Re-Importing iTunes media.

I have searched the forums and can't seem to find an answer that fits my question.
I moved my iTunes to an external drive and that works as advertised. Before I did that, I moved my tv shows to the same external drive, but in their own folders; by show title and season, and deleted them from my iTunes folder. I did this because I thought I could watch them on another Mac using Quicktime. It didn't work. Now I want to re-import them back into iTunes on the external drive. I can't seem to find a way to do that. How do I do that, if I can? Do I just move the folders back? If I move just the files themselves, will iTunes list them by show title and season like it did when I first downloaded them?
Thanks in advance.
LQMac

You shouldn't need to create a second library. That inevitably gets messy. As Quaeritate pointed out, you simply have to be disconnected from iTunes match when you import the Audiobook and stay out of reach of iTunes Match until after you've changed the media kind. Still a bit of a pain, but not too bad. You should be able to do this either with Quaeritate's method of temporarily disconnecting your computer from the internet while you do this, or by signing out/disabling iTunes match within iTunes temporarily and then you can stay connected to the internet for other tasks while you import the book and change the media kind. Once you've done both of those steps, you can once again allow your iTunes library to communicate with iTunes match. I'd just go with whatever method or work-flow is most convenient for you. For me, I'd rather stay connected to the internet for email and such since I multi-task when I'm importing Audiobooks.
I qualify that by adding that I don't actually have iTunes match; I'm on here looking for flaws before I make the leap but I'd be in the opposite boat. I might have to change tons of media kind classifications to music so that they would be included in iTunes Match for me.
Best Wishes,
Kieran

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Import iTunes Media Library, some files were not found problem

Hi guys,
I am trying to restore my music library info via importing from iTunes Media Library xml file I backed up. During import, iTunes gave me error message box saying that some files were not found and therefore won't get imported. After it's done, I checked the iTune and I noticed many of the music files did not get imported at all, even their locations are correct. Is it because iTunes stopped importing at the first entry that it found its location not existed and therefore skipped the rest all along? Even later ones might be valid. Is this the case?
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Hi Chris
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I just installed iTunes on my computer, where I already have all my music. I went to Edit Preferences Advanced, and changed the iTunes Media Folder Location to where I have all my music, in the "Local Disk." But iTunes wont import all my music. Help?

I just installed iTunes on my computer, where I already have all my music. I went to Edit > Preferences > Advanced, and changed the iTunes Media Folder Location to where I have all my music, in the "Local Disk." But iTunes wont import all my music. Help?

Have you looked in the Music App on your iPhone? On the iPhone music is played by the Music App not iTunes.

ITunes adds duplicate songs when importing but not making copies in the iTunes Media folder?

This is an irregular problem and does not happen at every new import, but every now & again iTunes is creating duplicate files entries for the same song when I import my music folder.
Now I know many people post a similar problem, but before we start can I state that both the 'Keep iTunes Media folder organized AND "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library are turned off, and always have been.
Right clicking on duplicates of a particular song proves that iTunes is not copying the file into it's own media folder and adding that to the library.
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I am currently just having to delete the duplicates everytime it makes them, although this is VERY time consuming!
Any ideas on what is causing it or what will fix the problem would be great!

Nevermind...I figured out my issue. The problem is that I'm an idiot.
When dragging my folders in, they not only had MP3 files, but a M3U file as well. iTunes was importing the M3U playlist, then the MP3s...that's how I was getting my dups.
=\

ITunes 10.6.1 update does not show newly imported music in viewer but files are in iTunes media folder, how to correct?

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Immediately after the install, Windows was rebooted. I also attempted multiple variations of closing and restarting iTunes and/or reboot Windows. iTunes was unresponsive to mp3 files being added. Since I was unable to see the added music files to the library, I did not try to add other files.
Out of frustration, I let iTunes run over night and to my surprise the added music appeared in the library viewer the following morning. I can now add new mp3 (and AAC also) music files to the library and it immediately appears in the viewer. How or why it now works is a total mystery.

