Exporting playlists

I have an older Mac G4 running OS 10.4.11 and iTunes version 9.2.1 (5) and was wondering how do I export my playlists so I can import them into a new Mac with the new iTunes? What format do I use? My iTunes library is one an external hard drive, yet the playlists reside on the Mac in the iTunes folder. I really do not want to reinstall or re-import all of the music, info and album covers. I have over 1900 albums (22,000+ songs), which would be a real pain in the butt to re-import, not to mention time consuming. What format of the five options in export would I use, if any?

iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

Similar Messages

Help! Can't save to disc/backup my iTunes! NO OPTION to save OR back up to disc my iTunes Library appears in the toolbar when I select 'File', then 'Library'. Just 'Organize Library...', 'Export Library...', 'Import Playlist...', and 'Export Playlist...'

Help! I can't save to disc OR backup my iTunes Library! iTunes support instructions are to simply select 'File', then 'Library', then select 'Back Up to Disc', but when I try to the only options that appear are 'Organize Library...', 'Export Library...' then below those are 'Import Playlist...' and 'Export Playlist...' (which appears in the list, but I cannot select). No option to save my library appears at all. Just those four. I've had no problems syncing, playing, adding or purchasing with my account and my iTunes version is up to date. Can anyone tell me what the problem is and what I should do so I can save my library?

See iTunes for Windows- Moving your iTunes Media folder

Is there a way to export playlists in the order they are in album list view rather than song list view?

I'd like to have my playlists sorted by Album by Artist/Year when exporting, but I can't figure out how to do it.

It should be:
Sort the playlist as Album by Artist\Year
Right-click on playlist name and click Copy to Play Order
Export playlist.
tt2

Exporting Playlists hangs or crashes/freezes iTunes

This just started happening today. I haven't installed of chnaged any hardware or sofrware.
Basically, I right click > Export Playlist and it will either hang before eventually saving or completely freeze/crash iTunes. The larger the playlsit, the longer it takes to export.
Can anyone help me figure this out?
Thanks.

Anyone?

Export playlists from Mediasou

Hey guys. Does anyone know of a way to export playlists (namely smart playlists) from Mediasource Organiser to .m3u files? It seems the program doesn't offer this functionality but there might be a way to extract them from the its compilation files... Travis

Export the playlist as an .xml file not .txt and it should work.
Cheers-

Importing/exporting playlists in Tunes - will take decades

Is there a program that can do this effeciently or another method than ordinary manual selection? It's really frustrating having to select one and one playlist to import at a time when you have hundreds... Is there a way to import/export playlist folders and subfolders?
This is a problem that seems to be frequent in iTunes by the way... It's difficult to transfer whole folders and subfolders to/from apps with the USB-cable. The only app I know of which is allowing this is GoodReader (zip and unzip). If I remember right, this is because of restrictions given by Apple to the app developers - Is this true and why??

While the Windows version of iTunes supports the WMA format, the Mac version does not. That annoys me on very rare occasions. EasyWMA will be necessary if you continue using the Axim - at least with current software. Back when I owned an iPaq I had a music program that support mp3s - but darned if I can remember what it was called. You might want to look into that since it would make sharing your iTunes music with the Axim a little easier.
Since Microsoft wrote both the Windows and PocketPC operating systems, it isn't surprising that there is tight integration between them. Perhaps your next purchase should be an iPod? Or perhaps a Palm. I don't use my Palm for music much, I have an iPod, but I do have a spare SDRam card filled with music - Missing Sync for the Palm integrates nicely with iTunes. For me, as much as I liked the iPaq, it never was an easy fit with my Mac. In the end the Mac won.

Have tried to copy ratings over to a new computer using the export playlist function and this fails... can anyone suggest why?

have tried to copy ratings over to a new computer using the export playlist function and this fails... can anyone suggest why?

