Importing Entire Library?

I'm trying to transfer all of my files from my ipod nano to the neweest version of itunes using windows vista. It will only let me transfer purchased files, and I would like to transfer my whole library. Any ideas? thanks.

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
iRepo Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
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

Similar Messages

Importing entire library onto new computer

I just took the plunge: purchased Aperture, new MBP C2D with 3 gigs of ram.
My situation is as such: I am currently using a PB (until the good stuff arrives) with Aperture. I was using iPhoto and playing with Lightroom. I gave them both up and am now singularly using Aperture. I imported my original photo library from iPhoto into Aperture. I then used the Vault to back up the import. I was told that there are photos that needed to be backed up manually. Not sure what was meant by this, but now I have the Aperture library on my PB and a backup on an external drive. The library on the PB is larger than the one on the external drive. Second the Vault is also on the external drive. When I look at the Aperture lib on my PB it is over 6 gigs while the Vault is only 170 mb. I am a bit confused. Does the Vault in some way compress the data or is it storing something else, and will I have to re-import and arrange all of my projects again once I import the library on my computer.
Thanks in advance and I hope I was not too confusing.

My guess is that the key question is: did you import the images as Referenced or as Managed?
If they're referenced, then as I understand it, you would have to back all of them up manually. Also, this would make the library much smaller, since it would not have the master images in it, but only bookkeeping stuff and (as time goes on) your edits, metadata, etc.
If theyre managed, then the situaiton seems pretty puzzling.
The disparity between the library and the vault makes it sound as though you have managed images in the library, and that yes, something is not quite as it appears. I find that a 14GB Library, with managed images, produces a Vault of about 13GB, so there's very little compression.
Sorry, that's as far as my knowledge takes me.

Can't import entire iTunes library from external hard drive

I recently had to reset my IBM ThinkPad T40 (Windows XP) to factory settings. Of course, I backuped up my iTunes library on an external hard drive, and there didn't seem to be any problems doing so. (I've had to do the same thing before) But I can't re-import the entire library now! It only imports about a thousand songs (I had about 5,000), and I get an error message saying "The file iTunes Library.itl~ cannot be imported becuase it does not appear to be a valid exported file.") I also tried to import a previous back-up (stored in a different folder, and it wouldn't import all of those files, either -- no more than in the more recent backup files) either. I've tried re-downloading the iTunes software several times. Help!!!!
Thanks!!!
PS: Is there a way to sync my iPod to import songs from that BACK into itunes?
IBM ThinkPad T40 Windows XP

This seems to have deleted ALL of my iTunes. The folder (and all iTunes files) is still there on my backup, but now the newly-installed iTunes won't import ANYTHING (It at least imported about 1,000 (out of 5,000) songs before. But now it says all files are invalid, regardless of where I attempt to import them from. (although the names of some playlists import -- but they're empty files) It appears that SOME of the music files are located on the backup copy, but simply won't import. Perhaps they're corrupted?

Help! all of my playlists have disappeared with my latest itunes upgrade.I have my entire library saved to my ipod...can I import everthing back into itunes from my ipod? Thanks much.

hello...all of my playlists have disappeared from my itunes with the latest upgrade I did, what a mess! My entire library and playlists are on my ipod. Is there any way I can import my ipod back into itunes?
Many thanks.

Post by Zevoneer: iPod media recovery options - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6273675

Just downloaded trial version -- don't see iPhoto library in Aperture and need to import selected photos-not entire library!