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We are having no luck with the thousands of songs we have to manualy add to a particular playlist in iTunes alone. .. there must be a simpler way! How can this be done . . . if there is and it's complicated, is the Genius allowed to help us out with this? They seem to only master Mac's only. . or can they help us? PL E A SE E E HELLPPP!

tt2,
Your very helpful and knowledgeable. I for one appreciate all the hardwork and help you have been giving the people on theses lists, especially with the problems associated with the "importing playlists" from windows media. Unfortunately I need more help if you or someone else can provide it. I followed all the steps you have instructed so far in the threads I have seen. Unfortunately nothing so far works for me. Maybe you or someone can help me, I'd really appreciate it. I tried the notepad++ method and when I click on save I always get a notepad file that my iTunes can't do anything with. I click the "convert to UTF-8 without BOM" then click save as and it still saves as a notepad file. I am also unable to find the \n\ file path to replace with my \C:\ filepath. Here is a copy of the first part of one of my playlists:
<?wpl version="1.0"?>
<smil>
    <head>
        <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Windows Media Player -- 12.0.7601.17514"/>
        <meta name="ItemCount" content="161"/>
        <author/>
        <title>Power Surge</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <seq>
            <media src="..\Various Artists\Mixed Tape 2\13 Out of Control.wma" tid="{650561AF-AA9D-4EA3-84CC-2F09C24DF3B3}"/>
            <media src="..\Various Artists\Mixed Tape 1\12 One Step Closer.wma" tid="{EE5ADD9D-A879-404A-BC60-CE841045BCB6}"/>
            <media src="..\Various Artists\Mixed Tape 1\15 Click Click Boom.wma" tid="{0F71941C-1B67-425F-BDAA-246618709179}"/>
Now I went and switched the part from <media src="..\ to <media src="C:\ in all the files in hopes that was where I am supposed to have my drive letter but it didn't seem to help. Please forgive my encoding ignorance if that's what my problem is. I hope you can help. Thanks in advance.
Madmaxneo

On my mac, when I try to import certain music CDs (not all) I get this message "You dont have write access for your iTunes media folder or a folder within it. To change permissions, select your iTunes media folder in the finder, and chose file get info"

I am not sure how to fix this and it is driving me crazy can anyone help?
Thanks.

Hi folks,
I've had this issue for a year now and I've read this and several similar articles on how to change permissions for you iTunes Media folder and all that enclosed stuff.
Well today, I got brave and dove into this issue once again and to my surprise I have it remedied.
Before I kept going to my side bar folder 'Music', then located the iTunes Media folder ( I have several libraries).
This time, I went from (your mac)HD, directly to the 'Library', scrolled to 'iTunes' and reworked my permissions there by creating a new user... (ME). While at it, I adjusted 'Administrator from and back to, 'read and write', gave myself, 'read and write' and left other users as 'read only.'
I then applied to all enclosed folders with the 'gear wheel,' locked the whole shabang up and proceeded to install several old CD's which refused to import in the past.
RECAP:
HD/Library/iTunes set permissions for YOU to 'read and write,' then apply to all enclosed folders.
BTW: those enclosed folders are likely to be all the albums you've collected previously.
Perhaps, the 'iTunes Media folder' description from previous instructions kept people looking in the wrong place.
In any case, I'm up and running and I hope you will be too.
Thanks,
PS

How can I import my library that is saved on a external hard drive but it's not saved on the iTunes media folder?

I need to restore my computer to it's factory settings but I don't want to loose my playlists and my library (windows). I can copy any file from the computer because it's in good working order. All my music it's on a external hard drive, but there's lots of media files that I don't want to sync but need to keep! Any way to do that!?
Best Regards

h.cordero wrote:
I think that I didn't explain my self correctly, My iTunes media it's not consolidated. May I consolidate the media on a external drive (X:\). ?
Yes. But consolidate to X:\iTunes\iTunes Media.
The why I'm asking is because the music library (176gb) is way more than the computer drive (C:\). Remember that all the media is on a external hard drive (J:\)
The steps I gave earlier will work to copy the whole library onto the new drive, in the correct layout for future ease of use.
tt2

Laptop died. Had backup of ITunes Media Folder but now cant restore music to Ipod after ios5 upgrade!

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Any ideas guys? Tried syncing about 8 times now. Real pain in the bum!

