Problems with copying my itunes library to a new laptop

I have just brought a new laptop (Windows 7) and I am trying to copy my iTunes from my old laptop (Windows Vista) to my new one but it doesn't seem to be working... I know how to copy the music across but I want to copy all the playlists across too as I use them frequently and don't particularly want to re-do all of them.
I have tried copying my iTunes folder onto my external hard drive and then connecting my external hard drive to my new computer and copying the folder into the iTunes folder on it. But it won't copy across and it gives no explanation why. I copy it and a dialogue box comes up saying 'preparing to copy' and then it just goes and nothing else happens...
Am I doing something wrong? Is there an easier way to do this? I've seen some posts that mention networking the computers but I've tried this and because they operate on different systems it isn't working...
Please Help!!

Hi there StevieJ,
You may find the information in the article below helpful.
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2905
-Griff W.

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I have copied my iTunes library onto a new computer, but when I play back the songs there seems to be random "miss" or "drop out". No probs with old computer, just the new one. I'm onto my third new computer - same problem. Any suggestions please?

I have copied my iTunes library onto a new computer, but when I play back the songs using the new computer, there seems to be random "miss" or "drop out" during play back, similar to a small scratch on a vinyl record. Although when I play the same song over again, the "miss" occurs in a different location during the song. No probs with old computer, just the new one. I'm onto my third new computer - same problem. Any suggestions please?

You don't say which version of iTunes you are using, but the symptoms you describe have been encountered by some users with the 64-bit version of iTunes 12.1.
There is an alternative version for 64-bit editions of Windows here:
iTunes 12.1 for Windows (64-bit — for older video cards)
that seems to address the most of the playback issues that some users have been reporting with the full 64-bit version of 12.1.0.77 - including problems with Bluetooth speakers where either sound is degraded or completely absent. The alternative installer here is the same architecture as most previous "64-bit" versions of iTunes, i.e., a 32-bit application with a 64-bit installer. The "for older video cards" label appears to be something of a misnomer as some people have reported that this corrects problems found on current / high-spec systems.
Some users have reported that after installing this alternative version it is necessary to adjust the "Play audio using" selection (normally to "Direct Sound" rather than "Windows Audio Session", though this may vary based on your audio hardware/drivers) in Edit > Preferences > Playback to restore glitch-free audio (one part of the reported symptoms is that the "Direct Sound" choice isn't available, usually in Windows 8). It may also be necessary to ensure that your Bluetooth speakers are active and selected as the default audio device before you run iTunes.
If this doesn't address the issue, you may want to think about reverting to iTunes 12.0 - see Turingtest2's notes on Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates for steps needed to completely remove all installed iTunes components, and for links to the 12.0 installers.

HT201543 how do i get my old itune library onto my new laptop, my old laptop is broken but all media is on my phone. Most of the songs are from CD's which i no longer have. HELP!

How do I get my old iTunes library onto my new laptop? My old laptop is broken but all media is on my phone. Most of the songs are from CD's which I no longer have. HELP!

That is not necessarily true. You are allowed to make a back-up of media you own and, at least in the Netherlands, even a copy of a work you've borrowed from a library. The law expressly permits this and you pay a certain amount for recordable media to allow for home use. See http://www.thuiskopie.nl/nl for this. If you then decide to destroy the media, i.e. do not transfer the media to someone else, I don't see how you infringe copyright by keeping the back-up. But I guess some so-called creatives like the idea of making money in all kinds of hypothetical ways...
It is a nice dream, where you have to work once and then earn a lot of money by selling millions of copies from your work. But buyers can make copies too!! Hahahahahaha!

I have an older ipod with a large itunes library and a new ipa 2. the both have the same email but different passwords.Can i sink th old ipod's library ith the new ipad's library?

I have an older ipod with a large itunes library. I have a new ipad2. Both have the same email address but different passwords. Can I merge both itunes libraries?