Because ratings don't travel with the files or the playlist.
These are two possible approaches that will normally work to move an existing library to a new computer.
Method 1
Backup the library with this User Tip.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content on it.
Restore the backup to your new computer using the same tool used to back it up.
Keep your backup up-to-date in future.
Method 2
Connect the two computers to the same network. Share your <User's Music> folder from the old computer and copy the entire iTunes library folder into the <User's Music> folder on the new one. Again, deauthorize the old computer if no longer required.
Both methods should give the new computer a working clone of the library that was on the old one. As far as iTunes is concerned this is still the "home" library for your devices so you shouldn't have any issues with iTunes wanting to erase and reload.
I'd recommend method 1 since it establishes an ongoing backup for your library.
If you have an iOS device that syncs with contact & calendar data on your computer you should migrate this information too. If that isn't possible create a dummy entry of each type in your new profile and iTunes should offer to merge the existing data from the device into the computer, otherwise the danger is that it will wipe the information from the device.
If your media folder has been split out from the main iTunes folder you may need to do some preparatory work to make it easier to move. See make a split library portable.
Should you be in the unfortunate position where you are no longer able to access your original library, or a backup of it, then see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device for advice on how to set up your devices with a new library with the maximum preservation of data. If you don't have any Apple devices then see HT2519 - Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store.
tt2

How to export playlist in mp3 format onto usb using MAC

I have seen suggestions but using PC itunes and there must be small differences since it does work for me. Two main problems 1) returning back to mp3. 2) exporting playlist to usb. Thanks for any help!

There is no way to do what you want in iTunes automatically. However, if the tracks are DRM-free you can change the import settings in iTunes, transcode the tracks (FYI, there may be a noticible loss in audio quality), then copy the tracks to a USB flashdrive.

BUG: Library- Export Playlist FAILS to export playlist containing Playlist

iTunes 8.0.2 now allows “Playlist Folders” to contain other “Playlists” and be included in a “Playlist”.
To create an env't to demonstrate the BUG create a new playlist called playlistFldrA by selecting File->New Playlist Folder. Move into playlistFldrA and create another File->New Playlist Folder and label it level1. Also create File->New Playlist and label it musicSet1, populate musicSet1 with some songs. Move into level1 and create another File->New Playlist Folder and label it level2. Create File->New Playlist and all it musicSet2, populate musicSet2 with some more songs.
To replicate the BUG select playlistFldrA and use Library->Export Playlist to export the Playlist called playlistFldrA. Being a legitimate playlist created by iTunes, within iTunes, the export Playlist shouldn't be grayed out. The BUG causes the Export Playlist option to be inaccessible. Playlists: musicSet1 within playlistFldrA and musicSet2 within level1 can be exported, but the BUG prevents playlists: playlistFldrA, level1, level2 and the playlists they contain from being exported by the Library->Export Playlist function.
When will this BUG be corrected?
Thanks,
Peter

Katrina,
Thank you for providing the link to the feedback page. Before posting this BUG report I searched apple.com for current instructions on how and where to do so. The feedback page seemed to me to just be just a place to add a feature request to products wish list instead of a place to report a BUG. But I also entered the same BUG description on to that form. Have to wait and see which BUG report apple support acts upon first.
Thanks again,
Peter

Exporting playlists to ext. memory stick? Please help.

Anyone know if it is possible to transfer/export playlists from itunes to an external memory stick?
I am hopping there is an easier way to export the playlist as a whole rather that manually dragging and dropping individual tracks using finder?
Can anyone help us on this one?

Applebags wrote:
Thanks for your advice Jolly but I have tried to export and drag the playlist into the memory stick using finder and only the .txt file is transferred. Must I be doing this incorrectly?
no. i may have misinterpreted your intention. i thought you wanted to put the playlist on another computer. you can import the resulting .txt file in iTunes on another computer, however, the actual tunes would have to be present in the other machine's library for the playlist to work.
It seems to work if I select multiple files from the playlist then drag to memory stick.
yes.
I hope there is a simpler way.
there ain't. you could burn the playlist as an mp3 CD which can be imported on another machine ...

Exporting playlists, mebbe I'm confused

I use a plethora of Smart Playlists (SPs) to manage my iTunes database. I use a nice program that manages to sync my iTunes library between two separate Macs, but it won't copy SPs. To avoid having to manually recreate all the playlists on both computers, I went looking for a solution that would allow me to simplify the process.
It seems that File>Library>Export Playlist... should do what I'm thinking, but the option is greyed out and unavailable for selection. When I search help for the topic, iTunes decides to be a wise guy and literally point at the greyed out menu item. Mocking me.
It's less than a week old and my Mac's already mocking me. Granted, it's an improvement from open detestation from my Windows PC, but still infuriating. Thanks in advance for any help anybody can provide!
- THOR

FWIW, should others come across this inquiry: you cannot currently (as of version 8.2.1) export Smart Playlists as a built-in function of iTunes. However, Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes does have a script that was a solution to my problem; it can be found here: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=exportsmartcriteria

