So iTunes apparently decided to crap out and destroy its own library.
What does it do? It crashes on loading its XML backup, overwrites it preventing me from reimporting it, and then proceeds to wipe my iPod clean.
Leaving me with absolutely no way to restore my playlists.
You'd think they could import the metadata from the iPod, but of course not. It just deletes everything.
Thanks a lot, Apple.
Thankfully Vista isn't useless, and it automatically backed up an old copy of my iTunes library. (Sadly the interface for this freezes every five seconds for a minute at a time, but hey, at least it works.)
So for once, Vista actually saved me from crappy Apple software. What is the world coming to?
Update: On further inspection, it turns out that Vista Ultimate isn't useless, as only Vista Ultimate and Vista Business have the Shadow Copy feature.
So if this happens to you on a Vista Home edition, you're screwed. On the other hand, if it happens on Mac OS X 10.5, you're safe, no matter what edition you use.
Shadow Copy should be standard. Oh well.
ITunes
I don't use iTunes.
But I did have to fix it once.
So I don't know if this is a fix for the problem you are describing.
iTunes Library Updater
Dunno if it recovers playlists. It hasn't been updated this year.
I don't think so
I don't think it would help. I actually have written a program that can read the iTunes library which I've used to recover MP3s off an iPod after my computer's hard drive died.
I have no idea what makes iTunes decide a library is "corrupt."
iTunes is a scam
iTunes is a marketing ploy that sucks. Use Sharepod. It doesn't bombard the user with ads and useless features. Most of these people just want to listen to music. FUCK APPLE AND FUCK ITUNES.