Applications :: Time Machine Transfer Of ITunes Error Between ITunes Versions?

I am a new mac user (total convert--am on my second iMac in a month and am about to buy a macbook), and am having trouble with my itunes service. My first 24" iMac developed a clicking HDD, so I was lucky enough to be able to bring it back to the shop for a replacement iMac. I made a time machine backup of the first Mac and copied directly to the second one (which was flawless....how come I haven't been using macs prior to now? I've lost dozens of backups on PC). The only issue I've had is with iTunes--I keep getting an error that the iTunes library is newer than the version of iTunes on the computer. Is there anyway to fix this without losing my entire library of songs? I did make up a physical copy of the iTunes folder on my first Mac, just in case, so I assume that I could delete iTunes and reinstall a fresh copy, update it, and then copy the iTunes folder over to the new version. But this is a Windows approach to the issue and there is probably a simpler way of fixing this. Alternately, I could do the same but sync my iPod and copy everything to my library that way.