An iTunes Library Transfer Puzzle...Help!

Question

Okay, let me try to be as clear as possible...
I keep my iTunes library on an external firewire drive.
I'm preparing to transfer all operations, including iTunes, to my new Macbook (from my old eMac)
Prepping for this move, I noticed that at some point imported music stopped going to my external drive and started going to my eMac drive.
So now my iTunes library is split between my eMac and an external firewire drive.
NOW FOR THE PUZZLE:
I want to transfer all the files from the eMac to their rightful home on the external drive.
Is there a simple way to move all these files at once (about 17 GB worth) so that the iTunes browser and my playlists will know to look for the songs on the external drive not the eMac?
Once everything is on the external drive as it should be, I plan to transfer the whole library to the iTunes browser on my Macbook.
My big fear is that the playlists will get screwed up (playlists consist of songs now on the eMac AND on the external drive).
Anyone out there able to help me sort this out?
Thanks a bunch.
macbook   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB SDRAM

Answer 1

jsguntzel,
Welcome to Discussions.
Prepping for this move, I noticed that at some
point imported music stopped going to my external
drive and started going to my eMac drive.
This might have happened when running iTunes with the
external drive not yet mounted/attached.
iTunes has to have a folder to store the next ripped
CD and will reset the 'iTunes Music folder location'
to the default location (on your internal disk) if it
doesn't find your 'iTunes Music' folder.
I want to transfer all the files from the eMac to
their rightful home on the external drive.
Set the 'iTunes Music folder location'
(Preferences>Advanced>General) to the folder
containing your music on the external disk.
Then choose 'Consolidate Library...' from the
Advanced menu in the menubar.
This will copy all music which is not already there,
to the external disk.
After that is done, you can delete the 'iTunes Music'
folder on the eMac.
Note: only delete the 'iTunes Music' folder inside
the 'iTunes' folder. Don't delete the library files.
Once everything is on the external drive as it
should be, I plan to transfer the whole library to
the iTunes browser on my Macbook.
Copy the 'iTunes Library' file (in
/Users/Username/Music/iTunes) to the external disk.
Attach the external disk to the MacBook.
Copy the 'iTunes Library' file from the external disk
to /Users/Username/Music/iTunes on the MacBook.
Run iTunes on the MacBook. All playlists and songs
should be there.
To transfer the music from the external to the
MacBook, read the detailed instructions in: iTunes: Moving your iTunes
Music folder
In short that would mean for your situation:
Reset the 'iTunes Music folder location'
Consolidate library
At the end, all songs and playlists will be on the
MacBook.
More information about the library files can be found
here: What are the iTunes library
files?
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac 800 MHz, 768
MB RAM, 200 GB HD, DL burner   Mac OS X (10.4.8)
  iTunes 7.0.1
Thanks for the very helpful reply. Worked like a charm!
All the best,
J