Invalid "iPod Games Library" creates damaged iTunes library

About once every other week when I fire up iTunes, I get this message:
The file "iPod Games Library" does not appear to be a valid iTunes library file. iTunes has created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to "iTunes Library (Damaged)".
All my media files are still on my hard drive, but I have to start from scratch with my library and all of my playlists. And with 160GB of files and dozens of playlists to rebuild, it's no small task.
Is there a way to resurrect my old library once it has been declared "damaged." Or is there some other means of recovering all of those playlists I spend so many hours putting together?
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I have encountered the same issue and can't find a stable solution (other than storing 2 - 3 copies of the library file before shutting down).
I have added a new hard drive, imported 27K songs multiple times, exported libraries and still no luck.
I would certainly appreciate any other suggestions to help resolve this.
Thanks

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I have created another iTunes library (so I have 1 for an ipod touch and 1 for an iPad), but the apps from the iPad appear in both libraries. How can I stop this so teh 2 libraries are completely separate please?

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You don't need two separate libraries to manage two devices.
I suspect the reason that the apps are appearing in both libraries is that you have enabled automatic downloads in iTunes and automatic syncing of apps so that all your purchases end up in both libraries, defeating your original aim.
Why not use a single library and make playlists for the media content you want on each device? Disable Settings > Store > Automatic Downloads > Apps on each device, then connect each device in turn and turn off Automatically Sync Apps on the Apps page.
You can now manage your devices independently, while only having to manage the content of one iTunes library, instead of two.
tt2

Trying to sync iPod with library, but receive this message, "The iPod is synced with another itunes library. Do you want to erase this ipod and sync with this itunes library". I do not want to erase my iPod... Any suggestions?? Please help!!

Trying to sync ipod with itunes library, but I keep getting this message, " The ipod is synced with another itunes library. Do you want to erase this ipod and sync with this i tunes library?"
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Another way. You can use a USB flash drive & the camera connection kit.
Plug the USB flash drive (works the same with an SD card) into your computer & create a new folder titled DCIM. Then put your movie/photo files into the folder. The files must have a filename with exactly 8 characters long (no spaces) plus the file extension (i.e., my-movie.mov; DSCN0164.jpg).
Now plug the flash drive into the iPad using the camera connection kit. Open the Photos app, the movie/photo files should appear & you can import. (You can not export using the camera connection kit.)
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4101
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New computer--do i erase ipod and sync with new itunes library?

I downloaded itunes on my ancient pc and that's where I synced my ipod. i finally put that pc out to pasture and now have a new laptop. i downloaded itunes to the new computer, and when i hooked up my ipod i got the message "the ipod is synced with another itunes library. Do you want to erase this ipod and sync with this itunes library?" So do I want to erase and sync or not? I'm scared I'm going to mess everything up if I erase it.
One more question: my daughter got a new ipod; once i figure out this syncing issue with my existing ipod, do I need to set up a new account for the new ipod, or can i sync it with the account i already have?
sorry for all the questions--I'm a newbie and want to get this right. Thanks for your help!

Hello. I recently had to restore my computer (as if it was new due to, to many viruses) Afterwards itunes was still there but the music i have on my ipod was not previously purchased through itunes but they were on my computer and placed in itunes library and sent to my ipod. Well after restoring my pc, itunes opened up when i connected my ipod and it asked me to update. So i updated to itunes 10. Now it is telling me that this ipod is registered to my fiance' and it is running off a different itunes library, and that I would either need to erase and sync to the new library in itunes 10, or transfer to itunes 10 library. I tried transfer and restarted itunes, but it just asked me the same questions again. It wouldnt let me create new place lists either. im scared to erase bc i have so many songs i wont remember what there all were to go back and download if it actually erases all my current songs or applications. I assumed when itunes updated to itunes 10, it would update with all my information. And although the ipod is registered in his name or however he did that, I also have sum form of account with apple/itunes because it uses my email address and my credit card during purchases for this ipod (his name is just there). i dont understand what I am suppose to do to fix this problem. These songs are still on my computer and the program where i downloaded them from but since i had to restore the whole computer, its like they are probably hidden files and arent being detected i guess. I really dont know. I have been reading and I see many ppl with the same issue. Any suggestions that wont cost me anything or a little of nuthing to resolve? I heard of Tansee Ipod Transfer but it charges you to move your files from your ipod, into a folder, to your computer, and then to be added to your itunes. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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How do I sync my music from my iphone to my mac when I have created a itunes library on my old computer?

