Can I get my music from my library onto a new computer without having to sync anything?

Question

I have tried using firewire and even manually moving it over. It said when I manually moved it over that it was all on the computer.....but when I turned it back on, it was not. Each time I try to sync stuff through firewire, it freezes. (The geniuses say that this is because my hard drive is about to fail) Any way I can find my itunes library online and download it or something?

Answer 1

I agree the term sync does somewhat give the wrong impression. I also know that most of us never really learn whether or not our backup strategies are good enough until we're called upon to use them in anger. Too often they fail.
A script is a program that hasn't been compiled into machine code but is instead interpreted at run time. There is less scope for a pretty front end but they can be just as functional. Mine tend to display one or more pop-up boxes to confirm that you want them to perform their task on the currently selected tracks, then if possible show a progress bar so you can see that they are working (and abort if needs be), and finally a summary screen shows what has been done. An advantage of distributing these programs as scripts is that others can repurpose them if they are so inclined.
If you copy your recovered media in to a new empty library then it won't have your playlists, ratings, playcounts etc. The two scripts I mention attempt to analyze all of the tracks in your library and on the device, and where a match can be found in the tag information (i.e. same name, track number, artist, album, etc.) the stats or playlist membership information are copied across.
Data copied to an iPod in disk mode can be copied back as is. Media copied over by iTunes however is given obscure filenames and placed in hidden folders. The aim is to prevent casual copying of media. Of course it is no barrier to the determined pirate, but that is the main drive behind the way things are set up.
For the future make sure you backup not just the media but the whole iTunes folder. The core of the library, holding ratings, play counts, playlists etc. is the iTunes Library.itl file. The user tip Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy suggests a way to efficiently backup the folder and then subsequent changes to it.
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