I want to start from scratch with my itunes. How do I do this?

I want to start from cratch with my itunes. I have a lot of music on my PC, but since changing to my current laptop, all the music is duplicated, there is a lot I want to delete and I am in a real mess. Thanks in advance.

Hi Norm
I would love advice on a similar situation. Long story short: I want to scrap itunes completly and move all music files to yet another external drive and reinstall itunes.
Back story: prior versions of itunes have duplicated file locations (every update reset file location back to default C drive without me knowing) on the main harddrive and also on an external drive, my backup software has somehow compounded this issue. I have 3 and 4 duplicates of music files and while trying to fix that issue I inadvertantly deleted several hundred files.
So my clear solution is a fresh start. I just want to search my entire computer for music files e.g. (*.wav) and put them on a brand new clean external drive and start over. That way I can safely delete all these enormous backup files that are using up over 500g's of space on my computer. New library- New Location- new itunes.
what do you think?

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I want to upgrade my old airport express to the new express. Can I just switch out the old for the new or must I delete the old network first and start from scratch with the new express?

I want to upgrade my old airport express to the new express. Can I just switch out the old for the new or must I delete the old network first and start from scratch with the new express?

It is not necessary to delete your old wireless networks first, but doing so may eliminate confusion. If you wish to do that, open System Preferences > Network, and select Wi-Fi from the left column. Click the Advanced... button, then select your old wireless networks and delete them with the "–" (minus) button. Make sure the "Remember networks this computer has joined" remains checked.
OK then Apply.
This prevents your Mac from searching for your previous network which will no longer exist.
A new Express creates an open wireless network that you must select before you can configure it. It appears in your Wi-Fi menu like this:
Select it. AirPort Utility will load and walk you through its configuration.
Edit: If you are really using OS X 10.5.1 as shown in your profile, the above screenshot is not applicable. Instead, select the network called "Apple network nnnnnn" and then launch AirPort Utility.

I just bought a new Macbook Pro and transferred my iTunes archive of music to it. How do I transfer the playlists from my other computer(s)? iTunes on the new machine wants to start from scratch.

How do I transfer playlists from my other Apple computer(s) to my new Macbook Pro? I think I have successfully moved the music (archive) but the new machine wants to start from scratch on the playlists.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751
Essentially you need to copy over the itunes folder
username/Music/itunes
Over to your macbookpro I suggest using an ethernet cable as it is way quicker. Put it in the same spot on the new Macbook Pro
username/music/
This should bring over the playlists etc. Then just put the music back in from the archive

I have just bought a new mac book, and I want to start from scratch by syncing the content of my iPhone, but each time I try it wants to delete everything on the iPhone and replace by what on the new iTunes library, i.e. nothing! can I do the reverse?

I have just bought a new mac book, and I want to start from scratch by syncing the content of my iPhone, but each time I try it wants to delete everything on the iPhone and replace by what's on the new iTunes library, i.e. nothing! can I do the reverse, i.e. importing all my iphone's stuff on the new computer?

You need to copy some files and your iTunes folder to the new computer. Do you have a backup of your old computer (or still have the old computer?) Was the old computer a Mac or PC?
MacWorld - Move an iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
iTunes- How to move your music to a new computer

Starting from scratch. New iTunes library.

I recently had an external HD failure that had all of my music stored on it. I want to reimport the music I currently have on my new external. But my problem is, I have my iTunes library from before, which is synced to my iPhone. The library still has all previous apps installed. I was hoping to start from scratch with the music portion. Do I simply just select all in the library and hit delete and then reimport music? or is there a better way? I just don't want to lose anything besides the music on my library list.

Take a look at this article, it may help.
How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451

Thoroughly fed up and wanting to start from scratch

I am now thoroughly fed up trying to sort out Time Machine / Time Capsule problems that I want to start again from scratch. Does anyone know of a set of instructions to completely wipe a Time Capsule and clean out Time Machine so I can start again.
I have to say this is a real achilles heel product. I've not had problems like this since the bad old days when I wrestled with a Power Computing tower and OS 6/7 trying to find a system conflict with extensions manager. If I wanted to spend hours/days wading through tech forums and system logs trying to debug my computer, I'd have bought a PC. I think Mr Jobs had it right when he announced that the next major iteration of Mac OS would be focused solely on improvements and making things more stable - clearly he knew more than he was letting on. What happened to intuitive, user-friendly computing than allowed you to focus on doing work.
Regards

You can reformat the hard disk in the Time Capsule.
Go to Airport Utility --> Manual Setup --> Disks --> Highlight "Time Capsule Disk" on the left --> Click "Erase" on the right.
Rename the disk and select the level secure erasure. You're done and ready to begin backing up again.
If you start running into error messages again fell free to let us know exactly what they say.
Cheers!

