adds the new ones. It seems to me the default should be to check overwrite.
My next choice is to delete all the duplicates /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif or to delete everything and back up using two different library BUs with the overwrite checked. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif The delete duplicates seemed the easier choice. I held down the Apple key and clicked on the exact duplicates based on time not title. I had Amazing Grace from the 50 Golden Hymns collection, the Elvis Presley collection, The London Festival collection, and an A Cappella collection - all with different times but the same title. I deleted duplicate playlists too. The library looks good. The next step is to borrow BUs from friends and add them in too. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Then I can make a BU of the entire DVD spanning collection to share with others. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
HTH /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[mdawson]

[indent]Quote:

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And what is the purpose of that xml file?

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[/indent]From Wikipedia:
iTunes keeps track of songs by creating a virtual library, allowing users to access and edit a song's attributes. These attributes, known as metadata, are stored in two library files.
The first is a binary file called iTunes Library and it uses a proprietary file format. It caches information like artist and genre from the audio format's tag capabilities (the ID3 tag, for example) and stores iTunes-specific information like play count and rating. iTunes typically reads library data only from this file.
The second file, iTunes Music Library.xml, is refreshed whenever information in iTunes is changed. It uses an XML format, allowing developers to easily write applications that can access the library information (including play count, last played date, and rating, which are not standard fields in the ID3v2.3 format). Apple's own iDVD, iMovie, and iPhoto, and Freshly Squeezed Software's Rock Star are examples of applications that access the library.
If the first file is corrupted, iTunes will attempt to reconstruct it from the XML file.[indent]Quote:

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Now I understand that the actual tunes should be in the iTunes Music folder

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[/indent]Actually, your music files can be anywhere you like; you simply have to change the settings in the General tab of iTunes Advanced preferences, so that iTunes knows where to access the music files. Both the music files and preference files can simultaneously be located somewhere other than the iTunes folder, in which case you would need to select an alternate library upon launching iTunes.
The confusion here is that Apple refers to both the music collection and the binary file as the iTunes library; but two different things are going on. If you choose a library on launch, iTunes expects you to have what is effectively an iTunes folderthough it can have any namecreated in an alternate location. To the best of my knowledge this volume or folder should be structured just as OS X sets up the iTunes folder (described in my previous post) and you select the iTunes Library (data) file. iTunes will then load the information from that database and point to the music files in the iTunes Music folder in the same directory. You may be able to simply choose an alternate music folderthat is, a folder containing just music filesand have iTunes open an unstructured library (read: no playlists, etc.), but I have never attempted to access an alternate library in that manner.
On the other hand, when you point to a library using iTunes preferences, you are simply letting iTunes know where the music files are located independent of the data and XML files.

[edubbs]

This is how I fixed this problem on my sister's PC (Yes PC).
I deleted the itunes library.xml file.
I opened itunes and unchecked the 'organize' option.
I searched entire computer for *.mp3.
In the search results, I selected all mp3's that had been found.
I right clicked (yes PC) the selected mp3's and selected play with itunes.
When itunes opened, only one mp3 that was in the default itunes location opened.
I then went back to search results and dragged all mp3's onto the itunes player window;this in effect imported all music back into itunes but associated the player with the location of the music, in this case a 200 GB USB drive (F).
I then went back into the itunes options and rechecked the box to organize music.
This process took some time, as my sis has over 4000 songs.
Also, all playlists are gone, but I think I can recover these from the IPOD itself.
I hope this helps, CHEERS!!!