[blakespot]

What is the drill for moving iTunes library from one machine to another? Upgraded to a G5 - don't want to go the full copy-everything route over FireWire that Apple allows. What is a good process here?

Thanks. Want playlists, etc. preserved.




blakespot

[tavilach]

Look in Home Directory -> Music -> iTunes

Copy everything in that folder over ethernet, USB key, etc.

That's it. It has the library itl and xml files, as well as your music.

[blakespot]

Originally posted by tavilach:
Look in Home Directory -> Music -> iTunes

Copy everything in that folder over ethernet, USB key, etc.

That's it. It has the library itl and xml files, as well as your music.

Ok but there's a twist. On my old config, I had my iTunes music stored on another drive in a dir called /MP3. On the new machine I'm moving things to, I want everything stored in the standard ~/Music/iTunes location.

Can I make this move or must I re-import everything into iTunes on the new machine?

Thanks.




blakespot

[blakespot]

...and also, I guess you need to deauthorize all your songs on the old machine before copying them to new, since this is a replacement machine and the old G4 is going out the door, right?


blakespot

[Powaqqatsi]

You could try to copy over the iTunes folder from your old computer and the /MP3 folder to the Music folder on the new computer. Then open iTunes and change the location of the Music folder and voila, it should work.

[JKT]

The two important files are the iTunes Library and iTunes Library.xml files that you will find in your current ~/Music/iTunes folder - these are the database files that iTunes will need to know what your music files in your current /MP3 folder are. Even though your music files are in a non-standard location, those two files are always in that iTunes folder. So copy those two from your old Mac to the ~/Music/iTunes folder on the new Mac. Then simply copy your folders in the /MP3 folder to the ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music folder on the new Mac. iTunes on the new Mac will then open with the music in the right place etc.

[qyn]

Has anybody tried these proposed solutions? Not that I'm doubting your advice , but I recently moved my iTunes library to a new drive, and the only thing that worked was letting iTunes do it by itself (via the "Consolidate library..." menu item). Any attempt to copy the files by hand failed (and believe me, I tried everything). No amount of mucking around with library files got me anywhere. My advice would be to let iTunes handle the work itself.

Note: I have the "Keep music folder organized" preference turned on, which may affect how iTunes treats the library...

[wataru]

Originally posted by blakespot:
...and also, I guess you need to deauthorize all your songs on the old machine before copying them to new, since this is a replacement machine and the old G4 is going out the door, right?


blakespot

You don't need to deauthorize first unless the new authorization would put you over your limit.

[blakespot]

Originally posted by wataru:
You don't need to deauthorize first unless the new authorization would put you over your limit.

Ahh ok - because authorization is tracked via contact to Apple to see my profile rather than embedding a record of # of machines authorized within the AAC files themselves, correct?



blakespot

[Randman]

Originally posted by wataru:
You don't need to deauthorize first unless the new authorization would put you over your limit.

If you are selling, others could use the authorization info. And if you ever upgrade or sell the Mac you're on, you'd need to contact Apple and see if they will de-authorize all computers, then you have to go in and re-authorize the correct ones. A pain to do it after.
As far as music, simply copy the infor over into the Music > iTunes folder. Then under preferences, set the correct music folder. That should do it.

[wataru]

Gah, that's why I italicized "first." I didn't mean that you don't have to deauthorize; I just meant that there's no real need to deauthorize before you authorize, unless you're at your limit.

[Randman]

Ahh.