iTunes does not recognize non-iTunes Store-purchased music using Windows 7.

Please forgive if this is not posted in the correct area and please advise if that is the case...

No matter which iTunes Media folder location I select in 'advanced preferences', only songs purchased from the iTunes store are available in iTunes; not any ripped or otherwise downloaded music. This happened three days after downloading the latest iTunes update, after uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes, and after moving music from a CD into the default folder location in 'advanced preferences'. After all this, I ripped a new CD in iTunes that played and displayed just fine in iTunes and was placed in the exact same folder as the 80 other CDs that are NOT visible, playable, or available in any other context in iTunes. I am spent. Does anyone have any ideas??

Instead of just pointing iTunes at your library, have you tried adding the files (File > Add to Library...)? Were these files in iTunes before? If not, that would explain why iTunes doesn't recognize them (files have to be added to the library).

Good morning! Are you referring to the File menu in iTunes? If so, that wouldn't work since the songs are not displayed in iTunes at all. Anywhere. The songs were indeed there before all this occurred. The song files are visible and accessible via Windows Explorer and are located in the same folder as the songs that are visible and playable in iTunes. If I double-click on the file in Explorer, the song is played in a different program (just the little Windows MP3 player that is included with the computer), which is weird because I've set iTunes to be the default player for MP3. This is all just so bizarre. It's probably something so simple that I'll kick myself when it's all over...