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SCMP Reporter

With the wild success of Apple's iPod, its iTunes software (now available on both Mac and PC) is becoming  important to music lovers. Unfortunately, old backup rules still apply.

The Macintosh I use for storing music has been running for  months  without being rebooted. A few days ago, as I was reading a CD,  there was a brief power flux. Everything went out for  half a second.  Everything  lacking its own power backup went down, including the Mac reading the CD.  On reboot, the iTunes application refused to run. Here was the error message:

'The iTunes Music Library file cannot be read because it does not appear to be a valid library file.'

Name and address supplied

This is a common message when several  things go wrong.

Although those who ask about this problem do not always specify what version of iTunes they are using, I shall assume they are using iTunes 4. After all, the software is free.

The secret to understanding how much of this kind of software works is in knowing where it keeps its files, and what they do. On a Mac, the three important files are kept in the user directory under Music-? iTunes-? iTunes Music. The files are: iTunes 4 Music Library iTunes Music Library (2) iTunes Music Library.xml.

On a PC, you will have to look at My Documents-? My Music-? iTunes.

You will see iTunes Music Library and iTunes 4 Music Library (unless you have turned on Show Extensions). Once you have located these files, you can move them to another directory, preferably one on the desktop called iTunesData (or something like that).

When you launch iTunes now, it will be blank. You can go to the File-? and click on Import and then  grab the files you had just moved back. It may work, but it will depend on how serious the problem is.

Even if that does not work, all is not lost. Simply go to File-? and click on Add to Library, and then go on to your hard disk and find the folders with all your music. You will have to recreate the play lists, and you will have lost any records you had, such as how many times you played a CD.

But with a few  clicks of the mouse you get it all back,  which is better than having to reread all your CDs.  These files should be backed up periodically, regardless of which OS you may be using.

Now, there are things that can be done in advance that are a little easier than  dragging and dropping these files to backup disks. You could create a script for the Mac or Windows that would do this for you and then simply run it from time to time.

An iTunes manager script for the Mac is available at www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/

itinfo/ituneslibrary manager.php

Information on iTunes, including downloads for Mac and PC, can be found at www.apple.com/itunes

There is a company in Britain,   wePod,  that will do it all for you, provided you live in the Greater London area.  It will pick up your CDs (minimum order 100) and your iPod (or MP3 player), put all the music on your device, and return it all to you within a week.

If any readers are aware of a similar service in Hong Kong, I will be happy to print the details in this column.



Play safe with a backup chorus  of Apple iTunes