I just downloaded trial version -- don't see iPhoto library in Aperture and need to import selected photos to edit, not entire i Photo library! I read manual and it says:
Browsing and Selecting Images in Your iPhoto Library
You use the Aperture iPhoto Browser to review iPhoto images and import specific images into the Aperture library. The iPhoto Browser gives you a handy way of looking for certain images without having to import your entire iPhoto library.
So, where do I review the iPhoto images...there is nothing in there that says "iPhoto Library" Everything I see pertains to Aperture Library which of course is empty since I haven't imported (or dragged) any photos in there yet.
Also is tech support available for Aperture? I have Apple Extended Support and I sure would love it if I had individual help. I have a deadline --3 days to edit 300 photos and I'm a complete amateur. iPhoto doesn't have the capability to erase parts of a face (I need to contour the neck of a mannequin to make it proportionate to the separate head I put on top of it. I'm sure Aperture must have a tool to help me do that! At least I hope so.

where do I review the iPhoto images
File -> Import -> Show iPhoto Browser
I have a deadline --3 days to edit 300 photos and I'm a complete amateur. iPhoto doesn't have the capability to erase parts of a face (I need to contour the neck of a mannequin to make it proportionate to the separate head I put on top of it. I'm sure Aperture must have a tool to help me do that!
Sounds more like a job for Photoshop to me
if I decide to import entire iPhoto library into Aperture will it delete my iPhoto library?
No.
Regards
TD

ITunes for Windows freezes when importing a library. I have a large but not huge library of mostly iTunes purchased music on two authorized computers and would like to sync the files, export the library as a playlist, and import it on the other computer.

I am running iTunes for Windows 10.2.2 on Windows 7 Home. I have my iTunes library on both this computer and another authorized machine running Windows 7 Professional. I have a large but not enormous library, as I'm one of those people who doesn't pirate, use torrents, borrow from a dozen friends, or whatever other shades of gray you might imagine. It's mostly iTunes purchases with my old CD collection imported. I have started using the following technique to sync my libraries between my two authorized computers, an ability which you can probably all agree should one day be added to iTunes -- that would be different from Home Sharing, because the music would be stored locally and thus available on the road. With the added benefit of the entire library being backed up on the other machine in real-time. Anyway, when I switch from my desktop to laptop and vice versa, I use the following technique:
Connect both machines to the home network. One machine is the "Active" machine, which has most recently been used for iTunes media, purchases, ratings, etc.
On the "Active" machine, File-->Library-->Export. Save the file as "Library.xml" on the shared drive of the other machine.
Right-click "Library.xml" where it's been saved, and open another file that has two lines in it: The root path of the iTunes library on one machine and the root path of the iTunes library on the other machine.
Do a find/replace all in Notepad to make the library XML file point to where the files will be saved on the "Inactive" machine.
Run Microsoft SyncToy to synchronize the files between both music libraries; the most recent files win. This avoids copying the entire multi-gigabyte library over the network.
Open iTunes on the "Inactive" machine.
Go to Music, Select All, Delete. Keep files.
Do the same for Movies, Music Videos.
Go down to Playlists, select the top one, hold down the delete button until they're all gone.
File-->Library-->Import Playlist. Choose the "Library.xml" file you saved.
First a status bar comes up that says, "Importing library." It has the continually-scrolling progress bar, not the one that starts on the left and steadily creeps right. Then after about 30 seconds, that clears out. Wait. Typically a few minutes. Eventually a status bar will pop up saying something like, "Evaluating gapless playback information," or something like that.
The "Inactive" computer is now the "Active" computer. I can now play my library, it has all my playlists and metadata from the other machine.
Delete all the duplicate playlists named "Music," "Genius," "Purchased," and "iTunes DJ."
Well, I just upgraded to iTunes 10.2.2 a few days ago and tried to do this again like I've done it dozens of times before. Now, iTunes just goes unresponsive after the library import. It got through the "Importing library" bar to the long wait and stopped. I can still multiprocess and use other programs, but iTunes is hovering back there not responding to clicks. Task Manager doesn't seem to think iTunes is using my CPU, and I don't see my hard drive rattling. Any thoughts on why iTunes might hang up when importing a large library?
... Also, please help lobby Apple to come up with a network sync tool built into iTunes for a user with multiple authorized computers. Something different than Home Sharing so I can pull my laptop off the network and still have the synced library with me. And all my metadata changes will sync. The technique I use seems a little kludgey, don't you think?

iTunes isn't an editor. You need an app that's intended for editing audio files, like Adobe Audition (http://www.adobe.com/products/audition.html) or Audacity (free in the App Store).

