Transferring iTunes library from iMac to MBP

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This probably sounds too dumb, but I only have a day to sort this before my holiday...

can somebody please just tell me in plain English how I accomplish this.

Very simply, want to dump my iMac iTunes library into the MBP... million and one results for this on google, all making equally less sense than the previous!

Would be seriously grateful for any help.

Cheers.
 

cwa107


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14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
The easiest way to do it is to transfer your account when you're initially setting up the new machine (it will offer an option to transfer accounts/settings/apps/data from another Mac).

The reason you're seeing different responses in Google that are often confusing, is that there is no one brain-dead simple way to do it. If you've got your iTunes library consolidated (this is an option in Preferences), you can theoretically just copy the iTunes library folder (located in <Your Home Folder>/Music/iTunes) to an external hard drive and then copy it out to <Your Home Folder on the new Mac>/Music/ - be sure to replace the existing "iTunes" folder on the destination Mac when you do the copy.

If you don't have an external hard drive to use, a Flash drive will work as well. If that's not a possibility, you can setup your new Mac for file sharing and do it by network connection.

Ultimately, although it's not all that difficult of a process, it can be depending on your level of computer literacy. If you're not comfortable with copying files, or you don't have a mechanism set up to do it between two machines, you may want to enlist a more savvy friend's help.
 
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Currently 13" Late 2010 MBA, 4GB/128GB; Early 2011 13" MBP, dual core i7 2.7ghz, 4gb ram, 500gb hd
The key to this, as mentioned above, is to copy the entire iTunes directory, not just the individual files. By copying the entire parent folder and all it's contents, all the file location links are preserved, so iTunes doesn't end up with a string of ! icons because it can't find your music.
 
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jhaime
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Hang on, just thought... could I do this process by connecting my iPhone to the MBP via USB port? My library is on the iPhone, can that be my portable device to copying the files?
 

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