Copying music files to Mac HD iTunes folder, but iTunes doesnt display them

Hi. Presently I am copying all the my iTunes music files from a hard drive that was used on my old PC onto my iTunes music folder of my new MacBook. Having copied a selection of these files my iTunes does not pick them up and the only way i can make it find them is to go to the folder of the individual artist album files and highlight to Open in iTunes.
Surely there must be an easier way!
(The files which i am copying are MP3 while the files i already have on my Mac iTunes are MPEG 4... does this affect it?)

Drag the files into the Library icon in the iTunes source list. iTunes uses a file to keep track of the songs in its library and the location of each instead of checking the contents of the iTunes music folder to determine what appears in the library; therefore, items added to the iTunes music folder manually won't appear in the library.
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You can't use iTunes to transfer music from iPod to computer unless that music was purchased from the iTunes store.
If so, see: How to copy iTunes purchases from an iPod or iPhone to a computer.
For all other non purchased content (your own CDs etc), check out the instructions/suggestions here.
Try iPodDisk. This is a program designed to transfer music from iPod to computer.
Similar programs are Expod, Yamipod, Senuti and Music Rescue.

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I am trying add songs from my external hard drive to my iTunes Library.
I have the following options checked:
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"Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library."
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iTuns will hang if you have the finder window open and the recently added playlist open
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Hello there, gleab.
The following Knowledge Base article reviews the ways to import content into iTunes:
Adding music and other content to iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1473
Also keep in mind which formats can be added:
You can add audio files that are in AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless, or Audible.com (.aa) format. If you have unprotected WMA content, iTunes for Windows can convert these files to one of these formats.
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
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