Use iTunes library file from old account

Earlier: Lion on Macbook Pro, one SSD drive for system and one for media. Moved iTunes library to the Media drive, and told iTunes, worked like a charm.
Now, after having formated the system disc and reinstalled system (Mountain Lion), I replaced the new "emtpy" Itunes Music Library xml and itl files in Users/Me/Music/Itunes with the ones from the backup I made before formating. Thought it would be this simple, but iTunes just starts upp with an empty library part from some songs on my desktop. Import playlist won't work either – noting happens.
Thank you in forehand for any helpful answer.

Oh , sorry about the confusion.
The actual audio files are in a directory I created myself on the Media drive long ago. But, according to the clone of the old system that I made as a backup before formatting, iTunes still keeps its index files in Systemdrive/Users/Me/Music/iTunes, regardless of the actual location of the songs. So the songs are exactly where they always been on an untouched drive. Therefore I believed that if I copied the old xml and itl files to User/Music/iTunes on the new system drive, iTunes would use these on startup, and present the library exactly as it was on the "old" system.
I hope this was a bit clearer. Thank you for your help.

Similar Messages

Is there any way to recover the iTunes Library file from the iPod Touch to preserve metadata like Date Added?

Topic.
I used software (SharePod) to retrieve music from my iPod Touch after my original harddrive failed, but the program does not retrieve the iTunes Library file needed to import the metadata into iTunes (though it shows in the program itself). The music backed up with no issue, but I don't have what I need to preserve things like Date Added, Play Count, etc. Any solution if I have only the physical iPod Touch?

Yo may be able to extract some info from the backup of the iPod:
iPhone Backup Extractor for Windows and Mac
and Wondershare Dr.Fone for iOS: iPhone Data Recovery - Wondershare Official

How do I send my iTunes Library folder from one account to another?

I just bought a new Retina and I used migration assistant to bring my old account (A1) to my new computer. The thing is, I wanted a clean fresh hard drive, more so, a clean fresh account (A2) that doesn't have years of random downloads and applications on it. However, I cannot find a single way to bring my iTunes library over to this new fresh account, A1, that I set up. I still have the old computer. Is there a way to transfer my library from the computer to the new account, or transfer the library from A1 to A2?
Thanks!

Or you can be guided bt this 'officail' Apple support document:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4441
Ciao.
Csound 1 greetings: Nothing wrong with a little plagiarism.

Can't play itunes music downloaded from old account

I have a bunch of iTunes music downloads I purchased on an old account using an old email many years ago. I no longer have the password and have looked but have not found a way to close out the old account and authorize the music downloads to my current account.
When I tried to retrieve info on the old account it asked me for my birthday. I chose the correct date but the response was the date was INCORRECT!!
Beyond frustrating!!

See this article.
iPod does not play content purchased from the iTMS.
"Only to find to my surprise that the DRM'd AAC (m4a) files that I was sent in replacement of MP3"
In replacement? Not sure what you mean by that.

Creating a new user account and transferring files from old account

I am now having more problems than I can handle with my Leopard installation...problems such as applications that refuse quit no matter what ~ even after attempting force quit them and/or attempting to "sudo kill -9 PID", and now that I am having problems with Adobe Lightroom not even being able to remain open on my user account for more than 10 seconds max before it crashes without provocation (yet runs fine on a troubleshooting account I created on the same machine), I would now like to create a new user account on my MacPro Leopard 10.5.6 and transfer my files from the previous (problematic) user account, but I've never done so in the past...
Can someone give me a basic rundown of how to go about doing this as a means of troubleshooting my current sickly user account (and if you could also please let me know which files I should avoid restoring to the newly created user account so that I don't screw that one up as well, I would appreciate it)
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!

