Reformatted Computer, Locked iTunes Library on Time Machine

My wife and I recently reformatted her iBook with OS 10.5. She had it on there before and had been using Time Machine to back up her computer. The problem now is that when we try to choose a library for iTunes, previous backups are "locked." I assume this is because we renamed her computer during the re-installation of Leopard.
Does anyone know how I can access the older library? For that matter, it seems as though all of the back-ups are there, but I'm unable to access them via Time Machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Back to basics.
Time Machine is an application that copies to a second drive (usually external).  Apple sells drives called Time Capsule but basically any external drive should work.  From what you said I gather you have set up TM to copy to your external drive but you have also placed your entire iTunes library on that external drive and deleted it from your internal drive in order to free up space.  Ergo, you only have one copy of your iTunes library now and that's on the external.  I don't know about TM failing after 18 months since it is software.  Maybe Time Capsule since it is hardware, but the timeframe isn't a given.  My external could "fail" tonight if somebody broke into my house and stole all my computer stuff.  You're never safe with only one copy of your files, and it sounds like you only have one copy of your iTunes collection.
You say "remapping" which isn't a technical term for iTunes.  Do you mean you changed something in iTunes preferences, or have you held down the option key while starting iTunes so it knows to look for your library files on the external drive?
Do you have iTunes manage your music?
How did you plcae your collection on the external drive?  Do you have the whole iTunes folder there along with media files, library files, artwork folder, etc?, or did you use the "move your media to a different location" method which only moves media and basically splites up your iTunes folder across several drives?

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