HT2305 Transferring music library to new laptop?

Hi there
I recently bought a new laptop and on the old one I had my account and ipod music library on my desktop. How do i download it again onto my new one?? I've tried logging in to my apple account to do this but not having any luck. I'm not very technical so any basic points most welcome! thanks!

iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

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Transferred my Library to new laptop, but how to associate/sync iPhone with new laptop?

I got a new laptop. The old laptop is still working. I transferred my library using the Home Sharing method and all of my items were moved except my apps. I plugged in my iPhone to the new computer and used "Transfer Purchases from iPhone" option and all of my apps were added to the library. But, now I don't know how to associate the iPhone with the new computer. When I plug in my iPhone to the new computer. It starts to sync. It says steps 1 through 3, spins for 20 seconds and says complete, but nothing was done. I do not get the "this iPhone is associated with another library" message when I plug it in to new computer, perhaps because I've authorized both computers. All I can find in my searches is how to avoid losing all of your data and how to transfer your library, but none has dealt with this exact situation. I am stumped as to how to get iPhone associated with new computer. Can I transfer my backup from the old computer and restore from backup? Other thoughts? Sorry if the answer is somewhere (I'm sure it is), but I have spent two days looking.

Randers4, so I carefully followed the directions (only one that confused me was about adding a fake address/calendar entry, is that for Macs, I'm using a PC?.) I restored it from the backup and everything looked good. I had hope, the final step says to sync it and when I did, I had the exact same problem. It spun, went quickly through only 3 steps (even though there were 7 sync steps with my old laptop) and nothing changed. It clearly didn't sync.
So, I had an idea that I would back up everything by right clicking in the left pane and forcing a back up on the new computer, and then erasing the entire phone and then restoring from the backup I just made to see if that would make a difference. So, after I tried that and it restored, it was weird. All of my settings were there. Some folders were there, my pictures were there, but all of my apps, folders, music and video was missing and it still wouldn't sync. So, then I had to plug it back into my old laptop and do a restore from there to get that stuff back.
Shouldn't I get a message when I plug the iPhone into the new laptop saying this phone is connected to another computer? I tried "Reset Warning Messages" but it doesn't do anything. At this point, I don't care if I lose some of the stuff from my iPhone (texts, etc)...but I want it to sync to the new computer because my old laptop is on its death bed.
So frustrating, all of my iTunes content is on the new computer, the only piece that is missing is getting it to "talk" to the iPhone. Times like this I wish I wasn't a poor teacher and could afford to get a nice Mac laptop.

Synching, transferring music between iPod, new laptop

Good morning all!
I recently have acquired a lovely new Dell laptop and would like to know which files I need to place on it so that iTunes and my iPod are once again happy friends and don't get into "no, I can't synch this" "yes I can but I'll have to wipe out what's on the ipod already" "no I can't" "yes I can neener neener neener" catfights.
First, a little history - bear with me, because my tale of woe is a long one.
My school-issued Acer laptop was where I kept most of my music; it played nicely with my iPod mini (synching things, the library and the iPod's contents the same, no complaints, etc) right up until the point where its hard drive failed in a slow, sure, and pathetically sticky way. (I will save my anti-Acer rants for the macbook forum. Before sending it off to get a new hard drive, we backed up its entire contents; most of those backups still remain (all of the My Documents folders, the iTunes program file folder, to name a few - the redundancies such as the Windows program files and many, many, many Word temp files were junked). Once the laptop came back, the iPod complained that it could not sync to the new library of stuff (which at that time was nothing, maybe one new downloaded song) without wiping out the entire rest of my collection. I grumbled and worked around it by having an on-computer iTunes library and when I wanted to listen to the stuff on my iPod while working on my computer, sitting there looking rather silly with my iPod sitting next to me.
Now that laptop has been turned back into the school (good riddance!!), and a full backup has been made of it.
I would like to know if it is possible to...
-Get my iPod mini so that it will play nicely with my new computer. In other words, is there a way that I can get it to sync while keeping the old music that is already on there?
-Ideally, I would like to also transfer the music that is on my iPod to my computer so that the iTunes library and iPod playlist are truly the same. How feasible is this?
-What files should I be looking to transfer to my new computer to do this? (The My Music folder, of which iTunes has a subfolder? The iTunes program file folder?)
-Are there any helpful programs, utilities or guides for doing just this? (Surely I can't be the first person to switch computers while using the same iPod. I would even venture to guess that I have skipped right over a guide here, I just need to be pointed towards it.)
-Will there be any problems connecting my iPod to a completely different laptop? I realize most safeguards are well-intentioned, but I would be very unhappy if my iPod saw my new laptop and went "What! You're trying to get all of your friends' music, you copyright-law-dodging theif!" and wiped its hard drive. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, here. (Incidentally, all of my music is paid for, or either transferred off my own CDs or found from garage-band-types who put their music free for download online - so it's taken awhile to put things together and while it could potentially be recovered I would be extremely unhappy to have it all deleted under some hyperprecaution put in by the RIAA - so I would really rather not have this happen, lol!)
If it helps: my iPod is set to be disk-style (i.e., yells at me to disconnect it properly, Windows sees it as a hard drive - this is mainly so I have a .txt file with my name/address on it and its name on there) (yes, my mini is named Timothy, lol), and my new laptop is operating under Windows Vista.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks muchly in advance!
Windows Vista