While logged into the troubleshooting account (assuming that it's an admin account—if not create a new one and log into it), backup the bad account's folder, delete the bad account, selecting the save data option (which is stored in /Users/Deleted Users/ as a disk image), recreate the bad account using the same username/password combo, log out and back into the recreated original account. If the problem's solved, open the saved data dmg file in /Users/Deleted Users/, open the /Library/Preferences/ folder from the saved data, open the current /Users/restored account/Library/Preferences/ folder, and slowly copy plist files from the saved data folder to the current one that don't exist in it. Log out and back in to ensure there's no conflict and things still work correctly. Resolving conflicts or identifying corrupt plist files is a laborious process. Good luck.
See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4703015 for more details on this process.

How to get itunes library moved from old computer to new computer?

I have an ipod with itunes set up on an older pc. Recently purchased a laptop and migrated all of my info from old pc to new laptop (windows 7 format). They are listed in a separate file under 'My Music'.
I downloaded the itunes 9.1 to my laptop.
Now, how do I get the music files over to the itunes program?

Or from within iTunes go to File>Add Folder To Library. Then select the folder that contains your music and iTunes will do the rest.

Getting my iTunes library fully from old laptop to new one.

I have an old ibook G4 (Ver. 10.4.11)(not intel) and just got MacBook Air (Ver. 10.9.2). I want to transfer my iTunes all the way onto the new computer without having to hassle with sharing and turning the old laptop on. Can I transfer my iTunes library easily? I suck at tech. but am good at following directions.

Theoretically Migration Assistant should move everything, but that's a big jump.
For just iTunes:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.
For the record there's this reference for iTunes 11 but it really doesn't strike me as having the specifics you need. iTunes 11 for Mac: Move your library to another computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12168
2011 ilounge article: Transferring your iTunes library - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/ - An article with good background information (similar to the first link above), particularly if you are not sure your media files are all grouped for quick solution above. Unfortunately under the single term "transferring library" it describes two very different moves; relocating just your media (not recommended unless you really need this configuration), and relocating media+database (really your whole "library"). Make sure you understand the difference before electing to move only media (you really do need to transfer the whole library in your situation).
If you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)

My iTunes library (restored from my account) cannot be played. Help?

Hi all,
It's a complicated story.
I built up a music library over the course of a few years, mostly on a single computer although several devices. Last year, while in Africa, my computer was stolen, along with my iPad and the devices that had my library on them. I thought I'd lost my library completely.
Fortunately, I hadn't. I just downloaded iTunes on my new computer (which runs Windows 8), and logged in - and sure enough, there are all my songs! Unfortunately...none of them will play. They are all greyed out, and there's no option to download them. It says they're stored on iCloud (I think - there's not much visible information), and I can mess with them, sort them, add them to Up Next - anything but actually hit "play."
Also, when I try to sync my phone (which is new since the theft, and is on the same Apple account), the songs won't copy over. Apps do fine, but whenever I try to sync music, it simply says "Sync cannot be completed because it didn't start." Which is not helpful.
I would dearly love to listen to my music again. Help, please?
M

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
Probably best to disable the cloud items while trying to recover your content. Edit > Preferences > Store anduntick Show iTunes in the cloud purchases.
tt2

Moving itunes 11 files from old PC to new PC

My old computer hard drive was not large enough to consolidate my iTunes library. So I attached an external hard drive and consolidated there.
Now I want that library on my new computer, I moved it to "my music", but iTunes 11 does not recognize it. It keeps making a new library with only my "cloud" songs on it. I can see my consolidated library on the new computer and play songs from it, I just not open it thru itunes. What do I do???

Hello there, Donly.
The following Knowledge Base article offers up some good recommendation for how to move your music to a new computer:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

HT1660 How do I load my itune library files from to another computer?

I have a new computer and am trying to find my itunes files. How do I do that?