Please help - entire library is missing

Hello guys,
I am currently experiencing some problems with iTunes, I hope someone can help me. After not having used my PC since September, I accessed it yesterday. After installing the iTunes update, everything was still normal, but after the computer had to be restarted for the HP update, ALL my media files are gone. Not only is the library wiped, the actual folder where the file should be is empty.
I will explain what I did below.
Also, please excuse my English, it's not my first language.
Okay, then let me explain my problem from the beginning. Maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong.
I am from Germany, but I am currently in the US as an exchange student. At home, I used a HP PC with Vista, but I decided to buy a little netbook (Asus eeePC)to take with me. The most important thing for me was (and still is) my music, my iTunes library. It is 86.4 GB big and consists of everything; songs, TV-shows, movies, apps, podcasts, audiobooks - you name it. In short, it's the result of years of listening to and collecting music; and it's not mine alone, the whole family uses it. I researched ways to copy my library unto my new netbook, but with a file that size, it's not that easy. Eventually, I decided to use a backup and re-create the library on the netbook. However, this did, for reasons unknown to me, not work, the backup was (from the 2nd disc on) unreadable. I created 2 more backups, tried to read them with different PCs - the same problem every time.
Finally, I had to leave without having accomplished anything. But I took my iPod touch with me, it had most of the files on it. I hoped that I could somehow transfer the files from my iPod. However, shortly after I arrived, it was stolen. I bought a new one, but of course all the files on it are gone.
In he meantime, my family at home created a new backup and send it to me - but this one, again, is not readable. Now I researched other possible ways on how to get my files over here. I decided to use a torrent this time. I had someone install a VNC client on my PC so I can access it from here, and then I installed utorrent and created a torrent from my entire library, send it to myself per e-mail and started downloading on my netbook. I was really happy to finally have found a way - but I should be wrong.
Since I had access to my iTunes after so much time, I decided to open iTunes and listen to a few songs. However, as my PC has not been used since I left in September, there were some available updates. Unsuspecting, I installed the new iTunes version and also a HP update. After the iTunes update everything was still okay, but after the PC had to be restarted for the HP update to work, my entire library was gone! And I checked, not only is the library empty, but the actual song-file is gone, meaning when I open, eg, "C:\Users\Chris\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Linkin Park\Meteora" the folder is totally empty.
That's how it is now. I decided not to do anything big, as I am afraid I'll mess it up even worse (though I don't think that's quite possible - there is nothing to mess up left, afterall).
Please please please, can somebody help me?

If you don't have any other back up, and the torrent files you sent to yourself are gone, then your music is gone.
Nobody can help you recover data that no longer exists, but I can offer some sympathy. Sorry to read your story.

Tried to import iTunes library from desktop to laptop via Homesharing but everything didn't import. How do I get missing content?

The whole story: I tried to transfer my iTunes library via Homeshare from my desktop to my laptop but not all of my library imported. Both computers are authorized and almost all of the 99GB of music was imported from my own cds. I couldn't tell what was missing and I figured a computer person would have an easy way to figure this out. In the meantime, I added about 20-25 more cds to the library on the laptop. I had a computer guy come out because I wanted to merge the two libraries so I can get rid of the desktop. He dragged and dropped several folders onto the external hard drive and then dragged and dropped those into my music folder on the laptop. Now I have a big mess! I have tons of duplicates, but the entire library didn't duplicate so I am still not sure if all of my music made it over. He wants to delete all of the duplicates but I explained that I don't want to break up albums and I had already gone through the process of finding "exact duplicates" and deleting those on the desktop before I started all of this. I talked to a Geek Squad guy at Best Buy who suggested I delete everthing from the laptop and start over. He wants me to open iTunes on my desktop and select all, then drag that to a new folder on the external hard drive. Then reinstall iTunes on the laptop and drag and drop that folder into it. I have no idea what to do at this point. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Please know that I am not very computer literate so please type slowly so that I will understand ;-) Thanks
Sidenote: I did sign up for IMatch and had Apple scan both libraries. Not all of my music showed up there either. I am missing entire albums, etc. and I have not reached the maximum limit, 25,0000 songs. Should I purchase TuneUp Media to fix any metadata once I get my complete library onto my laptop? I just want my entire library together, in one place so that I can move forward and back it up properly. Thanks for any help.

