iTunes 8.0.1 upgrade can't locate files...AGAIN!!

Glad it worked.

Wow! I'm definitely not going to upgrade to 8.0.1! 8.0 already messed up iTunes so badly that I can only run it in Safe Mode. From everything I've read on these boards, I feel lucky that I can use iTunes at all (especially as I have a new iPod Touch which would be totally worthless otherwise). This thread has me now thinking that if Apple ever does fix the problem that I (and a lot of other iTunes users) have with Processing Album Artwork, I'm going to have some real problems with my Library file and the changes and additions I've made using Safe Mode! Unfortunately, I can't afford a new external hard drive or OS 10.5 (which I'm actually glad I haven't upgraded to yet!) with Time Machine. (Here is a conspiracy theory for you - is it a coincidence that Apple added a proprietary back-up application to its new OS right before it started rolling out the most buggy applications and upgrades that I've ever come across since switching from Windows in 1993? Who wants to bet that they end up "recommending" -aka: "requiring" - that users buy 10.5 and start relying on Time Machine to "fix" all of these problems? :P ) Come on, Steve! Get your whip out of storage and start cracking! Rolling out buggy software and then ignoring the problems is not art and it's not Thinking Different - it's Thinking Microsoft!

Since you appear to be a relative newb here at the discussion groups you need to keep in mind that people come here because they are having problems. Most of us don't drop by to say, "Hey, I just installed iTunes 8 and everything worked out great!" Those of us who had no problems are too busy checking out the new features and trying to figure out where the programmers hid all the preferences we were used to. This is the Apple Emergency Room and most of the visitors are looking for help.

Every time iTunes is updated a few people run into problems and this update seems to be no different. But the volume of problems doesn't seem any higher than normal so I doubt there's anything big wrong with the program.

That. Did. Not. Work. At. All.

Neither option worked at all. I didn't get any more of my songs back. I'm still missing a third of my library. I've tried to open these files manually via iTunes--nothing. I've tried to open them through Windows Explorer--will not play through iTunes. ANY other player--and I mean ANY--works just fine. The only difference I've had is that now those songs that when attempting to play WOULD cause the play clock to hold at 0.00 now no longer "exist" to iTunes. I've attempted to clear the library and re-import the files, but the songs that wouldn't play now no longer import.

Angry--severely. Prepared to give up--quickly approaching. Which is a shame because it's the only player I like.

Thank You! I used option 2, but also held down shift while opening iTunes. I've been trying to fix this for several days because I didn't want to lose my playlists. I've tried restoring the previous library many times with no success, I've even tried this exact fix without the "shift" part, and it didn't work. I'm not sure what made if work this time: if it was the shift, or if it was just ready. I'm not a computer expert at all, so I appreciated the discussions here. I'm so happy to have my library back!