How do I sync my music from my iphone to my mac when I have created a itunes library on my old Hewitt packard computer?
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I have over 1000 songs on my iphone and want to back it up on my mac itunes
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Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer was planned with you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself properly backed up against loss. To use a device with a new computer you transfer the content from the old computer (or its backup) directly to the new computer, not the device to the new computer. Syncing is one way, computer to device, updating the device content to the content on the computer, not updating or restoring content on a computer. The exception is iTunes Store purchases which can be transferred to a computer.
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only purchases from iTunes Store
For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will have to use third party commercial software. See this document by turingtest2: Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

My husband and I use the same computer. He has his Itunes library that updates his ipod. I have my ITunes library that updates my ipod. How can we share songs between us?

My husband and I use the same home computer. He has his ITunes library that links to his Ipod. I have my ITunes library that links to my Ipod. How can we share songs between our libraries? (Windows - Vista)

No. Its not possible.
Alternatively, create another user account in your computer. Install iTunes in that account with the library you wish to sync.

The ipod is synced with another itunes library

"the ipod is synced with another itunes library" and they gave me two choices...
1. to delete all my ipod data.
2. cancel..
Guys before you reply please please read why i have turned to the support/community as this is my last resort before you reply with the most general answers which i would have already tried and did not work.
Ok, so my old computer died on me a month ago and i had not backed up my ipod touch for a few months already.. so when my com died on me i was with quite an outdated OS. when i got my com back a few days ago, i straight away told myself to backup my ipod touch, so i did. when i synced with this new itunes and clicked cancel for "the ipod is synced with another itunes library" question. it loaded like a normal syncing would do. i left it alone..
a few mins later i checked my itunes and noticed the word "DELETING ------" and i'm like WTH!?! and straight away unplugged the cable. nearly 80% of my games were deleted! all save data and stuffs gone.. i dont know what happened so i searched online.
to cut it short i found out about authorizing accounts so i deauthorized "all itunes" things and authorized this current one..
it still shows me "the ipod is synced with another itunes library" and it tried to delete my games despite that.
someone help me please. i have like 3 games left that still has my high scores from my 50+ games i had previously.
oh and one more this. i have never jailbroked my itouch before and all games are legit-ly downloaded so thats about it. anything else you need to know please feel free to ask!
I sincerely thank you for helping me.

I would move the backups to a safe place and let iTunes erase and restore the iPods. Then move the other backup to the correct location and then restore from the old backups. It may not work but you are no worse off. The backups are located here:
iTunes places the backup files in the following places:
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Note: If you do not see the AppData or Application Data folders, you may need to show hidden files (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7), or iTunes may not be installed in the default location. Show hidden files and then search the hard drive for the Backup directory.

Repairing "damaged" iTunes library?

Is there any way of repairing a damaged library file? Or is there a problem with the current version of iTunes that corrupts library files when it reads them? Here's my situation:
I opened iTunes (latest version 7.4.2) the other day and it said my library was corrupted/damaged, and it made a new library file. All the music files are intact. I tried to copy over a backup library file from a month ago (which worked without problems a month ago) but it said that it too was corrupted/damaged. This doesn't make sense to me, and seems to indicate another kind of problem rather than with the library file.
So my question is as follows. Is there a way to:
a. Do something to iTunes to make it recognize my Library as valid?
b. Repair a "damaged" library file somehow?
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RELAX -- i was able to restore my iTunes Library to work again without any changes or loss. -- see below for what i did, here's how it happened...
...when my ext HD was accidentally disconnected while running itunes, the app froze. I reconnected the HD and restarted itunes. A dialog box saying something like importing data came up and it stayed for a long period and i could see it was working the HD. i probabably should have let it run until it was done, but i pressed the stop option after 5 minutes because i thought it might be hung up. Seems all the HD jogging meant it was rebuilding the 160 Gb library -- who knew?
anyway, i guess the app was trying to do an automatic restoration process (we need to communicate better, iTunes...) The aborted process created a new library file that had only about a quarter of my music and no playlists, which obviously is not OK at all, so i came to this discussion for some clues...I saw a lot of discussion about reloading everything which seemed kinda wack, and was not an option so i pieced together some bits of best answers.
What worked for me was:
1.Quit iTunes.
2. Copy the largest, most recent library from the "Previous itunes library" folder to desktop. It will have a date appended to its name.
3. New default iTunes library and iTunes Library.xml files are created in the iTunes folder if you restarted iTunes when it couldn't read your preferred library. The itunes library file has an itunes logo on it and the iTunes Library.xml file is a text document. Trash these two new files. Don't bother with other Library files in sub-folders, because just the two top level Library files are read by the app.
4. Drag the library file from the desktop back into the iTunes Music folder. The file should be renamed just "iTunes Library" -- Don't worry about not adding a replacement iTunes Library.xml file - a new one will automatically regenerate if the iTunes Library can be read.
5. Start iTunes and ta-da...Hopefully that'll do it. Do something to celebrate, I was so stoked i signed up for this discussion to share what worked for me... Help a neighbor, or do something nice...