I am getting a bit lost on what was done and exactly why you did it that way. It looks to me like you use iTunes with standard preferences settings and you didn't so much move your media folder to the external drive as your whole iTunes library (everything in the top level folder including all the media files). This should have been done simply by copying the iTunes folder from the old drive to the new one, renaming the AllMyiTunesMusic folder if you so desire, then starting iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and selecting that folder as the iTunes library to now start using. Apart from the copy time when you could go away and drink a pot of coffee the actual labor time would be about 2 minutes. I think you must have done something different which has kind of messed up your library and resulted in duplication of files. Some of those folders such as Movies and the neighboring Music folder should be in the media folder, but don't move things about in Finder or iTunes may lose track of them and things will get worse. If you can go back and do things properly then I recommend you do so, otherwise we can see what we can work with here.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.

HT2518 How do I transfer music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my mac? I have put the files into the itunes media, but they are not showing up in iTunes!

How do I transfer music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my mac? I have put the files into the itunes media, but they are not showing up in iTunes!

Hi, did you try iTunes>File>Import?

ITunes doesn't play files stored in iTunes media Folder

Hi, have this problem:
I had deleted my files from iTunes media folder, but as luckily I had the same files located in other place I just copied them to the iTunes Media but iTunes rejects to play them (in my iTunes Library). I'm only able to play them if I go through the procedure as followings: Play - "iTunes unable to open this file because the original file not found. Do you want to find it?" (or smith like that) - Find - Open and then it plays, but I have to perform these actions with every file separately and I have quite a lot of them. Oh, and after that first popping-up window the next one appears "Would you like iTunes to find other missing files from the same location as [the file's name]?" But when I click on "Find" it says "iTunes were unable to find other missing files". Why? How do I accomplish the same task but with all my albums at once without necessity to add them one by one? Does there some way exists to tie the tracks from my albums with original files without importing them to my iTunes library?
Thank you

Understand how iTunes works. iTunes does not actively look for files. When you add a file to iTunes the location of that file is saved in the iTunes database (library file). When you try to play a track iTunes looks in its database for where the linked file is to be found and tries to play the specific file it has listed in that location. If you deleted the file then it no longer exists. I think even if you replace it with one that is identical, iTunes is still looking for that specific file. You can link the track listing to a new file using the process you have done. In theory iTunes should be able to find others but the files have to have been organized by iTunes in the past because it will be working on the basis of how it thinks they should be arranged. Additionally the files you replaced have to have exactly the same name as the ones you deleted because iTunes will expect them to be named how it would name them when they were first entered into your library