Go to the old computer, control-click(Mac) or right-click(Win) a song, reveal it, navigate up to the iTunes folder, and move that entire folder over.
(66420)

Itunes transferring money from old account to new one

Help-
Haven't ordered itunes music for awhile and found my account was an obsolete email (changed servers), so I couldn't sign in. My Itunes has a balance of $26.++
So I set up a new ID, butof course the money did not transfer.
How do I get access to that money???
Thanks for any help.
PG

You also don't have access to any protected purchases you made under the previous account. You can't transfer any credit, I suggest you contact Apple using Express Lane (select your country, navigate to iCloud help and enter the serial number of one of your devices)

Getting files from old external drive to a new one

I have a dying Acom ac powered 80gig external drive on my eMac and a powerbook that is running out of drive space.
The Acom has one USB and two firewire outputs, one firewire is hooked up to the eMac . The Acom is all itunes music (none from the Apple Store) .
I had an ex-friend set it up so I don't know squat about using external drives . I think I'll get the LaCie Mobile firewire . From what I've read it seems the best . Any other suggestions are welcome .
Is there a good tutorial somewhere on how to do this ? I would like to transfer all the music from the Acom to the new drive and be able to use it like I did the old one AND use it with my powerbook to do the same thing .
Will there be a problem with library ? In iTunes (4.7) I have "Create file names with track number " checked but I don't have "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" I don't really know what this does but it sounded like it took up space so I haven't ever checked it .
as mentioned the eMac is iTunes 4.7 using Panther and the powerbook is iTunes 6.0.2 using Tiger .
G4powerbook tiger- G4eMac panther Mac OS X (10.3.9)

What you like to do can be done, but not using different main versions of iTunes.
The reason for this is, that the 'iTunes Library' file has different structures with different main versions and is not downwards compatible.
Unless you have a reason not to upgrade iTunes on the eMac, my advice would be to upgrade.
If you purcase music at the iTMS, using iTunes 6, you won't be able to play them on previous iTunes versions.
If you have MIDI files, don't upgrade to the latest iTunes 6.0.4, unless you own QuickTime Pro.
iTunes 6.0.3 and 6.0.4 are having troubles with them (iTunes: MIDI files cannot be converted in iTunes 6.0.3 and 6.0.4).
I have an G4 iMac running iTunes 6.0.4. and an G3 iMac DV running itunes 6.0.2.
My music is stored on an external drive and it is no problem at all to use it on both computers.
There are a few requirements however (more about that later)
My advice would be to take the next steps.
• Purchase the mobile drive and transfer the music to it, using the instructions in the 'Moving your iTunes Music folder' article.
You will still have a backup on your Acom (as long as it still is running) in case something might go wrong.
• Upgrade iTunes on the eMac
• Copy the 'iTunes Library' file from eMac to the new mobile drive, attach the drive to the Powerbook and copy the 'iTunes library' file from mobile drive to Powerbook. Read "What are the iTunes library files?" to find the exact location of the file.
• Run iTunes on the Powerbook. you should see the entire library as you saw it on your eMac.
A few things to consider and take int account:
Decide which computer to use to add and import music. This will make things a lot easier.
You can of course add music on both computers, but you have to swap the 'iTunes Library' over and over to keep the libraries on both computers synchronized.
Always attach the mobile drive to the computer, before running iTunes. If you fail to do so, iTunes will reset the 'iTunes Music folder location' to the default location on the internal drive on the computer. Unless you 'point' iTunes to the location on the mobile again, songs you add and import will then be stored on the internal disk.
Let know if you have further questions.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

ITunes Library File Not Valid! What the Heck?

I have 11,500 songs in my music library and am running iTunes 7.0.2. My iTunes Library file from time-to-time becomes corrupted, on probably at least a weekly basis. I have no idea what's causing this.
Here's the typical scenario ... iTunes works fine, I quit it, and the next time I open it it shows the dialogue box that says, "Importing 'iTunes Libray.xml'..." Then it organizes the files and a dialogue box indicates "iTunes Library" does not appear to be a valid iTunes Library file ... Renamed damaged file ..."
When it's finally all done, I get my music library back minus all my playlists as well as EQ and volume settings.
This happened today and my most recent backup (done earlier in the day) was also corrupted. This is why I've learned to keep a set of four recent backups just to insure I have a reliable and useable one not more than a couple of days old. But it seems a very unnecessary hassle and I'm always losing adjustments made to my database!
Anyway ... would anyone among our distinquished and experienced iTunes geeks out there have a clue as to why this is happening OR any suggestions as to what I might do to help alleviate the problem?
Is anyone aware of a program that will search for corrupted files within your music library? I suspect this might be part of the problem.
Thanking you in advance for your help!
PowerBook G4 17" | 80GB Video iPod Mac OS X (10.4.5)

