How do I backup my Playlists and Album Arts?

I am about to format my hard drive.
All my music files are backed up on an external hard drive, but I know there are all sorts of iTunes files on my C: drive.
What do I do in order not to lose my Playlists and files info and my Album arts I've worked so hard to type in?
Thanks a lot..
Ronnie

Forum member Buegie has compiled a very extensive procedure for backing up your music which you'll find at this link: Backing up iTunes

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I am running iTunes on an IBM comp system Win XP with a 70gb hard disk. I have 4 kids with 4 IPOD Touches. Their apps and album art are eating up the hard disk space. I changed the Media Folder to an external hard disk. How do I get the apps to go their?

I am running iTunes on an IBM compatible system running Windows XP with a relatively small hard disk (70gb). I have 4 kids with 4 IPOD Touches, multiple IPOD Nanos, etc. Their apps and album art are eating up the hard disk space. I changed the Media Folder through Edit, Prferences, Advances, iTunes Media Folder to an external hard disk. The new music downloads and purchases go there but the apps and other items do not. How do I get the apps and other iTunes software and downloads to go to the external hard disk

There is no built in function to make this happen.
Your options are:
Upgrade the existing hard drive.
Try creating a link for the app folder on the external drive... this may or may not work.
Realistically, a larger hard drive is a better solution, then use the external drive for keeping a backup of the ENTIRE iTunes folder and any other personal data on the system.

HT1284 How can I backup word documents and not have them crowd my screen? Thanks.

Hi. How can I backup word documents and not have them crowd my screen? I know, you guessed it. I'm a novice, but not ashamed!

Please explain what you mean when you say backup Word documents crowds your screen.
I don't see any connection between backup and your screen.
Allan

HT1386 I copied my my iTunes music from an old computer to a Macbook Pro, but it did not copy the playlists on my nano. How can I transfer the playlists and their content from the nano to the Macbook

I copied my iTunes music from an old computer to a new Macbook pro but it did not copy the playlists that are on my Nano. How can I copy the playlists and their content on the nano to the Macbook? If I automatically sync the nano from the Macbook, will it scrub the content and existing playlists on the nano?

You need a third-party program like one of those discussed here:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/2901170#2901170

HT201302 The only piece of technology my father-in-law has is an iPad, how does he backup his photos and contacts?

The first and only piece of technology my father-in-law has ever owned is an iPad; how can he backup his photos and contacts in the event something happens to his iPad and needs to be replaced? He does not own a computer, just the iPad. Is any of this content in iCloud or iTunes or can be backed up there? Maybe an external device?

He should use iCloud. If he sets up an iCloud account, he will get 5GB of free storage which purchased content from the App Store and iTunes does not count against. His contacts and photos will count against the 5GB of storage but if he needs more space, it can be purchased at any time.
Many users have gone PC free and totally rely on iCloud now. It is very easy to setup on the iPad. Just tap on iCloud in the settings and follow the prompts. Read all of thses for more information.
http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/
http://www.apple.com/icloud/
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4436

ITunes moved to new HDD - Playlist missing, album art on different drive, etc

OKay... so I had everything on an external HDD. I wanted to move everyhing to a new external HDD. I have playlists, album art that I downloaded and added, etc. In the past I have moved from my local HDD to an external without a hitch. This time was a disaster!
I had everything on drive G:\
I wanted to move everything to drive Z:\
I initially ended up with duplicates pointing to the same file on G:\
I deleted all the duplicates and retained the original file. All was okay at this point.
I then created a new folder in Z:\ called iTunes and pointed iTunes to this location. I then used the Consolidate Library function.
Now, I have my media on Z:\ but it seems now my library database, and album art folders are in C:\user\username\Music\iTunes
I never had anything in this location.... why is it suddenly here? and how can I get everything back?
The database files are definitely pointing to Z:\ as I can see from the XML file <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Z:/iTunes/Music/Ac.....
Otherwise, how do I point everything back to my G:\ and startover? Perhaps provide a link to a resource that will give me good instructions on what to do...
Thanks in advance for the help!