Not sure if this helps:-
The music files, were they bought from your iTunes account or did someone gift them to you after buying from the iTunes account? If they are yours you can download them again if you clear or de-authorise the ipod, it has to be done by whoever gave you the ipod to do this (the registered owner). If they were bought for you on another itunes account I don't think Apple let you use them as they are copyrighted and they don't belong to you, they belong to the person who bought them. If the music files where ripped from music cd's then click and drag them to a new folder on your desktop and have the person who gave you the ipod to de-authorise and unregister it. Then you re register it and put your files back from your desktop folder in your iTunes folder and synch. Hopefully that would work. Any files which you did not buy, I would not know how get around this, best bet is to take it to you nearest Apple Store and explain that they were gifted to you and ask how you can use them. The best way to gift music files is to buy the gift tokens and give these. Hope above helps.

How to transfer my itunes library to my new laptop

i will be buying a laptop soon and want to transfer my library to my new laptop permanently, how do i get this done.
or does both computers automatically have the same songs even months after

Backup the library with this user tip. Use the same tool to restore the library into the new system, then install iTunes. Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content from it.
tt2

Itunes library on NAS, new laptop, old one dead

Hi,
My itunes music library is on an external NAS, my laptop has died, so I have bought a new one. Do I just install itunes 9 on the new laptop and point it as the NAS? Will it then find all my music ok?
cheers
Andrew

can anyone help?

Problems with restoring my iTunes library after performing an HP backup and system recovery

Hello,
Last Sunday night/Monday morning, I had to perform a system recovery (from the discs supplied by HP) on my HP Compaq Presario SR5310F 32-bit desktop computer running Windows Vista Home Premium, (on the recommendation of samone at HP) and just backing up my 90+ GB iTunes library took 12 hours (the actual system recovery took only about 2-1/2 hours, the following morning). After the recovery process was complete, I 'restored' the backed-up files by either double-clicking or just opening the first backup file (the one whose file name ends in '.1') and following the prompts, which placed the files into something called the 'System Restore Files' folder. I thought I could just restore my iTunes library by dragging and dropping the music, video and iTunes folder files from this System Restore Files folder back into their original places on my computer, but while the song titles did show up in my iTunes library, whenever I tried to actually play one, an exclamation point would appear beside the song's title and I'd get the error message 'iTunes cannot find the file'; when I clicked on 'Find missing file'--or whatever it's called--the C < Users < [username] < Music folder would open, and it would be completely blank, with only the words 'This folder is empty' appearing in it. (And BTW, before you try to recommend the 'Finding missing content in iTunes' or 'How to find missing music in iTunes' articles to me, I should point out that I did try all of the steps in those articles, but my iTunes library was still completely empty at that point, despite trying those steps; that was why I finally tried 'dragging and dropping all of those files back into the Desktop, Downloads, Documents--yes, some really large download files, not from iTunes, showed up in the Documents folder--and also a couple of downloaded music files--again, not from iTunes--showd up 'loose' [by 'loose', I mean not in one of the folders (e.g., Documents, Downloads etc.) in my [username] subfolder] in my [username] subfolder, after which, I was able to get most of my song and video titles listed in iTunes again, but they just won't PLAY! Also, it appears I'm missing about 5 GB from my iTunes library now, as it's saying that I only have about 85.15 GB worth of files in it, where before I had 90+ GB worth of files in it.)
BTW, I can play the files I moved to Desktop, Downloads, etc. if I right-click on the individual files in these locations and then click on 'Play' or 'Open With', but they just won't play in iTunes.
And one more thing: I stupidly deleted my 2 iTunes podcast file titles after I discovered that these, too, would not play; is there any way I can recover these--and my iTunes library--without performing yet ANOTHER system recovery and starting over 'from scratch'? (But if that's what I'll have to do, I'll do it--or else I'll just give up and start all over again with the new computer I plan to buy over the Labor Day weekend [it'll be a 64-bit Windows 7 computer, I know that much at least], as most of my music was ripped from CDs or else downloaded from places like Bandcamp or Amazon MP3, and these downloads were saved to a series of USB flash drives; I was informed that if worst came to worst, I could redownload my iTunes purchases, but my 2 podcasts will be lost forever, as iTunes doesn't 'keep' those--or words to that effect...)
P.S. The computer I'm using has only a 250 GB hard drive, of which 223 GB were available, I couldn't perform the 'Consolidate' function so I could properly back up my iTunes library, as, what with the accumulated Windows downloads (I got this computer in February 2008) and other programs, I had only a few (< 10) GB free--not enough to consolidate the iTunes library, and second, the computer malfunctioned just prior to my performing the system recovery, so that I could no longer log on in 'normal' mode, only in the various safe modes. A lady at Microsoft told me I could back up my iTunes library by logging on in safe mode with networking (since I could do that, albeit with the error message 'Your account has been loaded with a temporary profile') and pasting my iTunes library to my external hard drive, but when I tried this, I got a message listing my iTunes library as '(empty)' when I clicked on iTunes in 'All Programs', and needless to say, my iTunes library wouldn't even open in any of the safe modes (I don't know whether it was 'just' my computer, or whether the lady didn't know what she was talking about--she does work for Microsoft, after all).