TimeMachine finished testing, nothing wrong but wants to start from scratch

it doesn't say that it found any problems at all.
it just wants to start a new one to enhance reliability and in fine print stating that this will make me lose my 4 months backup history!!!
so what's wrong with it?
ofc i'm not happy to lose all my backup history and wait 10hrs to backup nearly 300 GB.

neongrau wrote:
it doesn't say that it found any problems at all.
it just wants to start a new one to enhance reliability and in fine print stating that this will make me lose my 4 months backup history!!!
Yes, this is a relatively new verification, added in May or so of this year.
so what's wrong with it?
We don't know. Apparently it's something so bad that even Disk Utility can't fix it.
ofc i'm not happy to lose all my backup history and wait 10hrs to backup nearly 300 GB.
Agreed. Connect to the TC via Ethernet cable if at all possible; the first backup will be 2-3 times faster.
I always recommend keeping "secondary" backups, at least. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum), for some suggestions.

I lost my "Siri" along with everything else after restoring my iPhone 4S from backup in my iTunes how do I fix this issue?

it basically turned into my brother's iPhone 4, since I had synced his phone with my iTunes once before
so...
will it help to restore my phone to factory setting?
or ... is there any sort of automatic backup on the cloud service?
& if I restore my phone, is there any way to keep the apps I've payed for?!

look here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766

Starting from scratch with external drive

I've just clean installed Snow Leopard after too much trouble with Lion, I've got an external drive with a load of songs which I'd like to use with iTunes but I don't want these copied to my internal drive - I'm happy to have the external drive connected for iTunes use - I've changed the iTunes media folder to the one on my external drive but it hasn't recognised the songs - what else do I need to do without ending up with duplicates of every song?.... Basically I'd simply like to use the external drive like a huge iPod!

Thanks John and Jolly,
I'm not sure what I'm doing here. I thought I did what you suggested and I tried to read that article but ...
What I have:
* Laptop with iTunes 9.0.3 running OS X 10.4.11 that has not had any prior music or other iTunes content.
* An external HD with a copy of the music from my desktop (160 GB). My desktop is also running iTunes 9 and OS X 190.4.11.
On the HD there is a folder "iTunes." That folder contains:
"Album Artwork" folder,
"Automatically Add to iTunes" folder,
"iTunes Library" file,
"iTunes Library Extras.itdb" file,
"iTunes Library Genius.itdb" file,
"iTunes Library.xml" file
"itunes music" folder,
"iTunes Music Library.xml" file,
"Previous iTunes Libraries" folder,
"Temp File.tmp" file
What I did:
* Plugged in the external so it shows up in my finder
* Launched iTunes and working through the setup was asked some sort of question like "do you want to copy files now or do it yourself later?" I clicked I'd do it myself.
* Went to iTunes / Preferences / Advanced and changed the iTunes Media folder location. It now shows "/volumes/'name of External HD'/iTunes" The "keep iTunes Media folder organized" box is checked and so is the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" box. I hit OK.
* Went to iTunes / File / Library / Organize Library ... and I clicked the "Consolidate files" box but not the "Upgrade to iTunes Media organization" box.
* now in iTunes I have nothing in "Music" -- a screen telling me songs and videos I add ... and there are none of my folders or playlists.
I bet I'm one click from blast off but no idea what that step might be.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Start from scratch with multiple catalogues

I have just installed Lightroom 4 and want to get started by setting up more than one catalogue but I am not sure if you have to have one catalogue for every photo in addition to the separate catalogues I want for subsets of photos. Can I just go ahead and make several catalogues and sort my photos (which are on my hard drive) into them without making a catalogue that references every photo? Maybe it's a good idea to have one complete catalogue as well in order to make it easier to find that missing photo?Also I have read that it is a good idea to store catalogue files in a separate folder in the root, which appeals to my sense of organisation, but do I need to make separate sub-folders for my individual catalogues or can they just all go into the one folder? Can't wait to get started!
Thanks,
Nick