Visionplace, i have the issue where my ipad2 changes/edits to my current playlists are NOT synced up with my itunes 11 on my computer (Windows 7). I have icloud and Itunes Match is turned on. My settings are to auto-sync and i have ALL my music set to be synced, not just select playlists. (Note I have not tested whether new playlists will appear because i usually just edit my existing ones).
So whenever i make playlist changes on my ipad2 (e.g., add or delete songs), i see the changes correctly on my iphone 4, and my Apple TV within 15 minutes without taking any steps, but they do NOT appear on my itunes 11 on my computer (Windows 7). The only way i have found to get the ipad2 playlist edits onto my itunes on my computer is to sync my iphone4 up with the computer. (My ipad changes are already on the iphone 4 automatically). My computer's itunes 11 CAN see the playlist edits i have made on the iphone4 (immediately), but not the ipad. It *****, but it works for me.
For new music purchases (from itunes store) on my ipad2, the only way i can see them on my itunes 11 on the computer is to go to the store, and download them again. Otherwise, they will not appear.
Note - in another forum when i was researching this ipad sync issue, someone had stated that the ipad/computer sync is one way. (I.e., from computer-to-ipad only). If true, that would explain why the ipad edits and new music purchases dont show up in my computer itunes. However, the iphone sync must be two ways.

Question on Lost Tags and Album Art

O.K., I mentioned in another thread that my iTunes library suddenly vanished, but I have been able to “Add file to library” to get everything back in there. Unfortunately, a lot of my album art and my tagging went back to the way it was before I modified it. If I open iTunes again and find nothing there (seems unfortunately to be common) and have to add the folder back in, is there anyway to do that with all the tags and album art in tact?

Hi Ken,
If this is what I think you are referring to Ken, then don't worry, all is not lost.
This has happened to me once or twice in the past when either installing a new version of iTunes or when I have re-linked my iPod to my other computer.
One thing to check first though:
If you open iTunes and look in your Library and select any track you like (you dont kneed to play it) and make sure that you have the 'Show or Hide Song Artwork' tab at the bottom left of iTunes (its the fourth one in) selected, can you see the Artwork for your track?
I know you are concerned about the artwork on your iPod, but this is important, if it is showing thats great. If not, it might just be switched off. If you look at the grey bar that makes the top of the Artwork box that views the image, does it say 'Selected Song' or 'Now Playing'? If it is the latter, then with your mouse just click on it and your Artwork for that track should appear.
Makes sure this is the case for a few others, and if so, your artwork is not lost and can easily be put back on to your iPod.
Now Make sure your iPod is connected and showing in the Sources list on the right of iTunes.
Now go into the iPod options menu by going to the Edit menu and selecting the bottom option 'Preferences' and then opening the iPod tab. You will see an option to show your artwork on your iPod. Select this then click OK out of the Preferences and do an update.
iTunes will then say its updating your iPod, and when it has confirmed that your music is updated, it will then import all your artwork back into your iPod and it should then be present when you use your iPod.
Depending how many tracks you have on your iPod and in iTunes, this might take quite some time. For me last time without about 4 tracks on an AMD Athlone this took about 40 minutes.
I hope this is of help.
Drusus

How to access the "Genre", "Artist", and "Album" Panel via COM/script

I thought I posted this a couple of days ago, but checking on "My Posts", it appears I didn't. Oooops
I'm using the COM interface, which is also same as the scripting one.
I'm trying to discover what elements in the iTunes main window have been selected, and thus "highlighted".
The main window appears, to the interface, to be the "BrowserWindow", not to be confused with the View -> Show Browser window. Within this main window, I can identify which Playlist is currently selected, and/or which individual tracks are selected.
But, what I'm trying to do, is also identify if any elements in the View -> Show Browser window are also selected. "Genre", "Artist", and "Album".
Does anyone know if this is possible, and if so, how do I achieve it.
Cheers,
Eddie

In case you don't get any replies here, Eddie (your post might get buried under queries about iTunes 7.7), it might also be worth checking in at Teridon's google discussions. Robert's post here has a link through to those:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1584683&tstart=30
(Robert is the person I think of immediately in the context of scripting issues.)

My Windows 7 Pro went completely doo lally - I completely reinstalled Windows 7 pro but forgot to save anything from Itunes - I know what the names of the 2 playlists I had but not sure how to make 2 more playlists and install mainly audiobooks back

My Windows 7 Pro went completely doo-Lally - I reinstalled the Windows 7 but I forgot to do anyting with Itune.
What I would like to know is, how do I get 2 playlists back into Itunes and then move audiobooks back into them.
As I said earlier, I have no backups from Itunes at all - I think I might learn a lesson from this
Regards
Bill

Many thanks.
With those symptoms, I'd try the following document:
Apple software on Windows: May see performance issues and blank iTunes Store
(If there's a SpeedBit LSP showing up in Autoruns, it's usually best to just uninstall your SpeedBit Video Accelerator.)

