[foop]

I recently rip'd my entire CD collection onto a Mac that I was able to get my hands on for a few months (to experiment with to determine if I wanted to "switch" from my linux desktop).

I have to give back this machine here soon, but my new Mac won't be here for another month or more. I need to move my 9 gig of music off to either my Windows or Linux box in the meantime. When my new Mac comes, I'll put 'em back on.

So... my concerns:

1) What exactly is the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file used for? I have spent a LOT of time perfecting my ID3 tags... is this info not stored with each mp3, but instead all in this XML file? That seems silly.

I know I can search and replace the file paths once I get my new Mac... anything else to be concerned about?

2) What is the "iTunes 3 Music Library" file used for? What conerns me is that it's binary data, but I can tell there is some file path info store in there. I'm not sure how to fix path problems after the move, here.

3) I see the "Export Library" feature in the File menu, but that just appears to save the XML data. Does that mean that all I have to do on the new machine is first copy the entire old "iTunes Music" folder contents into the new, and then "Import" the XML file?

Ideally, the ID3 info would stay with each mp3, and then when I drag the entire contents of my backup mp3 folder to my new machine, everything will be like the original. I've done some preliminary tests of this though, and it doesn't seem to save the ID3 info.

Sorry for the long winded post... thanks for the help!

[Gul Banana]

Most of the info is stored with the mp3; iTunes specific extensions such as play count and rating are in the .xml. The best way to move your library is to copy the folder containing your music + an "export", make a symlink such that the copied music folder is at the same file path it used to be at, and import the export file.

[dtriska]

As long as you don't care about the "extras" (playlists, last time played, number of times played, etc.), then simply back up your MP3s. When you get your Mac, you need only to drag-and-drop the folder containing your MP3s onto iTunes; iTunes will scan the entire folder and add the MP3s to its Library.