05-13-2006, 04:18 PM

I have just purchased a Mac and wish to somehow move my iTunes library from my old PC to my new Mac, with everything intact (songs, playlists, ratings, etc.). Is there a general "how to" written on this somewhere? This must be a very common question (although a search on this forum didn't turn up any answers!). Thanks!

05-13-2006, 04:25 PM

download pod_util (others have other favorites, but i like this application) plug your ipod into the mac, and run the program, it copies all the songs off the ipod like they were when they were on your other computer.

05-13-2006, 04:52 PM

This sounds like it would do the trick. Where do you get pod_util? I Googled it and got an amazinglly small 2 links - neither seemed to be a place where it could be downloaded, or anything like a home page...

05-13-2006, 04:58 PM

actually, use senuti, http://www.fadingred.org/senuti/

05-13-2006, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by macAttack

actually, use senuti, http://www.fadingred.org/senuti/

Also a good program

sorry I thought i remember it having a underscore.. if you still want to go with podutil then the link is here http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/podutil.php

05-13-2006, 05:52 PM

Just copy your iTunes music folder on your PC over to your Apple, thats about it. I would just do it over the network, if you have it setup, so you don't have to download some extra program that wouldn't be necessary.

05-13-2006, 07:15 PM

Thanks everyone, Senuti looks pretty good, but after much, much more Googling, it looks like I can literally just copy the files over and use the Add Library function of iTunes (I haven't checked this idea out yet, just read about it). I will try them all and let you know! Thanks again.

05-13-2006, 07:31 PM

or you could just use data CD's idk

05-18-2006, 10:50 PM

Well, all done. I copied the whole Windows iTunes folder over to my Mac, started iTunes and used it's "Add to Library" function. I pointed the dialog at the copied Windows folder and it did the trick. Slow, but effective. Unfortunately it only brought over the songs, not the playlists. Looks like I am going to have to reconstruct those painfully by hand. No one said platform switching would be fun!

05-19-2006, 05:32 AM

Originally Posted by mac57

Well, all done. I copied the whole Windows iTunes folder over to my Mac, started iTunes and used it's "Add to Library" function. I pointed the dialog at the copied Windows folder and it did the trick. Slow, but effective. Unfortunately it only brought over the songs, not the playlists. Looks like I am going to have to reconstruct those painfully by hand. No one said platform switching would be fun!

If you would have copied over the entire iTunes folder with 'iTunes Library.itl' and 'iTunes Music Library.xml', then you wouldn't have had to do 'Add to Library' and your playlists would be there.

05-19-2006, 03:58 PM

Are you sure of that? Essentially you are saying literally replace the existing iTunes folder on the Mac with a copy of the Windows one, and all will be well? I can certainly try that...

HOWEVER, before I do, I had a look into the "iTunes Music Libary.xml" file, and it is rife with file references of the sort "CDocuments and Settings\User\...." - you know, Windows path names. I am guessing that a Mac based iTunes wouldn't be able to figure this out.

Has anyone actually just directly copied over their Windows iTunes folder, replaced their Mac one with it, and had it work? If it does, it would beat the heck out of rebuilding those playlists by hand!!

05-20-2006, 12:14 PM

Well, I downloaded and tried Senuti. Nice little program, but it won't behave as advertized. I can see the playlists on my iPod, but when I attempt to drag them to the open iTunes window, nothing happens. I have tried dragging them to the main open window, to the Library entry in the side bar, to the bottom of that window, everywhere I could think of. The result is always the same - nada, nuttin, no play list in iTunes. I wonder if this is because my iPod was formatted and downloaded originally using Windows. I know that the iPod updater on my Mac says it can't update my iPod because it is not a Mac formatted iPod... Any thoughts anyone?

05-20-2006, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by mac57

Has anyone actually just directly copied over their Windows iTunes folder, replaced their Mac one with it, and had it work? If it does, it would beat the heck out of rebuilding those playlists by hand!!

Yup, when I got my iBook, I copied the folder straight to it from my Windows machine. When I sold my iBook, I deleted the old copy on my PC and just copied the folder from my iBook to it. Everything worked great.

05-21-2006, 07:22 PM

Thanks mynameis. I tried this out and it worked like a champ. Should have done it the first time! All my music, all my playlists, my ratings, last play time, etc. WONDERFUL! Thanks again.