Connect your iPod to your computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod. Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual and use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button: Managing content manually on iPod
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you have any iTMS purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. A paragraph on it has been added to this article: Transfer iTunes Store purchases using iPod
The transfer of non iTMS content such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However 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. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can also read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
YamiPod Mac and Windows Versions
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
There is also a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows or a Mac. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available at this link: Two-way Street: Moving Music Off the iPod
Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync. 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.

Use existing external hard-drive music library with new laptop.

I moved my I-tunes library to an external hard-drive on my previous laptop. That worked fine. After a hard disk crash I am now configuring a new laptop (installing I-tunes) and I would like to keep my music on the external hard drive: How do I proceed?

Depends on whether you had your complete library (including the iTunes database) on the external drive, or just your media files and folders. If the former, you can just hold down shift as you start iTunes, and when you get this is prompt:
click on Choose Library... then navigate to and select the iTunes Library.itl file on the external drive.
In the other case - and assuming that you can't copy or retrieve the database file from your old machine or a backup of it, create a new library in X:\iTunes (where "X" is the drive letter of your external drive, make sure the settings in Edit > Preferences > Advanced are as follows:
and then use File > Add Folder to Library... to add your existing media folders.

Save current ITouch music library on new Laptop

Just received new laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate OS. How do i put my current music library from my Itouch into ITunes library? Downloaded Itunes onto new lappy. but do not want to lose the music that i already have.

You can use a keyboard command to prevent your iPod auto-syncing with iTunes. While connecting the iPod to the computer on Windows with iTunes 7.3 or later installed hold down the Shift + Ctrl keys together. This will stop the iPod from auto-syncing with iTunes and the iPod will appear in the source list. Wait until you are sure the iPod has mounted, and that it will not auto sync and then you can let the keys go. This may take between 20 to 30 seconds depending on your computer: iTunes - Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
The transfer of content sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod Touch:
TuneJack Windows Only (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)

Third party software for transferring music content to new laptop

Help! My laptop died and I need help finding a third party software to copy my music files and transfer them from my Iphone to my new laptop's Itunes. Apple tech support helped me set up Itunes and transfer my purchased content, but I have 1,000 songs left that I don't want to reload. I found a link to Aniosoft through searching the web, but wondered if anyone who has been in my shoes might be able to lend advice on how best to handle this.
Thanks, Sam

PatrickGSR94 wrote:
Probably doesn't have an external backup. Most people don't.
That I don't understand. As cheap as backup sources have become, there's really no excuse for not backing up. We probably get two or more posts a day...they all start the same way...my computer died...my life's work is on my phone...what can I do...I have no backup...
Think about that for a minute, why on earth would you store ANY valuable data on a phone, for crying out loud, & not have any backup?

Transferring library to new laptop

I know there're loads of posts on this subject but feel I need extra help, being such a complete novice and technophobe!
Have an old sony viao on its last legs running windows xp and have just purchased a Dell running windows 7. I obviously want to transfer my itunes library to new laptop so I can sync my old nano and recently purchased Iphone4. Previous posts suggest transferring using "media folder" Where would I find this? Also, do I need to purchase an external hard drive to transfer? Surely theres got to be an easier way?
Any help would be gratefully appreciated as feel Im sinking into an itunes nightmare!!

