Migrating iTunes Library

I'm looking for the cleanest way to migrate my iTunes library from one Mac to another.
On my old MacBook, I have all my music & podcast files on an external hard drive. My media files location folder then points to that external HD. I also have "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" checked. It looks like my iTunes Library is on the HD of the computer under Music > iTunes.
I'd like for my new MacBook Pro's iTunes to pretty much have the same setup. Keep all files on the external HD, and have iTunes keep things organized for me.
Is it as simple as exporting the Library on my old computer, then importing the playlist on my new computer? I've used the Consolidate feature before, but it doesn't seem like I'll need it this time around since I'm not moving actual media files around, just setting my new computer to point to where they're currently stored.
Thanks!
B

Copy the iTunes folder (not the iTunes Music folder but the entire iTunes folder) from the old computer to an external hard drive. Then transfer that folder from the hard drive to your Mac's Music folder. Open iTunes when the option key down and choose the location of your iTunes folder. Navigate to the Music folder and everything should be all there meaning playlists, play counts, ratings, etc...

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Migrate iTunes library from Windows to OSX

Hi all, just bought a new mac to replace my Windows PC and I want to get my iTunes library on it. Having a look around the net I found a few posts like this:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15263517?searchText=Migrate%20iTunes%20lib rary%20from%20Windows%20to%20OSX#15263517
and
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/migrating-itunes-library-betw een-windows-and-mac-os-x/
which basically suggest just copying over the "itunes media" folder from my pc to the mac in the correct location and it should just work. As these two posts are both a bit old I thought I'd check up to see if there's a better way of doing it now or if that's still my best option.
Thanks
T

Here is the Apple Article
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
and
http://www.macworld.com/article/1146958/move_itunes_windows_mac.html
If you want to move over your playlists as well you need to copy the iTunes folder containing iTunes Media. All your library files are in their. iTunes Media is just your content files

How to migrate iTunes Library from an external hard drive to a new Mac Book Pro?

How to migrate iTunes and iPhoto librarys from an external hard drive to a MacBook Pro?

With iTunes:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the whole iTunes folder and all its subfolders and files intact to Home > Music on your computer. It will replace the one that may already be there and anything you have in it will be lost -- you could give the folder a different name just in case, and delete it yourself later. Unplug the external and start iTunes.

How do I migrate itunes library from a PC to a Mac RETAINING playlists?

I am trying to import a 90GIG itunes library from a pc external hard drive to a macbook pro. I did it initially but had no playlists. How would I keep the playlists organized so itunes looks exactly like it did on my old PC?
thanks!!

Jilllfrombennington wrote:
How do I move my itunes library from a PC to my new Imac.
Simply use Migration Assistant to copy all your user data from old compuoter to new computer.
See this -> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4796

Q on new set up, manual migration iTunes (Library)

Hello all,
I am getting a brand new iMac very soon and this time, I have decided I am not going to use Migration Assistance to migrate everything from my 3-year old iMac, simply 'cause there is just "too much trash" in it that I do not want to move over.
Plus, now a lot of mine 'personal' settings are iCloud-based, so all I need is to sign in my Apple ID/iCloud ID and most of my stuffs like contacts, calendars and emails will be in place.
One of my major concern is my iTunes (library).
If I manually copy over from User (home folder) > Music > iTunes, to the new iMac.
Everything will be in place? Including all the Playlists etc I have created?
Thank you very much and have a great day.

Hello mightymartin,
Thanks. I have checked my User-Shared folder and it is empty.
Anyway what matters most is the
Playlists I've created 'cause some are mix-and-match songs compiled into a playlist
The rest of the media - songs, shows etc
Not so much of the apps 'cause I know I can re-download them again, actually so are all the media since I am on iCloud and I have iCloud Match.
So it is the data/Library file that is probably the most important
Cheers

Migrate iTunes Library from old Leopard computer to new Lion

I am finally retiring my trusty old G5 desktop in favor of a new iMac with Lion in anticipation of iCloud this fall.
We have been using our G5 to sync and store all of the music and apps for the entire family for about 7 years.... Everyone's iPhone, iPod, and iPad is synced to the old computer.
How do I migrate all of this to the new computer??
I have tried to Migrate from my Time Machine Backup for the G5 (kept with this in mind) and Migration Assistant refuses to recognize the Time Machine disk. It shows on the desktop and in Time Machine on the new computer, so I am quite sure that it is attached!
I tried to copy and paste from the backup into the new computer's iTunes Library, but I am refused due to permissions problems. I assume this is for the purchased items from the iTunes store.
Any suggestions??
thanks
Terri

