itunes library - everything gone!

[fizzyfizz]

I've just fired up itunes to add some tracks to my ipod.... but the entire library contents have gone!! I'm presented with a completely empty library.... playlists and everything all gone!

What's happened??

I've checked in preferences and the library is pointing to the correct location with all my music so why isn't it displaying it?

[Chris-Man]

When you go to your hard drive>music>itunes>itunes music is everything there? If so, you may want to drag and drop the files from those folders to your itunes application library. Do you have the current updates for your itunes and ipod? I have heard, but have not had any trouble with, that these 2 updates don't like to play together. I don't know if that is your problem, but just a suggestion.

[wyneken]

It's a bit late now, but for future reference ... in your iTunes folder, there are two library files, one of which is called "iTunes Music Library.xml". Back this up now and then. This is where all your playlists and ratings are stored. Should your library ever get messed up again, you can open a new blank library, select File > Import... > and choose the saved copy of this XML file, and you will recover all this information as of the last time you backed the file up. I try to do this every day, after having lost the ratings of about 12,000 songs several months ago.