iTunes, best way to transfer to iMac

Hey Gang,
Waiting on my refurbished iMac to get here. So while I wait, just trying to get some helpfull hints on transfering music, pictures, videos and files from my old Windows machine to my new iMac.
What whould you suggest is the best way? Some people tell me a program such as "Move to Mac" is the best way, others mention buying an external hard drive and copying and pasting all the needed files.
I'm really concerned about my iTunes however. I have a fair amount of music, a lot downloaded from the iTunes store - a lot imported from CDs.
Second part of my question is if I go with the external hard drive way, where do I find all my music files (and will my downloaded music be able to be found and transfered)?

Again, thanks in advance.

There should be a folder called itunes music (Not sure where this is on a PC, probably in one of those silly named folders such as My Documents or My Music) . Just copy that to your external drive and then replace the (Probably empty) itunes music folder on your new Mac with this one.

shfle said:

There should be a folder called itunes music (Not sure where this is on a PC, probably in one of those silly named folders such as My Documents or My Music) . Just copy that to your external drive and then replace the (Probably empty) itunes music folder on your new Mac with this one.

Click to expand...

Cheers,
So you would think that the external hard drive would be the easiest way to transfer files?

Yes, should just be a matter of dragging and dropping them from one to the other. It's basically like using a massive USB stick

In fact thinking about it, depending how large your files are you could just use a USB stick/pen drive (8GB ones are really cheap these days), or burn them as data DVDs to achieve the same, if you don't want to fork out for an external HD.

shfle said:

Yes, should just be a matter of dragging and dropping them from one to the other. It's basically like using a massive USB stick

In fact thinking about it, depending how large your files are you could just use a USB stick/pen drive (8GB ones are really cheap these days), or burn them as data DVDs to achieve the same, if you don't want to fork out for an external HD.

Click to expand...

Great idea, cause it's not that much info I want to transfer. A dozen or so documents, a hundred pictures or so and a couple videos.
I could use my iPod as a flash device and transfer my music library that way.

Thanks for the help.

If you have a router, set up a network. It's easy on the Mac. I had never done it before, and managed to do it quickly when I got my Mac a couple of days ago, and transfer stuff over the network.

Try this - I just switched and it worked perfectly - it's from iLounge

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/ask-ilounge-6-20-08/

Thanks for the help,
If I do switch all my files via iPod as a flash device, when importing, must I alway import one song at a time?

No. If you use your ipod in disk/flash mode (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1478) it should be just the same as using an external hard drive or USB stick, so just do the same as I mentioned earlier (I.E. Save your 'itunes music' folder to it and then replace the one on your Mac with it.)

You shouldn't have to import anything individually.

jdsouthw said:

Try this - I just switched and it worked perfectly - it's from iLounge

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/ask-ilounge-6-20-08/

Click to expand...

Worked great,

Thanks for all the help everyone.