Try this site : http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/SetupAsst.html
(From discussion forum thread : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2759954?start=0&tstart=0

Migrating iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac

Hi.
If I previously have iTunes on a Windows PC and want to migrate the enitre library to a Mac, how do I do it? I've got all the files transfered over the traditional way - via an external hard drive - but I can't bring the playlists over. I'd hate to have to start creating playlists again.
Cheers...

Migrate Your iTunes Library from Windows to Mac (and keep your ratings, play counts and date added)
http://www.tunequest.org/migrating-your-itunes-library-from-windows-to-mac/20061 105/
A Guide to Switching iTunes from Mac to Windows (or Vice Versa)
http://ipod.about.com/b/2007/03/11/a-guide-to-switching-itunes-from-mac-to-windo ws-or-vice-versa.htm
Cheers,
Patrick

Migrate iTunes library to Mac mini with both SSD and HHD

I have been using a Mac Mini for my media center for a while and just got a new one with the two drive option. It has a 256GB SSD (where the OS is stored) and a 750GB HHD. My iTunes library is about 400GB. When I try to use migration assistant to transfer the media, it won't let me because the default location for the iTunes library is on the SSD, which isn't big enough. I have tried manually moving the media folder to the new computer and then telling iTunes where the library is, but iTunes shows no music. Please help!

Copy the enttire /Music/iTunes/ folder to the HD on the new computer.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library and select the iTunes folder on the HD.

Migrating iTunes library from old mac to new, and library is on external HD

Hi, I'm trying to figure out how to point my newly set up iTunes to my old iTunes library file located on my external HD. It wants to build a new one.
I have a new iMac 5K I just got Friday. I have an old Mac Pro 2007 running 10.7.5 (the latest software I could update to due to hardware restrictions.)
Unfortunately, I can't do a straight up Migrate from the old one to the new one, due to the difference in OS. I got most of the iMac set up, but am having some issues with iTunes. My entire iTunes library is on an external HD, and it has been for quite some time. In preferences under advanced, I had my iTunes Media folder location set to the folder that was on the HD.
So when setting up my new iMac, I set the same preference in the new iTunes, so it has access to all of my music, but I don't remember how to point the new iTunes to that "iTunes Library" file so that all of my playlists and settings are in there. Intead iTunes keeps building a folder and library file on my Music folder that's on my iMac.

A library is everything in an iTunes folder, not just media. In particular, iTunes is looking for a file called iTunes Library.itl.
You do not tell iTunes to use media by pointing to it in preferences. You tell iTunes to use a library file which itself knows where the media are kept. You tell iTunes which library file to use by holding down the option/alt key while starting iTunes and pointing it to the correct library file. If this file was on the external drive in a complete iTunes folder there then all you have to do is point it to that folder on the external. If you didn't really have your entire library on the external drive but only had the media files there then you need to copy the iTunes folder on the old internal drive to the exact same location on the new computer and start iTunes.

Migrating iTunes library between macs

I tried Migration Assistant to transfer files from my iMac to my MacBook, but my iTunes library didn't seem to make it over. Do I have to transfer the application?

Did you use Migration Assistant to transfer your Home folder?
If so were your iTunes files in the Home folder?
MJ

Issue Migrating iTunes Library to NAS - ... you don't have permission...