Delete whatever was imported to the new computer via HomeSharing.
Stop using HomeSharing to move content.
Copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the old computer to the new computer.
Launch iTunes.
Everything in iTunes on the new computer will be exactly as it was on the old computer.

HT3819 How do I share just one movie (not my entire library) from my itunes library with an authorized computer using home sharing?

How do I share just one movie (not my entire library) from my itunes library with an authorized computer using home sharing?

many thanks.
That should be possible.
From his library connect to your library via Home Sharing.
Select the name of the shared library in the source pane of your itunes, and click on the wee disclosure triangle to the left of the name of the library. Does "Films" appear beneath the name of the library?
Here's a screenshot of what I mean.
Select "Films". In the right-hand pane you should see the item you want to transfer. Just select that item, and click "Import".
Use the same basic technique to get one or a few songs from your library transferred to his library. (The only difference is that you would have "Music" selected instead of "Films".
If you don't want him to have access to other items in your library, you could just switch Home Sharing off on his library after you've done the transfers.

I want to transfer my entire library from a Mac to a Dell

I tried to use the backup function to save all my music to DVDs. The music is copied to the DVD, but when I try to import it to my Dell, it copies a few songs, locks up, and spits the DVD out asking for the next disk. It seems to only transfer songs that I purchased; not my entire library. Is there a way to get the entire library from one computer to the next? My Mac is old and I want to put all my music to the new computer.

assuming all your media files are in the default location, copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media) folder to the exact same location on the new machine.
you can use an external HD or your local network.

HT4527 I'm transferring my iTunes library from a PC to my new iMac via home sharing. I've followed all of the steps to "import" my library but the "import" button is greyed out. Any suggestions?

I'm transferring my iTunes library from a PC to my new iMac via home sharing. I've followed all of the steps to "import" my library but the "import" button is greyed out. Any suggestions?

There is no need to import anything or use Home Sharing.
Copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the old computer to the new computer, everything will be exactly as it was.

How do i import my library from an external hard drive. Exported it as had to wipe pc and reinstal windows but when i try to import nothing happens

How do i import my library from an external hard drive. Had to export it as had to reinstal windows due to a conflict between windows and i-tunes. Wen i try to import nothing happens despite selecting the file. Can you import from an i-phone to i-tunes?

What do you mean bye exported the library?
There is nothing to export or import.
The correct process to backup the iTunes library would be to copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the computer to the external drive.

IPhoto Trash Can deleted my entire library

I bought a brand new 27" iMac at the end of Oct 2010, which came pre-loaded with iPhoto '11 (Version 9.1 (475). I copied photos from my old iMac onto CD-ROMS and then imported them directly into my brand new iPhoto '11 by the select, drag and drop method. I deleted maybe 5 photos which the trash can correctly counted. However, when I deleted my trash can, it included ALL the photos in my entire iPhoto library (4000+) and deleted my entire library. These photos were not visible in the trash can before I hit the delete button.
After that happened, I thought maybe I did something wrong, so I manually transferred the photos to my iPhoto '11 all over again. This time, photos which I haven't even deleted appear in the trash can and when you try to empty the trash can, the message says something like "Are you sure you want to delete 4000 photos?" (i.e. my entire library). Plus it seems that I can't manually move things out of the trash can because they just magically reappear in the trash again. Why is this happening?
BTW I just downloaded and installed the latest iPhoto update, but the problem still persists.
As a side note, before deleting my iPhoto library, I had used Migration Assistant to transfer some files from my old iMac G5 (circa 2005/2006) to my new iMac using a firewire cable. However, as I did not transfer any applications, I don't think this would have affected my iPhoto '11, right? It was only after I noticed that my iPhoto library didn't get transferred to my new iMac that I decided to import photos to my new iPhoto '11 manually.
Apple products seem to be getting worse. I've filed a report with Apple, so hopefully they can fix the software. But what can I do in the meantime?

