How to move iTunes Library to new computer

I am selling my imac and getting a retina mbp, but the imac will be gone before I can get the new one. So, I need to move all my music from the imac onto an external hard drive to import later. How can I go about doing this? If possible I could just copy all mp3s into a folder on the external and then import it into itunes on new computer. Can I do this? What other ways are there/are they easier? Thanks.

See Here...
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
Or...
From your OLD computer...
Copy your ENTIRE iTunes FOLDER to an External Drive... and then from the External Drive to your New Computer..
Full Details Here > Copy iTunes Library to Hard Drive to Back Up Data

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How to move iTune Library from Old Computer to New Computer

I am not computer savy and would like to transfer my iTunes library of music and audiobooks to my new computer. Old computer Gateway: Windows XP, my new computer is HP: Windows Vista. What steps to I take?

Choose Consolidate Library from the Advanced menu in iTunes, find the iTunes library location from the iTunes preferences, and move it to the new computer.
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How to move iTunes/library from old computer to new using ext harddrive

Ok - guess the subject line covers most of it. I have 2650 songs in my iTunes. The power source on my computer is about dead, so I'll be moving to a new computer.
How do I go about moving my iTunes and all the music???
Thanks much for the help
Laura

Follow the instructions in this article; they can be adjusted to operate on any hard or flash disk by skipping the ones which are specific to the iPod.
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How to transfer itunes library to new computer? files are saved on ipod

I have an ipod classic with all my music and movies but now that I have a new laptop and had to download itunes again none of my songs are in my library! I have not synced for fear of losing what I do have so I also need to know how to save what I have into a file on the computer as backup.
Help save my music!

iTunes will only let you copy your iTunes Store purchases directly from an iPod to the computer, you'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
For everything else (music from CDs, other downloads and including iTunes purchased songs and in some cases, videos and games) there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
A selection of iPod to iTunes utilities:
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
YamiPod Mac and Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
iPodRip Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
Music Rescue Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide
I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up, relying on an iPod as your sole backup is not a good idea and external drives are comparatively inexpensive these days, you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

How to movie your library to new computer

I have purchased a new coputer and want to move all y movies, apps, and music to the new computer. How is the easirst way to do that.
Brian

See also this migrate iTunes library post.
tt2

How to transfer itunes library to new computer

Got a new computer. I thought when I downloaded Itunes onto it that my music library would be available once I logged in but it is not. How do I get the my music from itunes onto this computer instead of my old computer I have already authorized this computer.

See this migrate iTunes library post.
tt2

How to xfer itunes library to new computer?

i have 10GB of music on my old laptop (windowsXP) with many playlists, very little purchased from itunes - mostly my own CDs i ripped. well, i bought a new computer (windowsVista) and want to transfer my itunes with playlists from my old computer to the new computer. how can i do this? not as easy as it seems it should be, haven't figured it out yet.

Restore it from a backup or its original source; for iTunes Store music, use these instructions to redownload it through the iCloud.
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How to move iTunes library to new user account?

My primary user account on my Mac (I'm the only user but I have an admin account just incase my 1 account ever gets corrupt or something) was operating very slowly and messed up an external hard drive among other problems so I made a new user account which seems to be operating more smoothly. I've tried to trouble shoot the problems with the old user account but it took a lot less time to just make a new user account. Anyway, I tried copying over my entire iTunes from older user account to new user account. When I open iTunes in the new user account, I changed the iTunes folder location in preferences and then restarted iTunes. None of my playlists or media were showing up in iTunes. I tried importing the XML file by doing FILE > ADD TO LIBRARY. I also tried draging the .it file to iTunes. No luck. Any ideas?! I was able to copy my library back to the old account and have everything there but the new account doesn't import all my media/metdata/playlists. I don't want to re-import my whole library again because I will lose some of the meta-data like play count, ratings, etc. I've looked at a lot of guides online with no luck.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

If you put the entire iTunes folder in the exact same location as it was in your other account it should have opened up intact. There should be no need to change the media file location preferences since this has nothing to do with iTunes looking for your library file which is what it uses to locate everything else. iTunes will automatically look for the library file in the default location in whatever account is used to invoke iTunes.
An issue that might arise would be permissions not being set correctly on the files, but then I would have expected iTunes to complain clearly about that.