OK, before you moved the iTunes folder did the library contain entries for your original files?
This is the normal layout of the iTunes folders. From what you said at the outset it would seem that, as far as that copy of your library is concerned, it thinks the media folder is C:\System Recovery Files\C\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media
Not quite sure where you have moved the original set of library files to (that is the five files listed above and the Album Artwork folder) but you should move these to C:\System Recovery Files\C\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes, (leaving everything else in place) then click the icon to launch iTunes and immediately press and hold down the left shift key until asked to choose or create a library. Click choose and browse to the library file at C:\System Recovery Files\C\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl - fingers crossed this will open your old database, which will be able to find your old files. If that goes well we can look to moving them somewhere more sensible.
tt2

Problem with sharing an itunes library between machines

Hi all,
Hoping someone can help. I've moved my iTunes library onto my Time Capsule and have my mac and windows PC both using it. The problem is whichever machine I open it on, I get a message saying "Updating iTunes Library" for a few minutes. It's fine after that, until I open iTunes on the other machine, when the same thing happens. So have I forgotten to do something, or am I doing something I shouldn't, in order to use the same library across machines?
Thanks all

Anyone have any ideas?

I need help with moving my iTunes library to a new disk...

I'm soon gonna get a new SSD which is half the size of my HDD. So i guess i wont be able to restore with time machine or use disk utility to clone the drive. I'll have to start with a fresh copy of moutain lion.
What I'll want to do is that keep all my music on my ssd and let all the podcast and itunes u be on an external hdd.
can someone outline the steps to...
create a library on the ssd on which os x is installed.
move music, playlists and apps.
let the podcast and itunes u be on an external hdd and yet be accessible from itunes, like being referenced.
in the past i did this by moving the entire library to the internal drive and then while itunes was running, move the videos from the library folder to the external drive. it autoMAGICALLY was able to find the videos on the external drive while my music and apps were stored in the internal.
now my library size is so big with all the videos that i cannot do the above steps as i want be able to copy the entire library to the internal ssd.
any help is appreciated.
thanks in addvace.
Neerav

Sometimes we sleep. We have even been known to be away from the keybord to bathe (but usually not for longer than 2 minutes once a week ).
I don't know how you automagically did it last time - your details are lacking. iTunes is normally terrible at following you moving things, especially from drive to drive. You either have to let iTunes do the moving (by consolidating to a new location) or you have to disable iTunes managing your media in which case it will follow moving inside a drive but still not between drives.
Despite the new version, iTunes still does not make it easy to split your library between drives. Probably since you only buy your items from iTunes and are never away from a high speed Internet connection it doesn't matter since you can always stream or download items you need from your Match subscription, right?
Small hard drive? Split your iTunes library across multiple volumes - http://www.macyourself.com/2009/04/24/small-hard-drive-split-your-itunes-library -across-multiple-volumes/ - copying media folders to external, then deleting from internal, then adding again.
Splitting & Managing Your iTunes Library - http://machintsandtips.com/i-j-k/itunes/splitting-managing-your-itunes-library/ - using option+drag to override iTunes from copying file to your default media folder.
Dougscripts: Relocates selected files to a folder of your choice - http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=relocateselected - replaces "Move Files To Folder"
https://discussions.apple.com/message/10160819#10160819 - Change location of media folder to start putting files on second drive. Note later follow-up post about leaving 'organize media' and 'copy to drive' checked.
TuneSpan: (OS X app) A utility that allows you to distribute the media files in your iTunes Library across multiple drives. - http://tunespan.com/ - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tunespan/id528459889?mt=12 - Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later, 64-bit processor

