iTunes 5.0 (#4): Knowledge Base article for lost music library; Fix for music sharing not working

We previously reported on an issue where some users experience a loss of their entire music libraries after updating to iTunes 5.0. This problem is unfrequent, though it has occurred with previous iTunes updates, and underscores the importance of backing up your iTunes music library.

Apple has now posted a Knowledge Base article explaining how to recover the library in some cases -- when the library is still existent in the User folder but is not immediately recognized by the new release of iTunes.

The steps are as follows:

1. Quit iTunes.
2. Navigate to ~/Music/iTunes (/Users/username/Music/iTunes/)
3. Drag the iTunes Library file from the above location to the Desktop.
4. Open the Previous iTunes Libraries folder in the iTunes folder.
5. Locate the file named iTunes Library YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY-MM-DD is the date you first opened iTunes 5 (Year-Month-Day).
6. Drag this file to the iTunes folder (the enclosing folder).
7. Rename this file to iTunes Library.
8. Open iTunes.

If you were affected by this variant of the problem, your music should now appear normally in the iTunes 5.0 window.

Fix for music sharing not working We previously reported on an issue where music sharing does not work after the iTunes 5.0 update, with normally accessible music shares not appearing in the navigation bar.

In many cases this issue can be resolved by opening iTunes' Preferences, selecting the "General" pane, then making sure that the "Show Radio" option is checked.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Previous coverage:

• iTunes 5.0 (#3): Podcasts lost, fix; Entire library lost; Jumping from song to song; more
• iTunes 5.0 (#2): Persistent "Quit iTunes before installing" message, fix; more
• Apple introduces iTunes 5: New search bar; new shuffle features; more

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