Temp files iT.tmp, iT 1.tmp, iT 2.tmp etc

Many of these sequentially numbered files are being created in my My Music/iTunes folder. They seem to be written when iTunes ATTEMPTS to update the iTunes Music Library.xml file (but for some reason can't). I've looked into them and the temp files do contain changes that aren't updated in the main xml file (eg. new songs and rating changes).

Any ideas on how to resolve this? It may be something to do with a 3rd party app using the xml file and somehow locking it - for example I have SlimServer running which integrates with iTunes so may use the xml file, but I dont think it will lock it.

One saving grace is that the actual database .itl file seems fine.