In my opinion, multiple catalogs is usually a bad idea, especially for beginners. It will lead to confusion, duplication of effort, and waste of time.
The only time I can envision using multiple catalogs is when you have totally non-overlapping subject matter, such as business and work.
The idea you are considering, a "full" catalog, and several sub-catalogs, is just extra work with no benefit. Furthermore, since Lightroom stores edits and metadata in its database, changes you make in one catalog are not reflected in the other catalog(s). Did I say extra work with no benefit? I think I meant extra work with no benefit and significant disadvantages. I'm sure if I wanted to, I could make a list of 10 disadvantages to multiple catalogs.
So, I recommend a single catalog for all your photos. Make your life as simple as possible. You lose nothing by using a single catalog. You can take advantage of Lightroom's capabilities (which are significant) to slice and dice your photos in many many ways, giving you "virtual sub-catalogs" whenever you need them, without the effort of creating and managing a sub-catalog.

How to start from scratch with iCal (getting rid of duplicate iCal events)

For reasons I can't figure out, all my iCal events are duplicated 6 times in iCal. None of these events can be deleted (either by hitting the Delete key or via the Edit menu).
I tried using an AppleScript for this purpose (http://www.johnmaisey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/applescripts/ ) but it doesn't work, at least on my 10.5.1 Mac.
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see this thread that may help you with duplicate events: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1192813&tstart=0
hope this helps

TS1382 Lost my playlists on itunes that were on another computer now I had to start from scratch with a new itunes which will not allow me to import my playlists from ipod to itunes ???

My itunes music which was on an old PC and lost it all and had to re-install new itunes but cannot upload music from my ipod back into itunes to re-create my playlists again....how can this be done?

See this excellent user tip from another forum member turingtest2 outlining the different methods and software available to help you copy content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
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B-rock

Confusion...how do I start from scratch with Airport?

Hi!
I have scoured the boards but am now confused as to what I need to run express using my Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 (purchased last May)? I haven't done anything wireless to date so I am clueless.
I guess I'm confused by the following issues...bear with me:
1) Since I have "no information" listed under airport card in my about my computer selection, I have figured I need an airport card, am I right? Which one would I need?
2) Some posts have said that the airport card has to be installed by a certified mac person. I read instructions online and it looks pretty straightforward to me. I am confused about some of the posts saying that self installs can ruin your machine. I have installed cards with my old g3 and survived the process.
3) My goal is to hear itunes with speakers all around my house. I am assuming that the base station is only necessary should I wish to connect to the internet all over my house. Just to listen to music, I should only need the card and the express station, not the extreme?
It takes me a while to get into the new century's technologies...
Thanks for any help!
Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

1) Since I have "no information" listed under
airport card in my about my computer selection, I
have figured I need an airport card, am I right?
Which one would I need?
Yep, you need an airport card. A recent card should do.
2) Some posts have said that the airport card has to
be installed by a certified mac person. I read
instructions online and it looks pretty
straightforward to me. I am confused about some of
the posts saying that self installs can ruin your
machine. I have installed cards with my old g3 and
survived the process.
I installed mine without any problem. I suppose if you haven't done this before, you could do some damage.
3) My goal is to hear itunes with speakers all
around my house. I am assuming that the base station
is only necessary should I wish to connect to the
internet all over my house. Just to listen to music,
I should only need the card and the express station,
not the extreme?
Yes, you can use Express for this. How are your speakers setup? If they are connected to your stereo, you'll need to purchase an AirPort Express Stereo Connection Kit. Or you can connect directly to powered speakers (using the Stereo Connection Kit). Of course, if you have separate speakers in each room, you'll need multiple setups. This might help explain how it works.
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/airtunes.html
Jim
It takes me a while to get into the new century's
technologies...
Thanks for any help!
Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X
(10.4.4)

In software update even after notifying that it has been partially downloaded to some % it starts from the beginning again? How can i solve this???

PLEASE ANSWER THIS.

probably "leave message on server" setting
Check your accounts server settings.
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I want to start from scratch with my itunes. How do I do this?

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