Q: what happened to my playlists? I just loaded version 11.0.4.4 and all my playlists and songs uploaded from CDs to iTunes disapeared!!!!

I also lost all my music.  However, when I click on "Previous I-Tunes Library" on my computer and it opens I-Tunes there is only one song there with 2 copies of it.  I am confused!  Does this mean I am going to have to recover all my music from my I-pod.  I am just sick that all my music and purchased music from I-Tunes store is missing.   If I have to recover from I-pod will I only be able to recover music I bought from the I-tunes store.  That makes no sense to me that I would not be able to recover all my music.       I would very much appreciate any help/sugestions that you can give me......Thank you

P.S. I am using Windows 8

Is the media still inside the media folder? If so you can roll back to an older working version of the library in the way that I have outlined. Double-clicking one of the files in the Previous iTunes Libraries folder will make iTunes open, but won't change which library file is actually opened. You need to use the rename and copy instructions so that you replace the active iTunes Libray.itl file with a copy of one recovered from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder.

tt2

there is only the same 3 albums in the previous it folder that is in the itunes library, nothing to ncopy and paste.

There are only the same 3 albums in the previous I tunes folder that are in the i tunes library, nothing else to copy and paste, everything else does not show up,

You're supposed to copy/paste/rename .itl files in the manner described in my initial post to this thread.

Your media should normally be in <User's Music>\iTunes\iTunes Media\<Etc.> not <User's Music>\iTunes\Previous iTunes Libraries.

Was your library working properly on this computer before you reinstalled iTunes, or is there something you've left out of the picture?

Might be best to follow-up in your thread.

tt2

Thanks for your help......working with Windows 8  is a bit of a bear  LOL.  However I found a telephone number for Apple and they restored all the songs I purhased.  Now all I have to do is add any music from my discs.....

Enjoy the upcoming Hoidays

If the media is still on your iPod you can recover non-iTunes purchases using the techniques in Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device which may be easier/faster than re-ripping your CDs.

tt2

Thanks.....but I am going to rip from my CDs then I will have a fresh start.  Yu have been very helpful.

You're welcome.

Recommend you make a backup and update it as you add in your media. If the iPod is an iPod touch you should still refer to my post above to avoid losing settings and data.

tt2

Thanks turingtest2!

You're welcome.

tt2

Even trickier: updating to 11.1.3.8 seems to have deleted or hidden everything except my music itself. My playlists AND my previous libraries and even my iTunes Media folder are all gone, so I can't follow TuringTest's great instructions.

iTunes is set up to look for my library in <user>/music/iTunes /iTunes Media. But the only content in  music/iTunes is now the album folders.

Yet when I do a Windows Explorer search for .itl files, I learn that at least two things still exist:

   <user>/music/iTunes /iTunes Library.itl

   <user>/music/iTunes /Previous iTunes Libraries <dates>.itl

How can I made my libraries visible again so I can fix things? Displaying hidden files in Windows Explorer doesn't do the trick.

Thanks, everyone (or thanks TuringTest, since you seem to be the god of all things iTunes!).

Have you inadvertently relocated the iTunes Media folder? What exactly do you see inside C:\Users\<User>\Music? Do you see the .itl files revealed by search? What about the iTunes Media (or iTunes Music) folder?

In the unlikely event that something weird has happened with NTFS security permissions to prevent you from seeing the media this might help: Repair iTunes Security Permissions.

If the media is still on the iPod and it really comes down to it see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device. Once the media has been restored you could pull back a previous library to restore your old playlists, ratings etc. if you use a media only recovery process.

tt2

The media are still there and apparently all accessible; only the playlists vanished. And it turns out that iTunes Media is still there as C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media; thanks for prompting me to check more closely. But . . .

    a) In Windows Explorer, C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media contains only an empty folder called Automatically Add to iTunes and a folder for iPod Games. No Library or Previous Libraries.

    b) Nonetheless, the Windows Explorer search function locates files entitled C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\Library and C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\Previous iTunes Libraries\iTunes Library <date>.

    c) Meantime, all my media have been relocated from the iTunes Media folder into the parent folder C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\ (which explains why I didn't spot the iTunes Media folder among them).

The security permissions appear to be set correctly, per your post. I also tried using edit, preferences, advanced to change the location of the iTunes media folder to just C:\Users\marie_000\Music\iTunes. No libraries appeared, so I set it back. Any other thoughts?

Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:

Your Artist folders ought to be inside C:\Users\marie_000\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\ with the other media specific folders inside C:\Users\marie_000\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\ however I don't want to suggest moving them by hand as yet.

First go back to the original post in this thread and try the library copy and renaming techniques to restore one of the dated libraries. Don't include the .itl file extension in the renamed file if you don't already see it otherwise you're creating a file called iTunes Library.itl.itl which won't be picked up. Once the library is listing your media we can discuss how to move it into the correct structure, or repair things if it is full of broken links.

tt2