Downloaded music gone after authorizing computer?? Where is it??

Question

I recently purchased a new Dell laptop with Windows 8 and downloaded I Tunes. I had it on my old laptop & everything worked just fine. I had been purchasing music from the  I Tunes store but had not had a chance to sync my I Pod Nano lately. I tried today and it wouldn't at first because my new laptop had not been authorized. Once I got this issue resolved, I could log in to I Tunes and see the music I needed to download as each song had the little cloud and arrow on it.  I selected Download ALL and then they did- the status bar at the top was moving showing the songs and then it finished.
However, when I went to plug my I Pod in to the USB to sync it like I used to do on the old laptop, it required that I log back in to I Tunes- which I did. At that point, a new screen opened for my I Pod  and the purchased music was no longer on the screen. It wasn't anywhere. I selected check for available downloads and it says all have been downloaded. But where??? The new music did show up on my I Pad and I Phone immediately- and that's great- but I wanted it on my I Pod. The only music showing on my I Pod and in my Library on I Tunes are the songs that were already on there.$ 14 later- I only have the music on 2 of the 4 devices.
How do I find the music again in I Tunes or use my I Pad to get the music to sync to my I pod? Where is the music that I downloaded on my laptop? I've looked everywhere. I called the City Mac store and they suggested plugging my I Pad into my computer but the options they told me to try didn't even come up to back it up to my laptop... so now I can't even do that either... So frustrated. Any help from anyone?? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

See Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates for general advice on repairing iTunes, however you don't need iTunes to be working on the laptop in order to copy the iTunes folder from it. See this migrate iTunes library post for suggestions.
Your iTunes purchases should be available for redownload from the cloud, but the earlier link should show how to recover all of the media from your devices, should it be needed, and associate the devices with the new library. Moving the library over is much easier than recovering the data from your devices.
Ideally you would backup you library and personal data on a regular basis, using iTunes in the Cloud as a secondary backup or for access to purchases from your devices.
tt2