Question re: moving iTunes library to new computer where files have different file path?

Hi everyone-
I just got a new laptop and need to transfer my iTunes library to the new computer.
On my old computer, the hard drive was partitioned into a "C" drive and an "F" drive. The new laptop is just "C."
Since my iTunes library was on the "F" partition on the old laptop, the file path for all the files is going to change when I transfer to the new laptop.
I can find dozens and dozens of articles online about how to move iTunes to a new computer, but none of them seem to address the file path issue.
Does anyone know where I can find detailed instructions on how to make this work?
Thanks in advance.

Quit iTunes.
Move the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to the F: drive.
Hold Shift & launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you moved to the F: drive.
Everything should still work fine.
Now go to iTunes prefs > Advanced.
Set the iTunes media folder location to the iTunes folder you just moved to the F: drive.
iTunes menu File > Library > Consolidate library.
This will copy all your media into the iTunes folder (F:\iTunes\iTunes media\ folder)
Let it finsh.
Quit iTunes.
Then you can copy the F:\iTunes\ folder to the new computer.
If you copy it to /Music/ folder, just start iTunes and it'll work.
If you copy it elswhere (such as another drive) hold Shift, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder.

How to move iTunes Library/Media Files to external firewire Hard Drive and make it the master library, and then point iTunes to that when adding new content??

How to move iTunes Library/Media Files to external firewire Hard Drive and make it the master library, and then point iTunes to that when adding new content??

Copy your ENTIRE iTunes FOLDER to an External Drive...
Full Details Here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
To Operate iTunes from the External Drive...
Start iTunes with the Option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
Be Sure the drive is Formatted Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Also... have a look at these 2 Videos...
http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-library.html
http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-media-to-an-external-drive.html

How do I move my Itunes library to new computer?

I have a new computer and two Iphones and one Itouch. One Itunes account.
I have a new computer running windows vista. I have most of my library on my older iphone but when i connected it to my new computer only some songs where transfered. When I go to sync my Iphone it says that the iphone is synced with another computer. I still have the old computer but want to sell it and already have a buyer.
I have a new Iphone plus the existing one and I also have an Itouch. I want to have the ability to have all my music on the new computer and to have the ability to connect both Iphones and the Itouch to the same computer. Each one would be able to load music from the same library. I also have two laptops which have itunes loaded. I know you can have up to 5 computers on one account and I have not exceeded that.
If possible, if there is a solution can you really dumb down (simplify) the solution.
Thanks for any help you can offer.

Probably the most straightforward way to get iTunes onto your new computer is to network the two over ethernet and copy your iTunes folder across. This works fine if you have been using iTunes to completely manage your music and all your songs are in iTunes Music not in different folders. If the songs in your library are not all in the iTunes Music folder you can consolidate them. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them:
Copying all your iTunes files to one location - Mac
OS X 10.5 - Connecting two Mac computers using Ethernet
Another way is to put your original computer into target disk mode and copy the data over Firewire: How to use FireWire target disk mode
Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the same location on the new computer. This has to be the exact same place, on a Mac this would be in Username/Music/. Everything has to be exactly the same on the new computer including the Mac user account name. When you open iTunes on the new computer it will be the same as on the original one Songs, Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings etc. You should also use the same version of iTunes on both computers.
If you have any iTunes purchases in your library don't forget that you'll need to authorise your new computer to play them: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