It seems like the ITL file is not being properly written after iTunes closes. Then when you re-open iTunes, it cannot load the ITL file and creates a new one. Forcing you to recreate your Library manually, again and again.
Several things to check:
-Double check to see that the ITL file or the folder it resides in is not read-only.
-Using Windows Explorer, right-click on the file (or folder) name, go to Properties.
-If it is, then close iTunes, change it, and reopen iTunes.
See this thread to reset the iTunes preferences: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1216090#1216090
And see this post to use TweakUI to check the location and validity of your My Music 'Special Folder': http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=487067&messageID=1197027
Once the main cause of the inability to save the ITL file is corrected, you'll need to recreate your Library one last time to finally save it. No way to resurrect the original one, unless you had backup copies of the ITL file.

One iTunes libary (i.e. music files, etc.) with several iTunes library files.

I have a single iTunes library accessed by two separate iTunes library files (two separate accounts on my iMac, each with its own .itl pointing to the same files). The problem is that iTunes does not provide any way to keep the content of the actual library in sync. In other words, I may add new music using one account, but that music will not be accessible using the other account. Most of the music I add is ripped from CD, and I have a large library, so iCloud wouldn't do the job for me. I need to maintain separate metadata and .itl files.
Does anyone have a suggestion of how to go about this, either wonkily with iTunes, or using additional applications?
Thanks.

I recently experienced a similar situation. I was moving my iTunes Library to an external HD in order to free up space on my Mac's HD. I originally used finder and clicked dragged files from one location to another. Unfortunately it created a big mess and I was freaking out thinking I had lost a big portion of iTunes Library.. about 1/3 and I have approximately 18 days of continuous music in Library. I put
Library back to original location and then imported as Thick stated. However, not all files were transfered to location and when attempted to play I received message stating unable to play because file is not in it's original location would you like to locate file. For those files I used search to locate and all missing music was in same file so I went into music file and highlighted every song in an album that iTunes could not locate then double clicked and music files were sent to location of music folder specified in iTunes Preferences. For single songs and Videos I clicked yes when prompted by iTunes asking if I wanted to locate file, then double clicked file and it was sent to Library location specified in ITunes Preferences. There might have been an easier way to accomplish the task but all I was concerned with was moving library and not losing... although if you are using Time Machine to backup library you can always restore.... In all I lost one album... and my MAC's HD now has an
200 GB of memory available, my music and pics are on a External 1TB HD and Time Machine
is backing my Music and Pictures files up..... I also deleted backups from Time Machine to free up
space.... Good Luck and hope you get what you want accomplished.....

Can I simply copy and paste an existing library file from XP to a Mac and then copy and paste the music files themselves? Of course, the music files will be in a different location...

Hello Gurus,
I have an aged XP machine with a large music library in ITunes. iTunes will not run any longer (tried uninstalling and reinstalling etc to no avail) but the music files are backed up onto an external drive so all safe. I have purchased a Mac which of course already has iTunes installed and I can copy the music files onto the Mac, but can I simply copy and paste the iTunes library files from the XP machine to the Mac so that all of the playlists, tags, ratings etc transfer, or do I have to start again?
Thanks for the advice.

Sounds like you have a split library. Ideally you would make this portable before attempting to move it to the Mac. See make a split library portable for details.
Perhaps you can get iTunes running on the old box long enough to sort things out...
For general advice see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.
The steps in the second box are a guide to removing everything related to iTunes and then rebuilding it which is often a good starting point unless the symptoms indicate a more specific approach. Review the other boxes and the list of support documents further down page in case one of them applies.
Your library should be unaffected by these steps but there is backup and recovery advice elsewhere in the user tip.
You will also want to deauthorize the XP system once everything is working properly on the Mac.
tt2

Use iTunes library file from old account

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for