same thing here. out of the clear blue my trash said it had 800 photos in it (my library has 9000 photos in it). I looked at the ones in the trash and they appeared to be still in the real album, as though I had duplicated some of my photos then trashed them. If i tried to empty iPhoto trash it asked me if I wanted to delete my entire 9000 photos (even though only 800 were in iPhoto trash).
I rebuilt the entire iPhoto album (option command button on launching iPhoto) and picked all rebuild etc. options, took a couple hours) but the problem persisted. Fortunately I was totally backed up from a day or so ago, I checked the backup to make sure it did not have the trash problem, and then had iPhoto empty the trash of the one with with trash problem, and like others it dumped the entire iPhoto library! Yikes
Now there are 2 things on my computer that i could not afford to lose, 20 years of photos, and 20 years of quicken data, so I am VERY careful with those, and fortunately it paid off.My back-up is good and I rebacked up that file, but what a disaster that would have been had I lost all m photos.
so, This is not a minor glitch but a huge software issue that has to be fixed fast, not everyone, despite being told so, has good regular back-ups.
roger

I can't import my library anymore?

In the past, whenever itunes got screwed up and couldn't find my library (or whatnot) I was always able to import my library file and it went back to normal. Well, yesterday I had to do some work on my computer and for some reason iTunes wasn't recognizing the folder I had all of my music in. My entire library looked the same, but everything could not be "found" when I clicked on it to play. I went to change my music folder location to the right place, but it didn't make the songs playable.
In past versions of iTunes you were able to import a library file and then sync it up with the music you had for it. However, I can't seem to find that option in the newest version of iTunes.
Am I just missing something? Does anyone know how I can get iTunes to recognize my music folder again before I have to start from scratch?

Hi Linc
Everything is as it should be regards to sharing prefs etc but nothing is showing up. I tried using homeshare but it produces a (-3150) error on the clients when I try to enable Homeshare on them. The Shared Library does show in the drop down menu on the left but when I try to connect to it, it just hangs and then stops. I just don't think Mavericks works with Bonjour very well. The computers can 'see' each other, and the client knows that there is a shared library, but they cannot connect to each other.

Entire Library gone after Safari update.

I recently updated Safari and Java. Now when I open iPhoto my entire library is zero photos.
If I boot up to a system drive running the old Safari, the library still works fine. What the **** is your problem Apple? Is there some reason I can't have a current browser AND keep my thousands of photos?
Message was edited by: Jamie Tucker

Thanks for your reply Terence.
I couldn't get the Java chat in Facebook to work, so I figured I would update Java and my Safari to the latest versions. So I used Software Update and installed ONLY those two items.
I restarted and and it didn't help the chat issue, so I figured it was somekind of interuption in service at Facebook and moved on to do some photo editing in iPhoto almost immediately. It just says there are no Photos when I opened it.
I checked the package contents of my library, and all the photos are still there.
My Pictures folder has an alias that points to an external FireWird Hard drive for the Library because it's too big for my MacBook's HD. Same goes for my other iLife Apps. They all have aliases pointing to the external drive.
I decided to install Leopard on another volume and see what would happen.
I used the option to import my account from the newly updated boot volume to the reverted boot volume.
Sure enough all my photos were back, when booting to the boot volume that has the reverted Safari and Java.
Since then I have tried to delete the preferences for iPhoto, update iPhoto, update iLife Support, update Leopard to 10.5.8. Nothing corrects this problem.
Obviously neither the alias or the Library are corrupted because they both work fine when my account is imported to a system with the older software suite.
Having worked for Apple's own IT department, and owned dozens of models for decades, I have encountered stuff like this before many times, and yes it would not surprise me at all that someone has dropped a ball of some kind. As a loyal user of their products, you better believe I hold them to a higher standard than Windows, and I will absolutely make a stink about something as unacceptable as a whole library disappearing.
My data is all backed up, but I can just imaging someone who doesn't having this happen to them and causing a heart attack.

Importing Entire Library?

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