Repair damaged iTunes library?

Hello,
First of all, I know this question has been asked many times, but I'm quite frustrated by what poor answers there have been. None of them actually actually address how to repair a library, just replace it from back-ups, etc., which is not an option for me (you'll see why below).
This morning, to my horror, I got a notification that my library was damaged and that a new library would be created. "No problem," I said, "This has happened before. I will just use a copy from Previous Libraries."
I looked in there and the last copy of my library iTunes saved was from months ago; most of my ratings and playlists would be gone (all less than 6 months old).
So, let me put this clearly for anyone who replies: using a saved library from the Previous Libraries folder is not an option.*
I then found the method of using iTunes Library.xml to regenerate your old library with playlists and such. This looked promising except that when I launched iTunes and it made the new blank library, it also erased everything in the .xml file. Very, very stupid design on Apple's part. So now I have my damaged .itl file, my new, empty .itl file, as well as an overwritten, blank, .xml file.
Does anyone know any way to actually repair a damaged .itl file? Obviously if some part is corrupted, I expect to lose A playlist or SOME ratings or anything, but now I'm losing 50-ish playlists and 5000 track/album ratings and my heart is broken. I'm imagining it has some sort of hierarchical structure as the .xml file has, and hoping there exists a method of cleaving the unreadable records from an otherwise solid database.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Ian
*It would be normally, so on a side note, can anyone tell me why iTunes might not have been making back-ups regularly? Is there a way to force iTunes to make a back-up in Previous Libraries on a daily basis or something?

There isn't a way to repair a .itl file unless the damage is part of something greater happening to your computer where the directory is damaged and repairing that (e.g., Disk Utility) fixes files in general. The .itl can only be handled by the iTunes application. It is in proprietary binary format so it isn't something you can edit like a .xml.
iTunes does not do backups of any kind. The previous libraries are created when you update the iTunes application and it creates a new copy of the library to use with the newer iTunes version. If you want to automate backup you will need to include it as part of a larger scale backup of your computer (not a bad idea) or write something such as an Automator script to start iTunes where it copies the library files to a folder with a date time stamp and then starts the iTunes application.
What exact steps did you do in using the .xml? It should not have erased the .xml unless you put it in the iTunes folder of the new library you were creating.
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451 - use .xml version of library file to restore most of the information in your library. Has you drag the .xml to the Desktop then use the import command to create playlists.

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So one day I open iTunes to discover a huge chunk of my music missing. I was missing about 1500 songs, and apparantly it rolled back to about 3 months ago. I'm very orderly with my music, and I have spent countless hours organizing the music information, ratings, etc. I still have the damaged iTunes library file, but of course it doesn't work. If worst comes to worse I'll buy one of those applications that copy the iPod data to iTunes, but if there's another way, please help me out.
And what the **** caused this? The only thing I could think of that could cause it was me installing the Ruckes music player.

theres a program that you can download i think its called music rescue. you plug your ipod in and it will download all the songs back on to your computer. you might lose your ratings but it saved my *** before once when i lost all my music. hope this helps.

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Invalid "iPod Games Library" creates damaged iTunes library

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