I just imported my Itunes Library to a new laptop from an External HD with Windows 8 but it does not load my playlists on my Iphone? Is this solveable? Would hait to re-build the playlists

My old laptop crashed but I had my Itunes Library backed up to an external HD. I've managed to import my Itunes Library from the HD but none of my old play lists appear on in Itunes. I tried syncing to my Iphone 4S that has the playlists to no avail. Ideas and solutions welcome

" When I did this, my library showed all the music I have "purchased" from itunes but did not have the music that I downloaded a long time ago through itunes from my old CDs."
Correct.
" How can I get that music to show up in my library now on my new computer? "
Copy it from your old computer or your backup copy of your old computer.
The sync is one way - computer to ipod.

Copying old iTunes library onto a new hard drive: special question:

How do i do this when the music in my old iTunes library was not all in the itunes media folder (some was in downloads, shared folder, etc). Should I put these folders in the places where they were on my old hard drive (for example the "shared" folder was on the desktop) or should i just put everything into the iTunes media folder. My main goal here is to recreate my old itunes library with the playlists intact while also having all the songs recognized (none of those exclamation points because it cant locate the file). Sorry to repeat myself but I just want to make it clear because i dont want this to mess up. Should i put all my music into the itunes media folder for it to show up in the old library, or should I keep it in the folders it always was in and just place those folders in the same locations on this hard drive? Thanks for any help

The solution you linked to looks good, but I'm a bit
confused about if it'll work for my situation - I'll
be putting Vista on a new drive (completely clean
install, not an upgrade), which means that iTunes
will be cleanly installed as well. The way I'm
reading it, it seems the solution there needs an
iTunes install that already interacts with the old
library.
Right, and the way you do this is to hold down the shift key while starting iTunes. (Note: this does not mean holding down the shift key while you click on the icon. It means holding it down immediately after that while the program is starting up.) This will bring up a dialog asking what iTunes library you want to use. Point to the old library, and you're in business.
Let me know if this will work: I drag and drop my
whole music folder to the new drive, then in iTunes I
go to File --> Import and import the itl or xml file.
I've heard this might not work because the xml file
has pathways that refer to a specific drive letter
which will be different.
That's correct. You can edit the XML to fix the pathnames, but I wouldn't recommend that unless editing XML is something you do regularly.

HT1751 is there a way to copy my itunes library onto my new cmputer from my ipod if my old computer has crashed?

My old computer crashed, is there a way to just use my ipod w/o access to my old computer to copy my library onto my new computer?

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

How do I transfer music and stuff from my ipod onto my itunes library on my new laptop?

I got a new laptop and i plugged my ipod in and everything was okay but the music that is on my ipod is not in my itunes library it is just in the drop down music menu when my ipod is plugged up to my laptop. So, i hit sync and it said either transfer purchases or erase and sync.well i definitely do not want to erase the 500 songs i have on my ipod so i hit transfer and it said that it was unable to transfer because my ipod is not authorized with the computer. so i hit authorize and it asks me to log in and so when i type in my email and password and then hit authorize it just takes me back to the login screen with a really weird random email in and no password. I tried doing this many and just takes me back to the same page. I need to know how to get my music from my ipod onto my itunes library without losing any music. Please and thank you for any help that you can offer.

If you have an iPod Touch, as suggested by your profile, I suggest you create a thread in the iPod Touch forum. You have posted in the iPod Classic forum.

How do I transfer music from my iPhone 4S into the iTunes Library on my new laptop; my old computer crashed and I cannot sync my iPhone without losing the music on it.

My old laptop crashed; had to buy a new one. How can I transfer the music on my iPhone 4S into the new iTunes Library?

Try using a third-party utility such as iExplorer - iPhone, iPad Music & File Transfer App for Mac & PC.

I want to access my itunes library from my new laptop but need to authorise this computer and don't know how to do it?

I have a new laptop and want to access my itunes library but can't as I need to authorise this computer. Anyone know how to do that?

Press CTRL+B to enable the menu bar.
tt2

Problems with copying my itunes library to a new laptop

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