Lost ITunes library in Windows XP Home Edition

Question

Hi:
It took close to 10 hours reconverting all my music from an external hard drive to a new installation of ITunes on a new laptop so I can put the music on a new IPod. All the music got converted--my husband and I both saw it. Then I went to my husband's desktop and the music was not in his ITunes library--so I changed the folder to look in--still no luck. When I returned to my desktop, the music was gone!! Can someone please help me--I cannot see the music anywhere. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling ITunes with no luck. Don't know what the heck is going on

Answer 1

The faster way would be to just move the files from the 'My Pictures' folder into the 'My Music' folder. Then just do a 'FIle=>Add Folder'. No need to delete them. Too late now...
After you convert the files to an acceptable iTunes form, make sure you know where they are located on the PC.
Here's some general info on iTunes and its music organization:
iTunes operates as a database of information for your music files. The actual music files are stored on your PC, not within iTunes. iTunes keeps absolute references of the music file location and other information in its database file. This allows iTunes to use music files from any location on the PC: different directories/folders on the main HD, another internal drive, an external drive, or a network drive (or any combination of the above). Each song reference has a specific and hardcoded path so iTunes can find and play (or sync) it. Move the file, change the path, re-map the drive it is on, and iTunes will lose the file (giving you the '!' of a ‘Broken Link’). Lose, move or corrupt the ‘iTunes Music.itl’ file and your complete Library will ‘vanish’.
If you delete, corrupt, or otherwise lose your ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file, you will end up with a ‘blank’ Library within iTunes. Nine time out of ten, your underlying music files are still on the PC. They can be ‘re-Added’ via the File==>Add Folder/File menu command, but you will lose some of the music meta-data. Recovering your Library via backup copies of the iTunes database file, or from importing the XML file is always preferable.
The iTunes music information (meta-data) is stored in two places: the actual individual song files themselves, and the iTunes Library database file (‘iTunes Library.itl’). There is a corresponding XML file that is created by iTunes, but not directly used. See: What are the iTunes Library files?.
Song attributes stored directly in each music file are as follows: Artist, Album, Song Title, Year, Comments, Compilation tag, Lyrics, Genre , Grouping, Composer, BPM, Album Artwork, Bit Rate & Kind (Both not tags - inherent to the file itself).
Song attributes stored in the iTunes Library database file only are: Playlists, Ratings, Play Count, Last Played, Date Added, Date Modified, Equalizer, Volume Adjustment.
Changing (or designating) the 'iTunes Music folder' location in the Preferences does not instruct iTunes where to look for existing songs it currently knows about. It directs iTunes where to store any new songs it Imports, or 'Adds' and copies to its Library organization (if that attribute is selected). This is an important distinction.
See: About the Add to Library, Import, and Convert functions