How To: Change iTunes media library location/folder

*PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS PROCESS. IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, BUT IT IS FAIRLY INVOLVED AND ENTAILS SOME RISK. THERE ARE SOME WARNINGS AT THE END.*
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REQUIREMENT
Move iTunes media (music, videos, podcasts) to another folder and update the iTunes library to reference all the media from that new folder.
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Example cases: Move iTunes media from C:\ drive to D:\ drive; Change iTunes folder name from Music to Media.
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Note:
Special action is only necessary if the +Keep iTunes Media folder organized+ option is not selected. If this option is selected, iTunes will move media to the new location when the +iTunes Media folder location+ is changed. More info can be found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
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PROBLEM
When the location of iTunes media files changes (files are moved, folder name/drive letter changes), iTunes cannot automatically locate these files. iTunes entries can be updated to point to the new location one at a time or by deleting all entries and re-adding all files. Updating one at a time is time consuming, and deleting and re-adding causes a large amount of metadata (play count, date added, rating, etc) to be lost.
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SOLUTION
The iTunes library can be exported to an XML file, modified, and re-imported.
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Process:
- *Backup the iTunes library data:* Make sure iTunes is closed, and then backup the folder containing all the iTunes library data. This can normally be found in +<user-folder>\My Music\iTunes+ for Windows, or in /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes for Mac. The +iTunes Media+ and +Mobile Applications+ folders can be excluded from the backup since they will not be affected by this process. If this process does not work for some reason and you need to restore the previous state of your iTunes library, you’ll need to use this backup as the source for restoring.
- *Move iTunes media files to new location:* This may be changing which drive is used to store iTunes media files, renaming a folder, or whatever. This can be done for the whole library or for only part of it.
- *Export the iTunes library:* In iTunes, select File -> Library -> Export Library... and save the file somewhere for editing (Desktop is a good location).
- *Open Library.xml in a decent text editor:* Notepad is not recommended, since Library.xml can be very large. Some free options include PSPad, Notepad++, Smultron, and Text Wrangler.
- *Update Library.xml:* Locate the files that have changed location and update their path accordingly. The XML file has the metadata for each file labeled with XML tags. The file location is denoted by <key>Location</key>. If the whole library is being moved, a find/replace on the whole file is recommended. Once a file is located in Library.xml that needs to be updated, copy the part of the string that has changed starting with <key>Location</key>. Use that as the find parameter, and enter the replace parameter in the same format. Include as much of the string as possible to prevent unintentional replaces. Save and close the file when done.
- - - Example: Find: <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/C:/Data/iTunes/
Replace: <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/D:/Data/iTunes/
- - - Note 1: This step may require adjustment to match your situation. You may want to count how many files need to be updated and make sure that the find/replace only changes that many or edit them by hand if the location of all files have not been changed. It shouldn’t be difficult, but it may require some thought.
- - - Note 2: Music, TV Shows, Movies, and Podcasts are stored in this file, so make sure to account for all media types. If the location of all types didn’t change, the find/replace strings will need to take that into account.
- *Remove all modified media entries from iTunes:* For any of the files that are being moved, the associated metadata must be removed from iTunes to avoid having duplicates in iTunes. This can be done by selecting all entries in iTunes that will be modified, right-clicking the entries, and choosing “Delete”. After confirming that you want to remove the selected item from your iTunes library, make sure to choose to keep the file in the iTunes Media folder if prompted.
- *Import Library.xml:* Import the modified Library.xml by selecting File -> Library -> Import Playlist... and selecting the modified Library.xml in the file open dialog that appears. Depending on the size of the iTunes Library, this could take a while (10 minutes or more).
- *Test results:* Locate a file in iTunes that has been moved, right-click on the file, and choose “Get Info”. The “Location:” field should indicate the new location of the file. Close the Info dialog and try to play the file. If the file plays, the process was successful.
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_*DISCLAIMERS/ADDITIONAL NOTES*_
- I tried this out a couple of times, and it worked fine for me. I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone, but I thought I’d share since I couldn’t find instructions for this situation anywhere else.
- If the process fails, you SHOULD be able move the iTunes media files back to their old location and restore the backed up iTunes library data to the iTunes folder to restore your previous configuration.
- I wouldn’t recommend attempting this if you don’t feel comfortable with backing up your iTunes library data and editing the XML file.
- I don’t know if this process will preserve whether videos and podcasts have been played or if it will preserve the play position where items were last paused.
- If you are moving all of your iTunes media files, you’ll want to update the “iTunes Media folder location” under the “Advanced” tab in preferences. This appears to be the folder that iTunes will use for some of its basic operations, such as storing synced audio notes, Podcasts, and the “Automatically Add to iTunes” folder.
- This process duplicates playlists, probably because you are importing your entire library again. I just deleted the duplicates when I was done.

If all the media is on one drive and you're not letting iTunes manage it then you can achieve the "portable" status simply by moving the library files high enough up the tree, i.e. the root of the drive if necessary, letting iTunes know where the nominal iTunes media folder is and then moving the library to the new drive keeping the relative paths from the library files to each distinct set of media folders unchanged. Personally I don't like iTunes cutting my file & folder names short, but the advantages of a portable library mean that I'm quite happy to organise my media inside the iTunes Media folder, albeit largly on my own terms. Indeed all my non-iTunes multimedia is now also organised in the same folders. The only media files iTunes organises, temporarlily, are rips & downloads apart from active Podcasts whose folder names I leave unchanged. Everything else gets sorted just the way I want it - full length filenames, different character replacements, folder art etc. I used to do it by hand, deleting, tweaking & reimporting, but these days I use a custom script which does it all automatically - renaming files just as I want and reconnecting iTunes to the newly moved file so that no iTunes-only metadata is lost.
There are similar XML-editing how-tos elsewhere on the web, I just wanted to make the point that there may still sometimes be a way to achieve the desired result which isn't quite as complicated but nevertheless leaves the user fully in control of their file structure.
Anyway, at least you took the trouble to find a method that works for you first. There are sadly too many tales of woe on these boards from people who've moved all their files around first only to discover that they've broken their libraries and can't work out how to undo the damage.
tt2

How to move library if iTunes Media Folder is not at default location

I need to move my iTunes library from my old laptop to my new one which should be simple enough but the problem is that my iTunes library database and content will not be in the same relative locations on the new computer - ie...I long ago ran out of space on my laptop HD and all my music has been on an external HD so my iTunes Media Location is not the standard "My Music" folder but instead points to E:/ITUNES EHD.
I would like to plug in the external HD to the new PC and copy the files to the new internal HD (as one of the reasons for buying the new computer was to do away with using the external HD for iTunes) and have the new iTunes point at the new media location but all the copied files have a pathway starting with E:/ rather than C:/ so iTunes immediately ignores them.
How can I transfer the files (including all the playlists other info) from the external HD to the new internal HD so that the "new" iTunes will recognise the files in their new location.
I hope this makes sense to somebody out there - please help or ask me any questions if I have not been too clear.