How to Move iTunes Library on an External Drive to Another Computer

How do you move your iTunes library (including all your playlists) if your iTunes media files—movies, TV shows, music, etc.—are housed on an external drive, rather than the local drive on your computer?
The usual advice concerns copying media files from one computer to the next, e.g.:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
But if your media is on an external device, you don’t want to copy it, just access it from a new device. You could plug the drive into your new computer and drag the media into iTunes, but then you would lose your playlists and other information.
Fortunately, you can transfer an entire iTunes Library using the Export/Import function. The essential information is found in an Apple support document, “iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists”:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
Using this information, we can create a procedure for transferring both the media files that are on an external drive and the iTunes Library that goes with it.
Here is the procedure:
1. On the old computer, Export the playlist, using File > Library > Export Library. Transfer the resulting file to the new computer.
2. You might want to note the number of music files, TV shows, etc. you have on the old system. Select View > Show Status Bar, then choose the “List” view, and this information will be shown at the bottom of the iTunes window. Also disable sharing, etc.; you may want to deauthorize the computer as well.
3. Close iTunes on the old computer, dismount and disconnect the external drive(s). (Yes, this will work with media on multiple drives).
4. On the new computer, close iTunes and delete “iTunes Library.itl” in the iTunes folder.
5. On the new computer, Connect and mount the external drive(s).
6. Open iTunes on the new computer. Choose Preferences > Advanced. Deselect (uncheck) both “Keep iTunes Media Organized” (because it’s already organized on your external drive, right?) and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” (because the files are on the external drive). Then set your iTunes Media folder location to your media folder on the external drive and click on “OK”. (Note: don’t close iTunes after this step, because it will automatically reset your media folder to your local machine rather than the external drive).
7. Choose File > Library > Import Playlist and choose the file you exported from the old computer. This will import all the media you had on the old system into iTunes (no need to manually move anything from the external drive). The import will probably take some time. (If you see that iTunes is copying files, you probably messed up Step 6; you can stop it and go back to Step 4 without harm).
8. After the import, you can check the numbers you noted in Step 2; if there is a discrepancy that bothers you, check out the scripts “Music Folder Files Not Added” “List MIAs” and at http://dougscripts.com/itunes/.
9. When everything is satisfactory, you can recheck “Keep iTunes Media Organized” and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” in Preferences.
10. You may now want to enable sharing, sync iOS devices, etc. Also be sure to set up your backup strategies on the new machine (you *do* have backups of your external drive(s), right?). If you already had some media on your new computer and you want to incorporate it into the external drive, choose File > Library > Consolidate.
11. Oddities:
* iTunes Extras must be manually imported.
* Some of my movies & TV shows imported as “Home Video”.
* Mobile applications did not import (presumably because no iOS device was synced).
* Books that were once handled by iTunes are now handled by iBooks and will not import (to let iTunes see them again, you’ll need to add them manually to iBooks, then choose File > Move Books from iTunes). Audiobooks import okay, but you may have to authorize your Audible account.

Or:
Copy the iTunes folder from the old computer to the same location in your user area on the new one. Attach the external drive and start iTunes. If you have put it in your Home > Music folder the application will automatically know to look for it there and becausse you are using the same library it will be configured to look for media on the external drive.

Got new computer, can someone tell me how to transfer itunes library from old computer to new computer. Please go step by step, i am new at this.

got a new computer, need help transferring itunes library from old computer to new computer. i am very new at this please give instructions step by step.

Hi 45atopp,
Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.
The article at the link below describes a few methods and provides some detailed instructions on how to transfer your iTunes library to your new computer:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
Best,
Jeremy

Move itunes library from old computer to new computer

How can I move my itunes library(including songs from CDs) from an old computer to a new computer? I can only seem to find instructions to move purchases, but not all the songs I downloaded from CDs.

Type "move itunes library" into the google search bar.

How to move iTunes library from my iBook to my new Mac??

What's the best way to move my current iTunes library from my iBook to my new Mac?
I am sure there's a simple answer I just don't know it yet.
Thanks for your help.

Probably the most straightforward way to get iTunes onto your new computer is to network the two computers and copy your iTunes folder across. This works fine if you have been using iTunes to completely manage your music and all your songs are in iTunes Music not in different folders. Connecting two Mac computers using Ethernet
Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the same location on the new computer. This has to be the exact same place, on a Mac this would be in Username/Music/. When you open iTunes on the new computer it will be the same as on the original one Songs, Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings etc. When I moved iTunes a while ago for my daughter I was also using the same version of iTunes, not sure how important that is but it's probably worth keeping them the same.
Another way to connect two Macs is to connect them over Firewire and put the one with the iTunes library on it into target mode: How to use FireWire target disk mode

How to move iTunes Library to new computer

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