[brooklyn]

I have a TiBook and I would like to move my 3.-somthing gig iTunes library to my new desktop machine to free up space on the old laptop.
How can I do this so that iTunes recognizes the new songs without me having import all of the song data by hand aftwards, you know, so that each song isn't "Untitled"?
Thanks.

[Daft&Dewey-eyed]

Find your iTunes music folder, typically ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music. If you specified a different folder for iTunes to store music in, find that folder.
Copy this folder to the same loction on your new Mac.
In iTunes, select File>Add to Library, and select the folder you just copied. iTunes will import all your songs.
If you want your iTunes to retain all its playlists, just copy the entire iTunes folder from the Music folder on your old Mac to the new Mac. This should cause iTunes to have all the playlists and songs you had on the old computer.

[CrecenS]

Before you do anything with the songs in your library, I suggest you select all your songs, and update your ID3 tags. I have found that this ensures that the song files keep their info when moving from computer to computer.
If you convert the ID3 tags, all the file info should be incorporated into the actual mp3s. Put the library on your new disk. Go to iTunes, and select all your songs, and delete them from the app. Do not delete them from your HD. You can then drag the music folder that holds your library into iTunes to repopulate the library, and all your info should still be there.
When you do this, you will loose all your playlists, since you are essentially rebuilding your iTunes database. One way to save them may be (i have never tried this) to export the playlists before deleting your library from iTunes, and then import them after you have repopulated the library.
Good Luck!

[Ren]

In reply to:

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If you want your iTunes to retain all its playlists, just copy the entire iTunes folder from the Music folder on your old Mac to the new Mac. This should cause iTunes to have all the playlists and songs you had on the old computer.

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Well, I found out the hard way that this only works if your new Hard disk is named the same as the old one. same for the username.

[OldToad]

Remember that after any copy of that nature you should repair disk permissions with Disk Utility.

[maczan1205]

Hi there, Just wanted to thank posters to this thread! I Just bought a new machine and was not looking forward to losing my playlists, song counts, ratings etc.
After reading these posts I copied (1 file!) the itunes data base library file to my new computer and everything works exactly the same as before and works like a charm.
I will mention that I keep my music on a separate firewire drive and manually organize the music, so the file paths were the same.
Anyway thanks I would have started from scratch, rebuiding playlists, etc! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[bluejam]

Can't one burn the library to a DVD or CD's, then put it in the new machine and drag and drop it to the new machine''s iTunes icon? Useing the backup disks. That's what I did and it worked great. Even the album covers transferred. C'mon, these aren't PC's. Scares me to mess with the folders.

[CrecenS]

iTunes is just a big xml file. It doesn't have any music, just references to where the music is on your computer. Same thing with playlists - they are just references to your music files, which are stored elsewhere.