Connecting my 1G Ipod to my Dell laptop

Question

I previously had my 1G 20GB Ipod synced with my computer and itunes. I logged into itunes to add some music. It told me to load itunes 8.1 software. When I did this my Ipod will no longer sync with my computer. I get the message that my ipod is already synced with another computer? I havn't changed computers so I don't know what to do to solve this problem?

Answer 1

The music files themselves are probably still there. The location of the files is tracked in a database file called +iTunes Library+. So I don't think you lost your music, you just lost your +iTunes Library+ file for some reason.
I did that myself one time. After one of the major iTunes updates, when I ran the new version for the first time, iTunes seemed to hang. After a few minutes, I force quit iTunes. That was a bad idea... iTunes was not stuck, it was making revisions to the +iTunes Library+ file. By force quitting iTunes, I corrupted the +iTunes Library+ file, so iTunes gave me a new one (with no music). Anyways, that was a few versions ago.
Here's what you should try first. Open a My Computer or Windows Explorer window to your +iTunes Music+ folder. For Windows XP it is located at
C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
if you did not change the default settings in iTunes. All of your music files should be there (by artist and album), even if they are not showing up in iTunes.
Now, go one level up to
C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
Quit iTunes if it's running. Look for the file called +iTunes Library+. Rename it something else, like +iTunes Library old+. Look for a folder called +Previous iTunes Libraries+ and open it.
Hopefully, you will find one or more +iTunes Library+ files with a date added to it's name. Copy the one with latest date and put (paste) it one level up where you just changed the name of the existing file to +iTunes Library old+ file. Then change its name (the one with the date) to +iTunes Library+.
Now run iTunes again, and see if your music files appear as they did before. If that does not work, please post back.