Going to switch, but have some roadblocks

Hiya!

So basically, I'm switching from PC to Mac, and I want to transfer all of my iTunes stuff from my PC to my Mac.

Now I found lots of ways to do the transfer in a basic situation, but the first problem is that my iTunes music and videos are from a bunch of different folders, not just in the iTunes Music folder.

Second problem is that I have an iPhone. Now since iPhones can only sync from one computer without erasing everything, I don't know how to work around that. The music being erased isn't a big deal, I can re-do that. But I have tons of apps including games that have saved games, etc, and I want to make sure I don't lose anything when I start using my Mac.

I hope someone can give me a hand to guide me through this. Thanks a ton in advance!

For iTunes:

Connect both computers up to a home network (such as wifi or through ethernet over a network-if applicable) and use Home Sharing to transfer all your iTunes content to the Mac. Trust me, this will work regardless of where things are located on your old computer.

For iPhone:

See above.

So hardwire them via ethernet and just transfer it? But how? Via my computer or via itunes?

And what about for the iPhone? iTunes will still try and wipe off the apps first time I sync on my new mac.

EDIT:

Oh the Home Sharing is in iTunes, but requires the newest version. Problem is, I can't access the internet on my PC to update iTunes to 9.0.

XxxXnoodleXxxX said:

So hardwire them via ethernet and just transfer it? But how? Via my computer or via itunes?

And what about for the iPhone? iTunes will still try and wipe off the apps first time I sync on my new mac.

EDIT:

Oh the Home Sharing is in iTunes, but requires the newest version. Problem is, I can't access the internet on my PC to update iTunes to 9.0.

Click to expand...

If you don't have internet- I don't know how you're posting here.

Home Sharing involves a wireless network or LAN. What computer are you posting from?

If you transfer everything over via Home Sharing from old to new computer- it shouldn't really matter- everything- including your iPhone backups- are transferred over. Now, since you don't have internet- you'll need to dig up those files.

For iPhone apps- look in Music>iTunes>iTunes library (on the PC)

As for everything else- you're going to have to dig. To help you out, I would right-click on the song or video and then click "Get Info". This will tell you the file path to the track. I know, it sounds a bit nasty, but it's the only way- if you can't get Home Sharing.


And I never said anything about hardwiring them ethernet port-to-ethernet port to transfer anything.

What I meant was that you'll need to somehow connect both computers on a network to transfer them via Home Sharing. Since you said you don't have internet- and thus don't have Home Sharing on the PC- you'll need to do the above.

any olaner

I'm on another computer in the house. My PC can't access the internet because of a nasty virus.

So what about file paths though? Even if I get all the files on my mac, Won't itunes on the mac be like "the selected song cannot be found, click here to locate" since there's no C:/ on a mac?

And even if I transfer the app files, won't it still try and delete the apps off my iphone as soon as I try and sync it to my mac?

XxxXnoodleXxxX said:

I'm on another computer in the house. My PC can't access the internet because of a nasty virus.

So what about file paths though? Even if I get all the files on my mac, Won't itunes on the mac be like "the selected song cannot be found, click here to locate" since there's no C:/ on a mac?

And even if I transfer the app files, won't it still try and delete the apps off my iphone as soon as I try and sync it to my mac?

Click to expand...

You said the iTunes content was scattered all over the place on your PC right?

iTunes on the Mac keeps everything organized. If you're going to put music and video and photo files on the Mac, I'd keep them where they were intended to be- in their respective folders.

As for media on the Mac through iTunes, if it's on the Mac, it'll be under "Macintosh HD:Users:USERNAME:Music:iTunes"

Not to muddy the issue (or your excellent advice), but that's only the default location for an iTunes Library. You can actually put an iTunes Library on an external drive or pretty much anywhere you like if you want to.

But yes, iTunes on the Mac will put all that stuff (apps, audio, video, etc) in the iTunes Library.

chas_m said:

Not to muddy the issue (or your excellent advice), but that's only the default location for an iTunes Library. You can actually put an iTunes Library on an external drive or pretty much anywhere you like if you want to.

But yes, iTunes on the Mac will put all that stuff (apps, audio, video, etc) in the iTunes Library.

Click to expand...

Yes- by default that's where it'll be at. I highly advise against putting it elsewhere.

I transfered my purchases from my iPhone to my new mac.
But any time I try and do anything on iTunes to do with my phone it still says I have to erase everything because it can only sync from one library.

Is there literally no way to keep anything on my iPhone with the switch?

I don't care about my music or videos.
I care about apps that I have stuff saved in like games.

So obviously I can't erase them or my saved stuff will be lost...
Any way to get around this?

I tried the method where you use textedit and hexedit to no avail. I got the 16 number/letter code from my old computer into the "iTunes Music Library.xml" using TextEdit no problem. But when I opened it in HexEdit and searched the old combination to replace it, it found no occurrences of it in the file... Which is mental because it seems that no one else has this problem.

XxxXnoodleXxxX said:

I transfered my purchases from my iPhone to my new mac.
But any time I try and do anything on iTunes to do with my phone it still says I have to erase everything because it can only sync from one library.

Is there literally no way to keep anything on my iPhone with the switch?

I don't care about my music or videos.
I care about apps that I have stuff saved in like games.

So obviously I can't erase them or my saved stuff will be lost...
Any way to get around this?

Click to expand...

I talked to an Apple Support tech over the phone when I got my Mac mini last Christmas about my iPod touch. He said that iTunes should be able transfer all of your purchased things on the iPod (and of course, iPhone in your case) to the new iTunes library. But anything else that wasn't purchased from the iTunes Store (whether it's music, video, Apps or Books) will not be transferred.

But does that mean my apps won't be deleted and I won't lose all my saved settings/games within them?

XxxXnoodleXxxX said:

But does that mean my apps won't be deleted and I won't lose all my saved settings/games within them?

Click to expand...

All the stuff you purchased off the iTunes Store (music, videos, Apps and Books) for your iPhone will transfer over to the new iTunes library. Regarding settings within the apps, no, they won't transfer.

So there's no way to sync to a new computer without losing my apps?

XxxXnoodleXxxX said:

So there's no way to sync to a new computer without losing my apps?

Click to expand...

You won't lose your applications- you'll lose the settings that those applications may have.

When you connect an iOS device (iPod touch, iPhone or iPad) to a new computer running iTunes, all of your App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore purchases (whether they were free or not) will still remain.

As for how you have them organized on the device, that will default to an alphabetical ordering of your apps.

So all my saved games and stuff will all be deleted...

XxxXnoodleXxxX said:

So all my saved games and stuff will all be deleted...

Click to expand...

Yes- all the saved games that you have within the game applications on your iPhone will be lost- requiring you to relive the gameplay.

And there's no way to sync from more than one computer?

XxxXnoodleXxxX said:

And there's no way to sync from more than one computer?

Click to expand...

No, unfortunately there isn't.

Wonderful.
When I bought this thing three different Apple employees said I could move my sync from one to another without losing information.
Thumbs up for being misled for sales!