Hi,
  I am running a freshly compiled version of Amarok 1.4.8 with the following config line:
                      ./configure --with-extra-libs=/usr/lib/kde3 --with-libgpod --without-opengl --without-arts --without-libnjb --without-libkarma

I am completely unable to get a collection or the playlist "All Collection". I am running Slack 12.0 w/ 2.6.23.12. I have tried moving the amarokrc file and the collection.db file and these steps have been to no avail. I get the "First Run Wizard" and set it to the directory(ies) of my preference and nothing gets updated.
Any hints?
P.S. I figured I would post this now, but for the next hour or so I will be poking around in the pertinent source code. (my C is n00b status).

is your music on a windows network share? If so, please check the amarok wiki for pertinent info... http://amarok.kde.org/wiki/Samba

Otherwise, there are many, many threads on this forum about collection building/troubleshooting.