Broken Links in iTunes - files have not been moved

Question

Hi,
I'm running iTunes on my XP machine. I have about 10,000 tracks in my library. Every so often (well quite often nowadays) I get a load of tracks that have the exclamation mark next to them saying the file can't be found. I have not moved any of the tracks. When I double click ont he first offending track it asks if I want to locate it. I click OK, and it presents the folder where the file actually is (and always has been!) I then have to go through the rest of my library - each track with an exclamation mark just needs to be double clicked and it miraculously remembers where the file is!
OK, so the questions are:
1) Why is iTunes forgetting the locations of files that haven't moved? I'm guessing there might be some issue with the iTunes Music Library.xml - but I ahve no idea what.
2) Can I stop it happening? Obviously the best solution is to dump windows and buy a mac - which will be happening in a month or so...
3) If I can't stop it happening, is there a way for iTuens to just show me the broken links so that I can go through the double-clicking process easily?
4) If I delete the library and recreate, will iTuens remember things like bespoke artwork, ratings, etc?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
X.

Answer 1

+"4) Absolutely not; the ITL file holds ratings, playcount, date added and other metadata that will be lost. And you can't get it back by rebuilding your library from the XML file."+
Actually, this is exactly what you can do with the XML file. Prior to iTunes 5.0, importing the XML did not capture rating, playcounts, etc. even though the data was written to the XML file. Since then, you can recreate your Library completely by importing the XML file.
A while ago I performed two tests:
a) One where I deleted the total song references from the Library, then 'imported' the XML file (from a previously saved iteration)
b) The other, I opened iTunes with no Library database to start, forcing it to act like a new install, then imported the XML file
In both cases, the XML file was completely read, including Ratings, Play Counts and Last Played attributes. All playlists (both Smart & Static) were recreated in their proper folders. It seems to have recreated the Library almost as well as the ITL file would. Looks as if iTunes v6.0.1 (and later) now reads and uses the complete XML file upon 'import'.
I say 'almost', as there were settings differences when starting from a 'virgin' iTunes. Also (and this is important), the create/load time when using the XML file was severely long. iTunes needed to read, interpret, and act on the information within the XML file and that took a long time. At that time, I had close to 12,000 song references and over two dozen playlists. Using a 'good' backup ITL file is an almost instantaneous fix.
Bottom line: Either file will work in recreating the Library. A backup ITL file, in my opinion, is still the easiest and fastest way to recreate your Library if one has a choice. In some cases, where one cannot place the music into the correct path for the ITL file to work properly, one can globally change the XML file to reflect the new path and use that for a very close approximation. I would suggest making and archiving legacy copies of both files a big part of your backup strategy (along with the music files, of course).
Hope this clears things up for you.
Best of Luck