ITunes 9 - solution is to uninstall and get older version?

Question

I am wondering as the problem I have below seems to be unsolvable is it a wise move to uninstall iTunes on the mac as I have all the music on my ext HD and reload?
Have a prob with iTunes and it is getting messier the more I fiddle with it. Bought an external HD had a friend partition for me and things were ok until I added iLife and was transferring HD tape to the external HD. My friend (PC guy) didn't set up the partition properly for a mac so I ended up doing it. Moved all the data from the ext HD back onto my mac, partitioned, then put every thing back, or so I thought. Now when I try to access my iTunes library almost all of it has exclamation points and I cannot sync my iPod for the same reason. I tried changing the iTunes media folder location in preferences then organize library and consolidate files but this has made it worse as it seems I now have copies of songs on both the mac and ext HD but neither works on iTunes. Began to try the iTunes Track CPR v1.3 but it is a waste of time when you are talking 8k plus songs. Any suggestions?
TIA

Answer 1

Aaron Plaxton wrote:
Do I stay w/iTunes v9?
i would.
Am curious as to why everyone is getting the exclamation mark problem not just me.
not everyone is getting the "!". the trick is to let iTunes do the moving. if you move files via the finder, iTunes loses track of their location - it's as simple as that.
Not worried about play lists, ratings etc.
good. fire up iTunes with the option key pressed and, @ the prompt, choose to create a new library. go to the advanced tab, point iTunes to the desired location, check +keep iTunes media folder organized+ and +copy files to+ ...
next, file > add to library and navigate to the folder on the external containing your media files.
for future reference, check this read on how to move your iTunes library properly.
good luck !
JGG