I have set up a Buffalo Linkstation Duo Nas with 2TB of usable space (4TB Raid 1) on my home network and it seems to be working fine.
I created a Share folder for Video (which I don't use with iTunes) and another for iTunes Media.
The 600GB of Video that I had on my Mac Pro transferred over just fine, but I am having trouble migrating my iTunes Media over.
According to some posts I've read, the best way to do so is to point iTunes to the new disk in Preferences, then and then do a:
File>Library>Organize Library>tick Consolidate Files>OK
This was going smoothly until about a half hour (5GB) into the transfer (of ~200GB) and I got an error dialog that says:
"Copying files failed, because you don't have permission to change your iTunes Media Folder or a folder within it."
(the comma is iTunes' typo, not mine)
It doesn't say whether the issue is with the new iTunes Media Folder or the original one.
After using Get Info to check the permissions on the iTunes Media Folder and all the folders immediately inside of it, they all seemed to be read/writable by me.
I ran a Permissions Repair on my main HD with the original iTunes library, but that didn't help.
I can manually copy files to the NAS drive and the shared folder to which I'm attempting place the new iTunes Media Library. So I don't think it is an issue with the NAS.
... and yes, I've tried switching everything off and on.
Would anyone like to take a guess as to what the issue with the permission would be?
-or-
Can I just manually copy everything over to the NAS and then redirect iTunes to the new folder?
Judging by what did transfer over to the NAS, iTunes seems to be reorganizing a few of the folders and things so it would be nice to let iTunes do the migrating... but... whatever works is fine.

Solved independently.
I had some videos that were not being managed by iTunes on an external drive which had screwy permissions.... so it wasn't the iTunes Media Folder that was the permission issue, but the oddball folder on a faulty drive.
I removed the offending videos from iTunes and tried again. The entire library consolidated nicely onto the NAS drive (took 18 hrs. though)
Now I just need to figure out the best way to share that library with all the computers on the network. From what I've been reading, it is not as simple as just pointing all the Macs' iTunes to the iTunes Folder on the NAS drive - There are artwork issues and problems with using the same Library simultaneously between Macs.
.... But that's for another discussion.

Migrating iTunes library from Mac to Windows

Please bear with me if this is an obvious question. My brain is scrambled trying to wrap it around the problem...
Is there a way to migrate an iTunes library from a Mac to iTunes on a Windows PC, still using the same iPod, with a mix of iTunes Store files and CD burns?

Assuming you have the newest version of iTunes, using home sharing is a really easy way. Just set it up on both your Mac and PC itunes.

Migrating iTunes library from Windows to Mac

I am in the process of migrating all my files from my PC to my macbook. Is there a way to do this and still keep all my metadata?

Hi Bruno! Are you Portuguese or Brazilian?
Do you have an iPod, which you could use as a transfer way? If not I would recommend you to use the "Back up to disc" feature. Then just insert your DVD's in your new MacBook and import your library.
If you want to use your iPod, then read this:
First sync your content to the iPod.
If you have purchased songs from the iTunes Music Store, then those are pretty easy to transfer to your computer. You'll just need to follow [this instructions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305465].
All your other songs (for example, those ripped from your CD's), you'll need to use any 3rd party program to transfer them to your iTunes library!
Use one of this programs (all of them will preserve your metadata):
[iGadget|http://www.ipodsoft.com/site/pmwiki.php?n=igadget.Homepage] (Mac and Windows)
[iPod Access|http://www.findleydesigns.com/ipodaccess/index.html] (Mac and Windows)
Hope this helps! If you still have doubts, please reply.
Best Regards

Migrating iTunes library to new Mac

I recently used Migration assistant to transfer just my iTunes library file from an iMac to my MacBook Pro (both running snow leopard with latest versions etc). However after completing the process I cannot find the files on my new Mac anywhere. I know they are there because my available hard disk space is about 125GB lower but ITunes does not have any music content and I cannot find any files on the system that large. Please help!

Migration Assistant copies the files into the same accounts on the new computer.
If your username is not the same, it will create the old username account on the new computer.
Likely you are logged into a different user account on your MacBook.
Go to System prefs -> Accounts and see if there's another account.
If so, log into that account (should be same username and password as on the iMac) and drag the \Music\iTunes\ folder to the Shared directory.
You can leave iot there if you wish.
Log back into the account your are using now, hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library* then select the iTunes library file in the \Shared\iTunes\ folder.
Or simply drag the \iTunes\ folder from the Shared folder to your current \Music\ folder, replacing what's there.

How to migrate iTunes Library from MacBook to MacMini?

I have a MacMini next to the TV and would like to "migrate" the iTunes library from my MacBook to the MacMini and play it there through my music system. What files need to be moved? or are there better ways? Thanks in advance. Cheers, Veit

I also have somewhat the same question. I will be going from a MS Windows platform to an IMAC. I hope I don't have to reload all of my CDs.
Rich Dunklee
NR2D

Migrating iTunes Library

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