Bought a new MBP and am wanting to move my library, playlists, data and files to the MBP.
Currently, my music files sit in non-iTunes folders on an external hard drive that is networked to the PC laptop (and now my MBP).
I want to move the music files in their current folders to my MBP as well as the library. I'd also like to have the same library accessible on the PC laptop (even if the MBP isn't on) but that's a low priority.
What is the best way to accomplish this without a clean reimport and losing all my personalized data?
Wow, sounds like you have almost the exact same problem I have. I have tried to do it by copying all my music over to my MBP hard drive, then opening iTunes and switching the library location. Every time I try this, one of two things happens:
1) iTunes loses all my music and I have to reimport all the music from the internal hard drive, or
2) iTunes says the library folder is on the MBP and it keeps the music and plays fine, but then I can see that it's still actually reading the data from the external drive anyway.
I also would really like to be able to transfer my music library over to my internal drive without having to start from scratch.
Now I have created quite the intriguing (to me, anyway) situation:
I have taken the library and .xml files with the list of songs and playlists, etc. that I want to keep onto a flash drive and let them refresh with a blank one in the iTunes folder (to make sure there's no trail of old information). Then I deleted all the songs out of the music folder, made sure the library location in iTunes was set to that music folder, and copied all my music back into that folder. Then I copied the old library and .xml files into the iTunes folder and overwrote the blank ones. The .xml file still said that the songs were pointing to a location on my external, so I did a find/replace on all strings to change the location to the music folder. Now the library loads right, the library in iTunes is set correctly, and the .xml file shows the correct path for finding the songs...but iTunes still cannot find them! I really have no idea where it could be looking for these songs at this point. Anyone got any suggestions?
Now I have created quite the intriguing (to me, anyway) situation:
I have taken the library and .xml files with the list of songs and playlists, etc. that I want to keep onto a flash drive and let them refresh with a blank one in the iTunes folder (to make sure there's no trail of old information). Then I deleted all the songs out of the music folder, made sure the library location in iTunes was set to that music folder, and copied all my music back into that folder. Then I copied the old library and .xml files into the iTunes folder and overwrote the blank ones. The .xml file still said that the songs were pointing to a location on my external, so I did a find/replace on all strings to change the location to the music folder. Now the library loads right, the library in iTunes is set correctly, and the .xml file shows the correct path for finding the songs...but iTunes still cannot find them! I really have no idea where it could be looking for these songs at this point. Anyone got any suggestions?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TennsDog
Problem solved: cleared out the music (that wasn't linked) in my iTunes Music folder, then did Compile Library in iTunes and it worked.
Ok, I think this will help you (and hopefully get you where you want):
-Load iTunes with the external drive on and connected
(-make sure the library is exactly as you want it)
-go into iTunes preferences and make sure the Library folder is set where you want it, save/close preferences
-click File > Compile Library
What this does is goes through and locates all of the media in your iTunes library, copies it over from the original location (in your case, your external drive) to the designated Library folder (your internal MBP drive), and then, and most importantly, redirects the file paths in the iTunes files to tell iTunes where to read the files from.
This will/should do what you want: transfer your library from external to internal and keep it intact. All the music will still be on your external (your external will not know anything changed), but iTunes will no longer be using that at all for reading media. I don't, however, know of any way to have the same library linked across computers like it sounds like you want. If you do this on your MBP and change nothing on your PC, the PC iTunes should still be reading from the external, so it will be the same for practical purposes. It will, however, be a copy and not actually refer to the same stack of information. If you change something on your Mac, it will not affect the PC and vice versa. Hope this helps.
Ok, I think this will help you (and hopefully get you where you want):
-Load iTunes with the external drive on and connected
(-make sure the library is exactly as you want it)
-go into iTunes preferences and make sure the Library folder is set where you want it, save/close preferences
-click File > Compile Library
What this does is goes through and locates all of the media in your iTunes library, copies it over from the original location (in your case, your external drive) to the designated Library folder (your internal MBP drive), and then, and most importantly, redirects the file paths in the iTunes files to tell iTunes where to read the files from.
This will/should do what you want: transfer your library from external to internal and keep it intact. All the music will still be on your external (your external will not know anything changed), but iTunes will no longer be using that at all for reading media. I don't, however, know of any way to have the same library linked across computers like it sounds like you want. If you do this on your MBP and change nothing on your PC, the PC iTunes should still be reading from the external, so it will be the same for practical purposes. It will, however, be a copy and not actually refer to the same stack of information. If you change something on your Mac, it will not affect the PC and vice versa. Hope this helps.
I have my entire iTunes library on a portable hard drive, which I'd like to import into my MBP. It sounds like your technique is exactly what I'm looking for, but I can't find a "File > Compile Library" function in version 8.2 (the current version). If I go to "File > Library > Consolidate Library", I get a warning that this can't be undone then nothing happens....
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Ultimately, what I'm trying to do is copy my master library from my desktop PC (a Windows PC) to my MBP, and be able to update the MBP periodically with any new items added to my master library on the desktop.
Yes, sorry. I did mean "Consolidate Library," not compile. And yes, I received that warning as well. I'm not sure what to say as to why nothing is happening. Did you make sure the iTunes Music Library folder (the default destination setting in iTunes) is empty before doing this? If it works, then it should be what you want. As for adding things in the future, to make sure things stay clean, I would also check the box in settings that says something like "add songs to Music folder when adding to Library" right under the Music Library folder setting. Then you can just take the new track from your external hard drive, drag it into your iTunes library, and it will automatically put it in the folder with everything else on the MBP hard drive as well.
Yes, sorry. I did mean "Consolidate Library," not compile. And yes, I received that warning as well. I'm not sure what to say as to why nothing is happening. Did you make sure the iTunes Music Library folder (the default destination setting in iTunes) is empty before doing this? If it works, then it should be what you want. As for adding things in the future, to make sure things stay clean, I would also check the box in settings that says something like "add songs to Music folder when adding to Library" right under the Music Library folder setting. Then you can just take the new track from your external hard drive, drag it into your iTunes library, and it will automatically put it in the folder with everything else on the MBP hard drive as well.
Nothing happens for me as well. Here is what I've done...
- Locate the library files on my PC
- Copy the library files over to the iTunes folder on my Mac
- Open iTunes
- It displays the library exactly how it is on my PC, however, it does not find the files (get the "!" icon next to each file)
- On my Mac, I consolidate the library.
- Nothing happens.
Anyone got any suggestions?