I am researching this right now as I just got an new computer and I do not think it is that easy. I do not plan to follow the previous person's advice anyway. I am going to try this freeware program that is supposed to work really well from some reviews on Cnet.
Freeware http://www.copytrans.net/copytranstuneswift.php
I'll let you know, but do not rely on transferring your stuff from your iPod to the new computer. If that were the case people wouldn't be researching it so hard to figure out how to do it right! Besides that would make it way too easy for people to give their friends the music and apps that they've purchased if it was as easy and plugging it in to a different computer ...
AC

I have an ancient laptop (from 2005) that has my entire music library. This laptop barely works and some keys don't type anymore. How can I get all this music transferred to another computer, or available to me on the cloud?

I have an ancient laptop (from 2005) that has my entire music library. This laptop barely works and some keys don't type anymore. How can I get all this music transferred to another computer, or available to me on the cloud?

No... do not move programs.
About the iTunes library files
Your iTunes library files track the media you add to iTunes, how you've organized it, and other information such as playlists. By default, these two files are in your iTunes folder:
Mac OS X: /Users/username/Music/iTunes/
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\
Windows Vista: C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes\
Windows 7: C:\Users\username\My Music\iTunes\
Windows 8: C:\Users\username\My Music\iTunes\

When transferring music library and apps to my new I Pad I think I clicked Export Library instead of synching. Now my music library is virtually empty - mostly CDs downloaded, a few apps for the I Pad and apps for the I pod too. Can I move these back?

When transferring music library and apps to my new I Pad I think I clicked Export Library instead of synching. Now my music library is virtually empty - mostly CDs downloaded, a few apps for the I Pad and apps for the I pod touch too. Can I move these back?

weird very weird. today i did this again today after already being unsuccessful earlier. exactly the same thing as i have done before, exactly. didn't try to import. didn't say damaged library, copied everything in including date. have tried it about 10 times no luck. today it just worked.
how weird is that?
oh well JG - maybe you mixed a magic potion for me?
anyway, thank you for all the help.
to anyone else reading this all i can say is keep trying, you never know. follow the above advice. you may feel exasperated and think you have done it already, but keep trying.
cheers
P

I have just bought a new laptop. itunes currently used on PC. Do I need to downloand the up to date version of itunes directly on to new laptop before I try to copy my music library over to laptop.

I have just bought a new laptop. I have itunes currently used on old PC. Do I need to download the up to date version of itunes on to laptop before I try to copy music library over to laptop or will itunes software automatically copy when I copy the library? I am not that knowledgeable IT wise but can manage slowly.

Know it would be wise to download from here and install first
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Then transfer your music over, details here
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Finally if you are going to disppose of your old machine then you need to deauthorise it first.
Ctrl B to see top menu in windows
Store > Deauthorise this computer

My laptop that had my iTunes on it has exploded (in a sense). I now have a new laptop, but I'm afraid to plug my iPod in because I know it will wipe out all 300 songs. Is there a way to put my old music on my new laptop?

I now have a new laptop, but I'm afraid to plug my iPod in because I know it will wipe out all 300 songs. Is there a way to put my old music on my new laptop?
(After my old laptop blew, it won't turn on anymore). I've invested quite a bit of money into my music, and it'd be a bummer if it's all gone to waste.
Thanks in advance!

