iTunes icon changed - won't open!

Hi! I have had an iMac for a while now, but I'm really not very "tech savy". I downloaded all of my last updates, which included an iTunes update a week ago. Everything seemed ok, until I clicked on the iTunes icon - and it changed to a thing that looks like a piece of paper with a ruler, pencil and a protractor. iTunes won't open now at all. I'm scared to delete it and download a new version, because I don't want to lose all of my music, movies, etc. Please help, but remember I don't really know the lingo. Thanks!!

Which iTunes icon did you click on? The one in your Dock or from the Applications folder? If it was the one on the Dock, click on Applications and try to start iTunes from there.

Thanks - I actually tried both. I clicked in the dock first, and that's when the icon changed. I then tried to go into my applications folder, and it was changed there as well. I clicked on it anyway, but again, it won't open. Any ideas?

It sounds like your iTunes application has either been accidentally deleted or is corrupt. Do this:

Open your Finder and navigate to here:

MacIntosh HD/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes

Does the above exist? If it does, try double clicking on "iTunes". Tell us what happens.

If your original iTunes is missing or corrupt, you can always download another copy of iTunes from Apple as it is a free application.

Ok, so I opened MacHD, then Applications. There is nothing called iTunes.app. It's just iTunes, and it has the weird icon that will not do anything is I click on it, except bounce once. I opened Mac OS9, just to see what was in there, and there is an iTunes icon. I clicked on that, and got the following error message - "you can't open the application iTunes because the Classic environment is no longer supported."
If I trash this new icon, and download a new iTunes, will I lose all my songs?

Backup your iTunes library first just to be sure, but no, you shouldn't lose your music.