How .xml and ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music work

Have posted this before, just reposting in hopes of getting an answer...
In 2.5 years we've had 3 hard drives, 2 logic boards, a power supply, multiple crashes, etc. During all this time of data recovery and frantic backing up, I managed to duplicate all but the most recently added songs in my iTunes folder. In the past I had deleted these duplicates from the Music library. So, I don't think I had these duplicates before re-importing or adding my songs to the iTunes program after an erase and install two days ago. The erase and install did not get rid of our erratic computer problem(s), and Apple is graciously sending us a new iMac.
I'd like to clear up this duplicate issue before importing my library to iTunes on the new computer. As far as I can tell, I'll have to delete each duplicate by hand. My question relates to how the iTunes Music folder, the iTunes Music Library.xml doc, and the actual iTunes program work together.
(1) Should I go into ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/album folders and delete each song by hand from there? Or should I import all the duplicates in these folders and delete them from within iTunes? In the end, I want no duplicates in the iTunes program and no duplicates in my iTunes Music/album folders.
(2) Could the .xml file be saving data that would cause these duplicates to be recreated? Should I resave it after deleting duplicates? Does the .xml file affect the Music library at all?
(3) This last time, I don't know if I officially "imported" or "added" music or what. iTunes had been reinstalled, was empty. First, I put iTunes Music Library.xml on my desktop, and then went to File>Import (like on http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313). But, absolutely no music showed up in the music library. All my playlists showed up, and they had no music. Only radio stations we had put in playlists showed up. In the referenced article, it says NOT to add music when you are doing this, so I didn't. THEN, I dragged ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music and dropped it into iTunes. All the duplicates were created then, I believe.
Did I "import" or "add", or what? Did I cause duplicates to be created? Should I drag-and-drop ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music or import it BEFORE I do the .xml thing? I believe next time I'll take advantage of the File>Back Up To Disc function, and I'm assuming this won't happen.
Thank you for your help!
Deanna
P.S. After my initial post, somebody suggested the article at
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732
However, this article deals with .xml and iTunes Music Library, which is a database file. I need info on .xml and iTunes Music Folder, the folder that physically holds all my iTunes.

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How .xml and ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music work

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