Exporting playlists from a ipod

I have a master playlist that i have created on my ipod.
I want to export that playlist from my ipod so that i can make a back up copy in case the ipod crashes. Does any body know how to export playlists from the ipod to np3 format? I tried to export my master libray this morning and the only option it gave ne was a xml format. I tried importing that into a new library to test it and it created blank new library's. If someone could tell me how to export the play lists from the ipod it would be greatly apreciated.
Regards,
Josh White

Josh - your question makes me suspect you are manually managing your iPod and removing songs from your computer once they've been moved to the iPod. If that's a correct assumption let me start with a short rant:
/rant on
This is an incredibly unsafe thing to do. So many things can go wrong with your iPod from loss to theft to dead hard drive to dropping from the balcony of your 10th story apartment. Your iPod is gone, your music is gone, and now you have to start the collection all over again which is a pain I experienced about 4 years ago. The cost of external drives is small - use one to keep your music on.
/rant off
The best thing about doing this is that you can create your iPod's playlist in iTunes and there is no need to copy it from the iPod.
Now to answer your question. Go to your favorite download site and perform a search on 'iPod'. I think there is at least one (Mac) utility that will do what you want. I don't know about the Windows side.

What is the difference between formats when exporting playlists in iTunes?

The available options are plain or unicode text, XML, M3U and M3U8 when exporting a playlist. Is there a difference in "functionality" of a particular format or is it merely a matter of compatibility with a particular platform or software? In particular I am trying to figure out if a playlist from iTunes would be able to be read and "processed" on a flash drive plugged into a late model car stereo which has a USB port.
MacBook 4,1 (13-inch Early 2008)
OSX 10.6.8
iTunes 11.3.1 (2)

.m3u8 should be the same as .m3u but with slightly different handling of Unicode characters that fall outside of the standard set of ASCII symbols. iTunes can import and export all three formats but .m3u is probably the one your car stereo will be looking for. iTunes will export a playlist with absolute file paths for each track however for your purpose what you probably need is all of the tracks placed in the root of the drive and to edit the .m3u file to exclude all but the filename so that a relative link from the same folder as the .m3u identifies the file.
I wrote a Windows only script for this task a while back, as discussed here: Re: Copying playlist to USB ?
This might also be useful: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/m3unify.php
tt2

How to export playlist from PC to Iphone 5?

I have created a playlist on Itunes of music from my PC and am trying to export them to my Iphone 5. How do I sync these?
Thanks,
Linda

See this -> iTunes 11 for Windows: Set up syncing for iPod, iPhone, or iPad

Exporting Playlist as text file

Hi i want to Export my Playlist as text file listing, and send to a friend by email.
In other words i want to send a list of all my albums in itunes in list form. (not all the songs)
This should be simple enough, but i have wasted hours trying to do it.
Hope you can help.
DUAL 1ghz / 300GB / 1.75 GB DDR SDram Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi there,
I'm confused. You want to export each Playlist as a text file? Or you want to export each individual album in your iTunes library as a separate text file?
For the former - converting a Playlist into a text file - you could do the following. If there is a faster more streamlined way, I don't know it.
1. While viewing your playlist in iTunes, make sure only the columns you want in your text file are showing. (Remove columns by right-clicking on the header bar.)
2. Select all songs (Command-A) then right-click and select "Copy."
3. Open Notepad or, even better, Excel or some other spreadsheet software and Paste. The information is tab-delimited, so if you put it into a spreadsheet it automatically puts each item of information in its own column.
You could also just select all the songs in your library, sorted by album, then Copy and Paste into a spreadsheet. Then you could sort the spreadsheet according to album name or whatever and get rid of columns (song name, genre, etc) as you see fit. And, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, I'm sure there's some third-party software that will convert your playlists to text or spreadsheets or whatever. Hope this helps...
PowerPC Mac Mini G4 1.2Ghz Mac OS X (10.3.9) 512MB RAM . 80GB HD . AirPort . Wired Keyboard / Mouse

Issue with exported playlist song order

I exported a playlist (with the playlist sorted on the manually arranged order, far left column) as a .xml file using iTunes 7.0.2. When a friend imports this playlist into his iTunes (7.0.1) the song order is incorrect (again with sorting done on the far left column). When I look at the exported XML file with a text editor the order of the song entries is also wrong in the XML file. Has anyone elsed noticed this problem?

Actually, I looked more closely in the text editor and the playlist order looks correct so there appears to be an issue with 7.0.1 (I guess).

Exporting playlists

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