Some of the information below has subsequently appeared in a document by turingtest2: Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991
Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer was designed for you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself properly backed up against loss. Syncing is one way, computer to device, updating the device content to the content on the computer, not updating or restoring content on a computer. The exception is iTunes Store purchased content.
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only media purchased from iTunes Store
For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will have to use third party commercial software. Examples (check the web for others; this is not an exhaustive listing, nor do I have any idea if they are any good):
- Senuti - http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/
- Phoneview - http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
- MusicRescue - http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/products/musicrescue/
- Sharepod (free) - http://download.cnet.com/SharePod/3000-2141_4-10794489.html?tag=mncol;2 - Windows
- Snowfox/iMedia - http://www.mac-videoconverter.com/imedia-transfer-mac.html - Mac & PC
- iexplorer (free) - http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/ - Mac&PC
- Yamipod (free) - http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/downloads/ - PC, Linux, Mac [Still updated for use on newer devices? No edits to site since 2010.]
- 2010 Post by Zevoneer: iPod media recovery options - https://discussions.apple.com/message/11624224 - this is an older post and many of the links are also for old posts, so bear this in mind when reading them.
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141 - dates from 2008 and some outdated information now.
Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-co mputer/ - Information about use in disk mode pertains only to older model iPods.
Get Your Music Off of Your iPod - http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Get_Your_Music_Off_of_Your_iPod - I am not sure but this may only work with some models and not newer Touch, iPhone, or iPad.
Additional information here https://discussions.apple.com/message/18324797

How can I move my personal music to my new laptop?

My family has always kept all of our music on our home computer. Now that im going away to university I have my own laptop and I want to move all of my music to my own laptop so my laptop can become my Iphone's home computer for syncing. All of my music is located in one playlist on the home computer. We have a backup of our entire library and a backup of my phone on an external harddrive. I was wondering the easiest way to move al my music to my new laptop?

Ideally you want to start with a clone of the existing library so that your device is happy to sync with it. If you don't want to copy all of the media only to throw a lot of it away again then it would be possible to duplicate the library files to another path, connect to the copy there, discard the tracks from that copy that you don't want, then consolidate your playlist files to your new media folder, leaving the originals (and the original library) in place.
See Make a split library portable for some background on which manipulations of the library are valid.
A brief version goes like this:
Copy library files and Album Artwork folder to an empty iTunes folder at the root of a drive, e.g. X:\iTunes
Shift-start iTunes and connect to X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl
Change the media folder to X:\iTunes\iTunes Media, do not consolidate files if prompted
Create a smart playlist matching all the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not <Your Playlist> (slightly more efficient if everything you want is in that one playlist)
Select this playlist, press Ctrl+A to select all items, then Shift+Delete to delete them, do not send any files to the recycle bin if prompted
Clean out other areas of the library, e.g. Podcasts, Movies, TV Shows, etc.
Use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate files to consolidate the stuff you want into X:\iTunes\iTunes Media
Move/copy the folder X:\iTunes to your laptop's Music folder
Shift-start-iTunes to reconnect to the original library
tt2

How do I get my Ipod music to me new laptop?

How do I get my Ipod music to me new laptop?

- Transfer iTunes purchases by:
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer
- Transfer other music by using a third-party program like one of those discussed here:
Copy music from Ipod to new computer...: Apple Support Communities
- You can also redownload most iTunes purchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
- You can also more th music from the old computer to the new one by:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

ITunes won't work on my old laptop so I need to move my music to a new laptop but can only use the music stored on my ipad to transfer it. Please help.

My laptops broken, I can't open itunes at all on it so how can I get my music onto my new laptop with only my ipad which has all my music on it?

Hello kevinfromripon
There are a few options that you can do. If your old computer sill works but iTunes just does not open, you can try and copy the iTunes folder to an external hard drive and then add that information on to your new computer by either putting it into the same place as it was on the old computer or just adding the media into iTunes. If the media was purchased from the iTunes Store, you can import those in by following the step in the last article or you can go to the iTunes Store and look at your purchases and download them directly from there.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
Download past purchases
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
iTunes Store: Transfer purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1848
Regards,
-Norm G.

Using Windows 8 and can't authorize my computer to upload apps and play music on my new laptop. What do I need to do to fix problem.

Using Windows 8 and can't authorize my computer to upload apps and play music on my new laptop. There is no "authorize computer" in a drop down menu as suggested in iTune store or its support page. What do I need to do to fix problem?

MY personal thinks to Radez29. Yes, it is now authorized. BUT, I have an obvious question and an obvious statement.
Question......why, in my many emails to/from Apple support, was this simple solution not given to me?
Statement.......Apple should consider "terminating" the present employees and hiring Radez29. He obviously knows a LOT more than the Apple support team.
AGAIN, my sincere thanks to Radez29 for this solution.
Ron

HT2305 Transferring music library to new laptop?

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