Itunes music library "damaged"

my ibook crashed when trying to download a large email attchment and when I re-started, my music library was damaged and a new one was "created" with nothing in it. How can I re-install my old library.... I can see the one labelled damaged but I can't import it via itunes.

A damaged 'iTunes Library' file is unusable and there is no way to repair it as far as I know.
If your 'iTunes Music Library.xml' file still reflects the contents of the now damaged 'iTunes Library' file, you can try to use this one.
Choose 'Import...' from the File menu and navigate to the 'iTunes Music Library.xml' file. Click 'Choose'. There's a very small chance it will work.
Usually you have to re-create the library after a 'damaged library file' message.
Drop the 'iTunes Music' folder (in./Users/YourUsername/Music/iTunes) on the empty library in iTunes.
iTunes will rebuild the library. You have lost your playlists, play counts, date added, ratings and podcast subscriptions, but at least the library is populated again.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

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ITunes musical library located on a WD 2TB, ext. drv. Computer destroyed by virus; ED survived. Bought new laptop, connected ED. Not able to see library. ED shows as 'G:' 95% full. How can I reconnect my old library to new laptop?

I had my iTunes musical library on an ext. drv. WD 2TB, ‘MY BOOK ESSENTIAL'. Three weeks ago, my computer was infected by a virus that fried it. It did not affect the external drive. I bought a new computer: a laptop, Dell XPS, Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium. I have been able to connect the WD external drive; however, I am not able to see the musical library in my iTunes or Explorer. ‘My Computer’ shows the external drive as ‘G:’ 95% full. It reads, 32.1 GB free of 1.36 TB. When I click on the drive to see its contents, it shows nothing. The library in iTunes also shows nothing. Can anyone help, please? How can I reconnect my old musical library to my new laptop and iTunes? Many thanks.

Hmm, viruses don't generally "fry" drives. They can make bootable operating systems not bootable, hide data, and corrupt executable files. Software can potentially wipe all the data from the drive but it shouldn't be able to physically damage the drive. Bah! What's done is done.
As to unhiding your files assuming they are just hidden....
Hit Start > Run, type in CMD and press enter. Type the following at the prompt and then press enter:
attrib -h -s -r g:\*.* /d /s
This tells windows to clear the hidden, read-only, and system flags from all files on the drive, assuming of course your profile has the power to "see" the files and change them.
If that doesn't work then you may need to take ownership of the drive first. The drive may have security settings that make it "belong" to an account on your old system. Right-click on the drive in Windows Explorer and click Properties. Click the Security tab, the Advanced button, the Owner tab, then the Edit tab. Make yourself the owner, then you can make any other changes to the security settings you want to back on the Permissions tab. (If you can't change the owner log out and log back in as Administrator). For iTunes your account (or everyone) and SYSTEM need full access to all files. Any changes you make should be applied to "This folder, subfolders and files", should be inheritable and you should also replace the permissions on all child objects.
tt2

ITunes Music Library File Corrupt

Hey,
Yesterday I was putting some podcasts on my ipod shuffle, when itunes froze. I force quit it, and when i booted it up again, it said that the iTunes Music Library File was locked or that I don't have permissions for it. I replaced it with my previous library, except now I have a library that's like four months old. Is there any way to import the songs/podcasts from my music folder into my music library? Or perhaps to repair the damaged Music Library File?
PS I don't have any .AACs.

Do you still have a copy of the problematic library file? (or of the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file that was in the (home)/Music/iTunes at the time? If so, use the File->Import function to import either of these files.
(First make a backup copy of your current "iTune Library" file just in case.)
If the import won't work because it says the file is locaked, go in the finder and select hte file, do control-I to bring up the get info box and make sure the file's preferences are set to read and write. If that doesn't help use the Disk Utility application in your Utilities folder to "repair permissions" on your hard drive.
Finally, if these methods don't work, then you can manually add the missing music (but this won't bring back any ratings, playcounts, etc associated with the tracks in your old library). Go File->Add to Library and select your music folder. It will go through the files and only add the ones not already in your library.
By the way, AAC files wouldn't affect this problem one way or the other.

"importing itunes music library.xml" pops up every time I launch iTunes

My MacBook Pro crashed this morning, requiring a "safe mode" restart. Anyway, on relaunch, everything seems to be working okay now. EXCEPT -- now whenever I first launch iTunes (after rebooting the computer), I get the popup progress box "importing itunes music library.xml" which is followed by a message about the iTunes library being moved to a "iTunes Library (damaged)" message when complete.
I guess my iTunes library has gotten corrupted somehow.
I've searched for this error message and found numerous posts, but all seem to be in reference to moving the iTunes music library from one computer to another.
Can someone assist me in how to correct this problem? I don't want to try resyncing my iPod without fixin this first...

same prob here, but mine goes one step farther (read: worse). i reported in the form from previous post, but no response yet.
in addition to displaying the "importing..." message, the system ultimately indicated that the file was damaged and saved a version as such. Over half my music is not shown in the new file, and thus not in itunes (though the music files are still there.
has anyone figured this out? would hate to have to individually add everytihg back.

