Need Help: How to Move an iTunes Library from Mac to PC?
Posted in Random by Dan at 9:25 am
This post was published 9 months 10 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.Ok, I’m stuck!
I’m trying to move my iTunes library from a Mac to a Windows Vista PC.
I edited the XML file and broke the iTunes library – I don’t get a rebuild.
I just copied the iTunes library from the Mac to the PC and added .itl – No luck.
Any ideas? Help! The library is about 40,000 songs.
Why can’t you just copy the actual songs? It’ll take a while, but I don’t see how else you would do it.
Dan i wrote a php script awhile ago that’s purpose was for this very reason.
It should still work, i have to look over it again, because i wrote it with itunes 6 or 7, but i doubt anything substantial changed in the xml file.
Send me an email and ill see if i can help you out.
steve [at] deadlycomputer [dot] com
why do you edit the xml?… you should just copy all the folder to the vista folder and tell iTunes your new library is in that folder… just saying, i use winamp lite.
BTW, why uneasy get few post?
I’m also planning on doing this. I found an Apple support document that basically implied that you can just copy the iTunes folder to the PC and the point iTunes to the new location. Of course, the document leads me to believe it’s implying transferring from PC to PC or Mac to Mac, though it’s fairly ambiguous.
If there is a solution though that can transfer everything (songs, playlists, iphone apps, etc) from a Mac to PC, I’d love to also hear it.
Maijc –
Experiment23 has been very busy with many projects that have taken my attention. I’m the only writer and I’ll try to get the posts up.
_d
I just took the whole directory which all my music and the itunes folder is in, and brought that to the new computer and then installed itunes on it and it opened right up, or you can point to the xml file. You shouldn’t have to edit anything!
If you are fine using the default iTunes location of the My Music folder you can just copy your entire iTunes folder from your Mac to your My Music folder on your PC. iTunes should see it as the default library when it starts up. If you want to keep it somewhere else when you launch iTunes you hold down the shift key(I think, been forever since I’ve done this on windows) and it will prompt you for the location of your library, and just point it to where your library file is.
You watched an Apple switch ad in reverse, didn’t you?
Danzo,
If it all fits on your ipod.. which I’m guessing it does, I used to use that to move my music around.
In windows enable hidden folders, mount the iPod, there is a folder called like music or something, don’t recall, regardless. Inside of that you’ll find a bunch of folders h0, h1, h2, etc. and in those will be random .mp3 files.
Copy that entire folder to your hard drive… I suggest desktop. Once it’s all moved from the iPod to the PC change the folder name to “whatever” and make it not hidden.
Open iTunes… file > add music to library…
Select the “whatever” folder… iTunes will reimport and organize everything for you… and USB2 sure beats the hell out of network speeds and reliability.
Hope this helps, I haven’t actually done this in a couple years so some aspects of it might not work like they used to, but you get the idea.
Moving from Mac to Vista that seems outrageous.
I couldn’t tell you how to do it because I’m not sure if it has ever been done.
This: http://tinyurl.com/yr7muy is the only thing I’ve found (from any reliable source, it’s Lifehacker) that shows how to move from Mac to PC.
Uhm..Let me ask you THE bigger question..Why on earth would you want to go from Mac to PC?
if you need windows you can run Parallels, and your Mac OS simultaneously. Then you can have the whole world at your fingertips.
I think you can convert these songs! like outputing avi wmv…….
Well, the problem is the availability of a Mac. I only have PC’s kicking around. I don’t want to buy a Mac just to sync iTunes. Thats just crazy, even by my standards!
I haven’t done this exactly, but this should work:
- Copy all you media, including the iTunes folder to the PC User’s Music folder.
- Delete the itl file in iTunes
The important part:
- Make a backup of the Library XML file and then open it in WordPad.
- Look though the XML file and check out what paths are listed.
- Do a Find and Replace to substitute your new Windows Music folder location, and make sure you use the right slashes (I forget off hand which is used in iTunes, but you can try each or check the old library that you are tossing out).
- Make sure to delete or move the backup itl libraries, just in case.
That should do it. You can also Google MusicBridge, which is meant to move ratings and playlists between WMP and iTunes, but can also back them up.
Hope that helps.
@Brandon
In the process of trying this, and so far it’s a no-go. I’ll keep you updated as I try new things.
@Ian Any luck? I’m actually trying to do the exact same thing and not having much luck.