How do i back up playlists and Library

I will be reinstalling iTunes on a new computer and i want to keep my settings. How do i back up or export my playlists and my library as well to restore when i reinstall iTunes. I am using iTunes 10.6.3.25 thank you!

turingtest2 wrote:
Chala95 wrote:
I answered my own question, go to File>Library>Export Library or Export Playlist Thanks community!
Really? The .xml file exported is not a complete copy of your library, rather a list of the current playlists or a specific one. Those lists can only be reimported if all the media is in exactly the same spot as it was when the list was created. Certain data currently in your library may not be included in a library rebuilt using say the media folder and the Library.xml.
Please read the user tip given above. You need to backup your entire iTunes folder. Any way that works for you is fine, but my strategy will give you an ongoing backup that you can efficiently keep up-to-date in future.
tt2
Ah, I see you've caught up.
Message was edited by: turingtest2
How bout my Playlists though Turingtest2?

IPhone 4s shuffles every playlist and album with shuffle off

My iPhone 4s shuffles every album and playlist. It just started happening randomly. Shuffle is NOT on. I have turned off the shake shuffle and shuffle is not on on any of the playlists or albums. Locking the phone does not solve the problem. I have reloaded my entire music library, twice. Out of sequence albums are barely listenable at best. I have seen lots of suggestions that I somehow turned shuffle on but it definitely is NOT.

In Settings the only Shuffle feature is "Shake to Shuffle", you're sure that's off? How about the Now Playing screen, is the shuffle icon blue or white? ( the criss-cross arrows below and to the right of the scrubber bar)
Or, is the problem that the song order in your playlists don't match what you see in iTunes? If this is the case, there is a bug in iTunes and/or iOS that causes playlists to get out of order. The fix for that seems to be to re-create the playlists and delete the originals, then re-sync.

How can I create one playlist and not have numerous ones that duplicate songs?

How do I consolidate all my playlists into one large playlist and eliminate the extras?

Hey there Christophter,
You can start consolidate your playlists by opening the one you want to move music FROM, then dragging the music in there to the playlist you want to add TO. If there is a duplicate you will be prompted to skip them or not. Then delete the playlist:
iTunes 11 for Windows: Delete songs, playlists, or other items
Click the item to select it, and press the Delete key.
Click DeleteItem.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Sterling

How can I delete a song and album?

The title pretty much explains it.

Where? I did it in my library and all the playlists and I synched my ipod so it would refresh and take off the album and single. There still there. :-/

Old pc crashed how can I upload ipod playlist and save to new pc?

How can I upload my playlist off my IPod to a new pc?

Be very careful when connecting an iPod full of music to an empty iTunes library.There is very real risk of permanently losing all the music.
To prevent auto sync, before you connect the iPod go to the iTunes preferences and select "devices", then select "disable automatic syncing for iPhones and iPods".
An alternative method is to connect the iPod whilst holding down the 'control+shift' keys and do not let them go until your iPod appears in iTunes.
If you see a message that your iPod is associated with a different library and asks if you want to link to a new one, make sure you press "Cancel".
If you should click on "Erase and Sync" will erase all the content currently on your iPod and it will be replaced with the content of the iTunes library you just connected to.
When you've pressed cancel your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list under "devices" and allow you to change the update setting to manage the iPod content manually, and that will let you use your iPod for the time being without the risk of accidentally erasing the contents.
Then do any of the following to transfer your music from iPod back to the computer/iTunes.
For iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.
Find out how to do that here.
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.
Music from iPod to computer (using option 2). This a manual method using "hidden folders" and although it works, it is a little more involved than other methods.
Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.
One of the most recommended is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.
Other free programs are Pod Player, SharePod and Floola and iDump and iPodRobot.
If you want to recover just the structure of playlists from the iPod (and not the actual song files themselves), there's iRepo for Windows. which I understand has this feature along with all the standard features for these programs.
iPodRip also has the feature enabling you to reconstruct playlists.
There is also CopyTrans. This does preserve ratings/playcounts etc if those are important to you but this program is not free. It also supports video transfer.
More information is contained here.
Copying content from your iPod to your computer - The Definitive Guide.

How much space do lyrics and album art take up on the nano?

like how many songs would be deducted [you won't be able to upload] if you have a 2GB nano with lyrics and a picture for each song,
how many songs do you think i would be able to store?
thanks!

thanks, well i checked one of my songs which had album art and lyrics and it said the size of it was 8.1MB..do you think this is taking up a lot of space? [taking away from the amount of songs i can have on my nano?]

How do I backup my Playlists and Album Arts?

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