ITunes Music Library corrupted by Update 5.0?

Yesterday iTunes was normal. Late last night Software Update presented me with an update to iTunes (5.0) which I declined to install. This morning, when I launched iTunes several unexpected things happened:
1. iTunes hung searching for (or loading) the Library for nearly 30 minutes. On launch I saw the loading progress bar, then was busy with other things (in other Spaces desktops) till I noticed it hung. I cancelled this loading operation and continued launching, then...
2. iTunes reported a damaged Library which would be renamed "iTunes Library (Damaged)" and that a new library would be created.
3. iTunes very quickly began rebuilding my music database, searching for album art, etc. -- all of which I stopped as quickly as possibly.
4. iTunes launched with a completely bare browser (new installation: utterly without any of my stuff), which was a shock to say the least, but all the previous occurrences began to add up. I quit iTunes.
5. I went directly to the Music/iTunes directory and began investigating. I found that...
6. iTunes had created a brand new file named < iTunes Music Library.xml > at 12:53 PM (it's now 1:53 exactly) and a file named < iTunes Library (Damaged) >.
7. Previous iTunes libraries I have collected over the years (by manual backup and in Time Machine) are named < iTunes Library.itl > (I assume ".itl" stands for iTunes Library).
8. I went to System Preferences/Software Update/Installed Software and confirmed that the most recent software update was "Java for Mac OSX 10.6 Update 6 Version 6.0" on 11/11/11; as expected, I had NOT inadvertently installed the unwanted iTunes update last night.
Before I begin bleating my own opinions, I would love to get more informed comments and answers to a few perhaps obvious questions.
Q1. What happened?
Q2. Could it have been related to the update I declined to install? (Pure coincidence would be positively mystical.)
Q3. If not (Q2), then why the radical change in Library name and tag ( iTunes Library.itl --> iTunes Music Library.xml )?
Q4. Can I use my manual backups (or Sync, or Time Machine) to restore the previous Library and get my hard-wrought, very coveted collections back as they were? If yes, how? If no, what then?
I do not yet plan to update my Mac OS to Lion for a number of reasons (therefor making the Apple Cloud service unavailable to me), so I'd intended to be cautious about related updates, such as the updates to iTunes, iPhone (...) and wait a bit. The DotMac/MobileMe account I've had since the beta days will remain active till summer and I figured I'd have plenty of time to think about it and to formulate a strategy for dealing with dreaded software/hardware obsolescence issues and so on.
Thanks to the community for any help forthcoming.
-- Bill

Some clarifications (hopefully):
The iTunes update flashed by me pretty fast on the night of Nov 15 as I quickly chose not to accept it. I seem to have mistaken the version number. The newest version of iTunes showing at the Apple site is 10.5.1 (I thought I'd seen a 5.0, but obviously not). I just looked in the Applications folder at the iTunes app version; it's 10.5, and the Date Modified is October 12, 2011. As mentioned above, System Preferences/Software Update/Installed Software shows no recent update to iTunes. It seems Software Update was trying to update iTunes to version 10.5.1 on the night of Nov 15th..
Also, I spent a bit more time today trolling about some loosely related discussions on these lists, and believe I might have misunderstood the three types of file I mentioned, so I looked more closely at them:
Music/iTunes Folder:
< iTunes Music Library.xml > Shows created Aug 3, 2008, modified Nov 16 at 12:53 PM.
< iTunes Library.itl > Shows created (12:52) and modified (12:53) yesterday (Nov 16.).
< iTunes Library (Damaged) > Shows created Oct 12, 2011, modified Nov 15, 2011 at 7:55 PM (when update was cancelled).
Applications Folder: iTunes (app) - version 10.5 - created Jan 14, 2008, modified Oct 12, 2011 (Finder info);
System Preferences/Software Update/Installed Software: iTunes 10.5 installed Oct 12, 2011 (nothing more recent)
Why was the "iTunes Library (Damaged)" file created a _month_ ago and only modified when I declined the iTunes 10.5.1 update? I can't get any sense from this. Now past 2 AM on the 17th. I'm calling it a day on this. Hope to get iTunes up and running soon.
-- B.

ITunes not opening, "iTunes Music Library .xml"

Hi, my iTunes wont start up and its currently stuck on -
Importing -
"iTunes Music Library .xml"
But nothing else seems to be happening.
Not sure what to do and I really don't want to lose all my play counts & playlists I have compiled over the last 5 years.
Please Help!
Thanks.