This article should get you started:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/48
The most important thing for a trouble free transfer is all you music files must be in your designated iTunes Music/media folder. That is set from the advanced tab in preferences.
If your current media folder is not set in preferences, you need to set it. If there are any music files outside the designated folder you need to consolidate your library.
The reason for this is that iTunes is extremely fussy about paths to files, but it can cope with a change in the path above the level of the designated media folder.
If you want to keep your current playlists etc, you will need to transfer your current iTunes folder containing the library files.
A simple way to do this is to install iTunes on the new PC then with iTunes closed drag the new iTuneas folder out of music to the desktop and replace it with the iTunes folder from the old PC.
You will need to adjust the permissions on the folder so your new account is the owner with full control.
Initially set the location of your iTunes music folder to the external drive and check that it all works.
Then you can move your files, by changing the location of your itunes media folder to one on the internal drive and then consolidating.
See this on moving the music folder:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364?viewlocale=en_US
If I haven't explained it clearly enough post back with any questions.

Can't import iTunes purchased movie into iTunes

Hi everyone,
I downloaded a film (to rent) from the Apple Store, but for some reason, it didn't appear in my iTunes library, but rather in my iTunes media folder. When I try to add it to iTunes, it won't do anything. I want to watch it on my TV via Apple TV, but unless it's in iTunes, I can't. I'm currently using iTunes 11.
Any ideas?

It's not working!! I wanna upload an specific lisr=t from iTunes! How do I do that??MattSuda wrote:
Drag and drop/iTunes import for local files is not supprted in the new version.
Spotify plans to bring some features back, but it is currently not known if the feature you mentioned will be coming back.
You can still add local files to Spotify. Go into the settings and under "Local Files" you can import the source folder that contains the local files.
After you do that, the local files will appear in the "Local Files" section.
Find the song and then drag it over to a playlist.

How can I transfer my iTunes Media Library from one PC to another without losing files and making a mess of the file and album structure?

I have imported a number of Café del Mar CD's to iTunes, and iTunes keeps scattering the tunes into several different folders in iTunes Media. It also has trouble finding album information, unless it has been downloaded from iTunes Store. Previous versions of iTunes I have tried didn't have this problem.
I've tried to tidy the files manually in iTunes Media, but that usually results in duplicates, so I stopped messing with it. I actually wouldn't mind iTunes blowing up my albums into a nightmare file structure of hyper categorization in iTunes Media (Album, Album Artist, Artist, etc.) if only it recognised its own mess when I transfer the library from one iTunes library into another.
An example: I downloaded Cafe del Mar - Essential Elements featuring 13 tunes, two of these can be found in the files Cafe del Mar/Cafe del Mar Essential Elements, iTunes also created the folder Cafe del Mar/Cafe del_Mar Essential Elements containing 0 tunes!?! and the rest of the tunes are found under Rue de Soleil in the root folder, indicating ONE of the artists as the criteria for creating a folder of tunes!?!
I am trying with every fiber NOT to hate this program, and would appreciate it if someone could explain to me how I can move an iTunes Media library of aprox 54 gb from my desktop via an external harddisk onto my laptop. I have tried 4 times, and everytime the result varies. Sometime I transfer 3000 files, other times 4000. Which files follow and don't is random. I lose files tranferring to the external harddisk and lose even more files from the external disk to the new library on my Lap. Do I have to transfer song for song or can this genius program actually transfer a larger amount of files without losing half the files and duplicating the rest?
Is there a limit of size or amount of files?

Backup with this User Tip, restore the library to the new computer using the same tool, keep the backup up-to-date in future. Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer need to access protected content on it.
As to your issues with compilations albums select all the tracks, set the Album Artist to Various Artists and on the options tab set Part of a compilation to Yes. See Grouping tracks into albums for details.
tt2

Re-Importing iTunes media.

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