Backed up my songs from itunes onto a hard drive and now my playlists in itunes are gone! How do I retrieve them back to the way it was before?

Help! My husband backed up my songs from itunes onto a hard drive and now my playlists in itunes are gone from my library! How do I retrieve them back to the way it was before?

Hello Nataroo007,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!
There is a file in the iTunes library folder that contains your playlist information is the iTunes Library.xml file.
Try and find the file, usually located in one of these locations depending on your OS:
Operating System
Default location of iTunes Folder
Mac OS X
/Users/[your username]/Music
Microsoft Windows XP
\Documents and Settings\[your username]\My Documents\My Music\
Microsoft Windows Vista
\Users\[your username]\Music\
Microsoft Windows 7
\Users\[your username]\My Music\
Then you can import this file to your iTunes Library like this:
1. Choose File > Library > Import Playlist.
2. Navigate to the "iTunes Library.xml" file
3. Windows users: Click Open.
If your Podcasts list in iTunes is empty after following these steps, learn how to add them back into iTunes.
Note: information in this post comes from article:
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
Cheers,
Sterling

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