I eventually got around to trying to fix this problem but what I did was to let the message -
Importing - "iTunes Music Library .xml"
- continue to see what happens and after about 20 minutes it said my 'iTunes Music Library .xml' was damaged and was going to create another, so I let it do so.
The good news is everything is fine, all my playlists, play counts, ratings etc are there.
The bad news is the amount of songs!
I always keep a log of my iTunes Library in iCal everytime i buy a new CD and rip it.
I had - 24,105 Songs, 85.1 Days, 129.79 GB
I now have - 22,842 songs, 80.4 Days, 123.76 GB
So looks like I have lost or so it seems 1,263 songs!
Any ideas?
Thank You.

Why doesn't my whole iTunes music library show up on Apple TV? Only songs I have purchased or downloaded show up

Why doesn't my whole iTunes music library show up on Apple TV? Home sharing is on on all devices.

nevermind, i had automatic graphics switching check off. i removed the check mark and then went into about my mac and voila there was the amd card. Figured i'd post what i found in case anyone else was looking for an answer.

I bought a new laptop and used Windows Easy Transfer cable and moved all files from one computer to another. I installed iTunes and found my iTunes music Library. However, when I plug in my iPod it says it is already synced with another iTunes Library.

I bought a new laptop and used Windows Easy Transfer cable and moved all files from one computer to another. I installed iTunes and found my iTunes music Library. However, when I plug in my iPod it says it is already synced with another iTunes Library.
I don't see anything in Help that shows when you already have transfered all the files over. Why would it want to erase and sync when I already have all the music folder copied over? I didn't have an issue when I had another technician copy from one laptop to another. Home sharing is also on but not being recognized.

I suspect you only migrated the media folder instead of the complete working library. Either review the transfer process and copy over the entire iTunes folder from your old profile's music folder or see Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

Itunes won't find 'itunes music library' on external hard drive by default

I have my Itunes library saved on a wireless external hard drive. When I open itunes for the first time after a re-start it won't automatically detect the itunes music library file and I have to point it to the correct folder on the external hard drive. Once I do this everything works perfectly until I re-start my mac and then I have the same problem.
One of my friends has told me that macs won't automatically connect to wireless devices like windows does but he thinks there is some software that enables it to do so. I presume this would sort the issue out or alternatively any other suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks for any help

Your external HD needs to be mounted before launching iTunes or iTunes will create a new blank library on your startup drive.
You can add your external HD to the list of startup items in  > System Preferences > Accounts to avoid this problem.

The iTunes music library.itl file cannot be found or created?

itunes 7 worked all day for me yesterday, but I have had this problem since last night where when I try to start it I get this message: "the iTunes music library.itl file cannot be found or created. the default location for this file is in the "itunes" folder in the "my music" folder. PLEASE HELP!

there should also be a "Previous iTunes Libraries" in the itunes folder besides itunes music.
if not, good luck making a new playlist

I deleted some files from my iTunes music library, how do I get them back?

Hi there, I hope you can help.
I have had an 80Gb iPod for a while now, but it got full, so I was deleting stuff that I didn't listen to very often from my iTunes library as I added new music. However, I kept all the music in my iTunes Music folder.
I have now purchased a 120Gb iPod, but obviously some of my music is only in the iTunes Music folder, but NOT actually in my music library within iTunes. Is there a way to sync the entire library with the new iPod (ie. including all the albums that I deleted from my iTunes library to accommodate new ones), or will I have to manually check my entire iTunes music library against my iTunes Music folder?
In essence, what I want to do is the opposite of consolidating my iTunes music library into my iTunes Music folder - to get all the music in my iTunes Music folder back into the library, without duplicating the stuff that's on there already. I hope that's clear...?
Best regards,
Matt.

Try iTunes Folder Watch for rereading the content you deleted, assuming you only removed it from the library, not the media folder. If you deleted the tracks then restore those that remain from the recycle bin first.
When you are finished you should have a new playlist with all the tracks that iTFW found. Rename this Exclude and then create a smart playlist called, say, iPod Music with the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Exclude. This is the playlist you sync with your device, and any time it grows too large just find some more stuff to throw into Exclude.
tt2

How do I consolidate an Itunes music library on two windows computers onto one windows computer?

How do I consolidate an Itunes music library on two windows computers onto one windows computer?

Click here, pick the option which best fits your situation, open the larger library in iTunes, move the media files from the smaller one into the library in the open iTunes program window or the Automatically Add to iTunes folder, and then import the playlists. Any rented movies will only play on the computer they were originally downloaded to.
(126751)

How to move iTunes Music Library from an external HD to another?

