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Yesterday I fixed an iTunes issue for Lucie Bazin:

Problem
Lucie had added several CDs of music to her iTunes but after she restarted, none of them were showing up in the Library. Also, she originally put music on her 2nd Gen iPod nano with a PC and now that she was trying to synchronize with her Mac, it wasn’t showing up when connected.

Diagnosis
After taking the time to assess how many different computers were involved (2) and how many iTunes Libraries (4), I was able to divulge that the person Lucie had recently purchased the computer from had given her a new account, but forgot to turn off the “Automatic Login” setting.

(Sidenote: This means he had also forgotten to remove his Admin account, which still left the computer and several system-wide settings in his name … not a necessary pre-sale requirement, but a nice one).

As for the iPod, whomever had connected the iPod to the new Mac initially simply clicked-thru the window asking if iTunes should erase and re-sync the music or leave it as it was. Disconnecting and reconnecting the iPod brought that dialog box back up.

1. Create a new user for Lucie, with Admin privileges.
2. Turn off “Automatic Login” setting in System Preferences.
3. Log out and log back in, as Lucie.
4. Transfer over all the music from other users Music folders to Desktop.
5. Import this music into iTunes. I ended up with multiple copies of some songs, but used the nice “Show Duplicates” setting to get rid of those.
6. Once you are sure you copied over everything, remove all of the other User Accounts.

1. Make sure to you have backed up copies of the music on the iPod.
2. Use the iTunes “Restore” feature to reset everything back to factory settings.
3. Rename the iPod, and if necessary, install iPod updates.
4. Re-sync music and playlists.