ITunes 7 upgrade - loss of music, or not?

I would like to upgrade my iTunes to the latest 7.0.2 version, but am worried I'll lose all my songs currently on the previous version of iTunes. These number almost 1500, so could someone kindly tell me what will happen to my songs after upgrading to 7.0.2? Will I lose everything, or will all remain intact? Thanks, much appreciated!

Hi, AndrewKG.
Default settings place your song files in the iTunes Music folder which, along with the Album Artwork and Previous iTunes Libraries folders and the iTunes Library files , is found at C:\Documents and Settings\ user name \My Documents\My Music\iTunes - far away from the iTunes program itself which is located at C:\Program Files\iTunes .
Although iTunes certainly makes use of the contents of the iTunes folder - among other things the library files tell iTunes exactly where to find the song files which is, of course, necessary if iTunes is going to play any music or transfer it to your iPod - the folder is not actually a part of the program so uninstalling or upgrading iTunes should have no effect at all on the contents of the iTunes folder ...
... but ...
... one of the funny things about computers is that sometime, somehow, somewhere when you least expect it , they can do some not so funny things, like losing data that they're not supposed to. Which is why it's a good idea to have a back up copy of any data (such as your music) that you value in reserve ... just in case.
There are a variety of ways of doing so but for most people it probably comes down to one of two options.
The one this article in the Apple Knowledge Base describes in detail uses iTunes 7 to burn a back-up copy of the contents of your iTunes Library and the Library files - but not the Album Artwork or Previous iTunes Libraries folders - to CD's/DVD's.
The other main method for creating your back-up is to save a copy of the iTunes folder on a separate hard drive. Some of our Discussions regulars are quite fond of that approach .
If, when and how you choose to back-up your music is your decision to make - just bear in mind that as far as I know we've never had anyone post in these discussions who's regretted creating a back-up copy of their iTunes Library.
But we often hear from people who regret not having done so.

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