Yesterday I tried to move all my music from an external HD to a new bigger one.
Well, I encountered various problems, the most important one is that the “iTunes Music Library” file messed up.
I transferred all files and both “iTunes Music Library.xml” and the “iTunes Library” file in the new HD. I have to say that I didn't know so much about those two files and I thought that it was enough to move them in the new location; I discovered that those files included the information about where the music is located (among other infos), so it still redirects to the older HD.
However, now I’m trying to recreate the previous situation on the older HD, and I’m trying to “rebuild” the iTunes Library (I have a back-up of the xml file, even if it is not the running one).
This operation is very important for me because about two years ago I used (for a long time )an earlier version of iTunes that had a bug: even if wrote all the tag infos on an a mp3, the “artist name” and “album name” tags didn’t remained. But I still can see all the informations through the iTunes browser (thanks to the iTunes Music Library DB). So, I cannot recreate it from zero. I absolutely need to export the existing “iTunes Music Library” to the new HD, or at least to use the existing “iTunes Music Library”, leaving it where it already is and moving only the “iTunes Music folder” (even if I don’t want to use two external HDs, the older one holding the existing “iTunes Music Library” e “iTunes Library” files and the newer one holding the “itunes Music” folder I moved!).
As far as you know how can I move safely “iTunes Music Library” e “iTunes Library” files on the new HD applying them to the new “iTunes Music” folder??
I really need your help!
This article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074 didn’t help.
Stefano

Sorry, I wasn't responding to you, just the original poster. I didn't look at the date on that posting and didn't realize that you'd added a post that wasn't quite the same problem. In future, you'll find you get better answers if you start your own thread. You're issue really is a bit more complicated.
If iTunes currently recognizes all the music on both internal and the external drives, it should work. You have to make sure that both drives (old and new) are mounted. Make sure you have both "Keep iTunes music organized" (you probably already do) and "Copy files to iTunes..." (you probably don't) checked.
If not all of the music is currently in your iTunes library, perform the procedure with the music that is a part of the library and add the other stuff afterwards.
Best of luck.

I have just put an audio book into my iTunes music library. When I tried to transfer it to my iPod shuffle it rearranged the tracks so that they are in the wrong order. How can I put them in the order they appear in the book?

I have just put an audio book into my iTunes music library. When I tried to transfer it to my iPod Shuffle it put the chapters in the wrong order i.e. Chap 1, Chap 10, Chap 11 etc. rather than Chap 1, Chap 2, Chap 3 ... How can I get it to put them in the order they appear in the book?

First, we need to know if the audiobook chapters are being treated by iTunes as music files or as audiobooks. If they are not audiobooks purchased from the iTunes store, they might be getting "shuffled". You will need to look at "File" - "Properties" (I think - I don't use iTunes under Windows - or right-click on the file and choose "properties") and look at the media type. If it is "Music", change it to "Audiobook". If this is not the problem, or does not fix anything, please post back.
Actually, looking at your post again, a second thought occurs to me - assuming there are less than 100 chapters in the book, just renaming them with a leading zero on the first nine chapters might do it. A computer will alphabetically sort filenames in the order you quote (1, 10, 11, 12, 13, ... 2, 21, etc.) but a leading zero will fix that (01, 02, 03 ... 10, 11, 12)

Transferring iTunes music library from a mac to a PC

Hi
Does anyone know how i can transfer all the songs on my mac iTunes to my new windows iTunes? I followed the instructions on the msn support website but these instructions must only be for transferring the iTunes library from a mac to a mac, or from a pc to another pc, and not from a mac to pc or vice versa.
I`ve just bought a laptop to take to university and i want to bring my music library with me.
When i loaded up my itunes from mac onto the pc it just keeps saying windows does not recognise the type of file. Is there a way of changing the settings so that windows will recognise and run a mac file?
If anyone knows that'd be of great help

The music files will transfer and play without a problem.
You will need to download a Windows version of iTunes and the iPod Updater in order to use the PC. The Mac versions will not work.
iPod Updater
iTunes Download Page
There may be some problem with the Windows version of iTunes reading the Mac's iTunes Library file. This may prevent you from completely moving over some of the music meta-data from the Mac to the PC.
There have been some posts on this, but I'll need to search for them.
Also see this for the transfer process: Buegie, "transfering music to another pc." #4, 11:22pm Oct 14, 2005 CDT
EDIT: Based on an old post I had copied into my "iPod Hints" file, here is how one contributer gave a high-level process:
i 1) copy the iTunes Music folder to your Windows machine, replacing the existing folder (back up the existing one first)
i 2) copy the iTunes Music Library.xml file to your Windows machine, and change the name to e.g. iTunesMac.xml so iTunes won't write over it.
i 3) delete any "iTunes Library.itl" file (back up the existing one)
i 4) run iTunes, and do File > Import... and pick iTunesMac.xml
Hope this helps.

Itunes music library "damaged"

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