If we just cared about the syncing music, apps, videos, and podcasts, will the regular copying the iTunes media files work and my iPhone will sync normally to my new computer?
the files were still stored on the external hd, but then an easy relocation of itunes folder to the computer HD by changing the itunes media folder to a folder on the transfered to computer's hard drive and re-consolidating the library
to all having the same problem as @kakoulos, with the some of the songs could not be found error message, i have found the solution:
on the comp you're transferring music to, before importing the xml file to itunes, go file --> library --> organize library --> consolidate library ( check box that you should check) THEN import the edited xml file to itunes.
i still got the error message but it was for 40 songs out of nearly 1,000. it took all night to import from a external HD
@skustel For some reason when I checked the consolidate library and press ok, it will uncheck it when I come back to the consolidate library after I pressed ok. Does it happen to you?
i would like to thank you for your video and detailed description. But am also writing back to mention a problem that potentially might help others too. I did all the procedures correct (as far as i know) until the point of import. When i imported the Library.xml from the desktop, a message from iTunes said "Some songs in the file Library.xml were not imported because they could not be found" And my result on my itunes was that all my playlists appeared, but no songs whatsoever!
@kakoulos If you have not figured this out or for people in the future here is what I did. I am transferring from my desktop mac to my macbook They both have the same user name and features and I just simply wanted my desktop library on my new laptop. So follow the steps word for word until he tells you to change the source. Simply place your iTunes folder where it was on the old one and then import playlist. No need to change anything hope that helps some of you.
@kakoulos If you have not figured this out or for people in the future here is what I did. I am transferring from my desktop mac to my macbook They both have the same user name and features and I just simply wanted my desktop library on my new laptop. So follow the steps word for word until he tells you to change the source. Simply place your iTunes folder where it was on the old one and then import playlist. No need to change anything hope that helps some of you.
i have a problem i share music with my friend and all the music is at his computer and i want to save it here on my computer but i cant. Can you help me
Tab to the "Replace with" field and type in something that looks like: C:\Users\sue\iTunes\Music\
Click "Replace All"
Save the file. It will be saved as a .txt file, bu will still work.
Go into iTunes, File, Library, Import Playlist, and click on you .txt file and you should have all your tunes, with playlists, ratings, play counts, and last played data.
Tab to the "Replace with" field and type in something that looks like: C:\Users\sue\iTunes\Music\
Click "Replace All"
Save the file. It will be saved as a .txt file, bu will still work.
Go into iTunes, File, Library, Import Playlist, and click on you .txt file and you should have all your tunes, with playlists, ratings, play counts, and last played data.
I am transferring from a Powerbook to a MacBook Pro and this didn't work at all and has screwed everything up. I get an error -50 and all kind of other junk.
Hey Kadavy! I followed every step and when I enter Import Playlist, I get this message. "Some of the songs in the file “Library.xml” were not imported because they could not be found." What do I do to fix this and make it work?
Where do you put the "itunesmusic" folder at the end? didnt you take it off your desktop? did you just put it where it was when it was called Itunes Media on the old computer?
this didnt help me at all, but i found a way that works without coding and made a vid of it myself for all the pissed off people out there. works on windows! :]
Hey, what do you do if the music on your original itunes wasn't sourced from the itunes music folder, but from another folder that was permanently stored on an external harddrive?
Hi, thanks for the post.. However I have followed your video down to the very last detail, and when i attempt to import the edited library.xml file it says the file cannot be imported. An unknown error occured (-50). Am i missing something?? please please help, this is urgent
i've managed to transfer all the files over and they are all there except certain ones. I have established the reason for that, but now none of them are playing :/ could you tell me why? i think it is something to do with the url but im not sure
you skipped the main step which is how to actually move the files to the other computer, not save them to the desktop. im transferring my itunes lib from my desktop pc to my new macbook, and this video was totally worthless
I did this, but now I can't open any kind of file on iTunes. I mean, I can't import anything, I drag it and nothing happens. Yes, they are valid audio files. Help please I am about to kill myself :(
when i go to find a little bar just pops up on the top of the page its not that whole pop up window with the find and replace thing so i dont have the option to find and replace
This is just speculatory but isn't it easier just to copy all the files at once with Crtl A and then compressing those files with Win rar? I personally dont care for my playlists or play counts...
and best resource i found out of 2 videos i used this along with the home sharing which i never knew existed in my itunes...
i tried the file hack a few times but the ratings and play count still didnt follow... idk if i connect my ipod touch, if it will pickup on the old xml file (transferred from my old comp.) i hacked and recover the info or not . Or just do what scares me and it redoes the info its getting from my new desktop sinces its a different computer...
i dont know what i did wrong if i did. my old, past expired, windows xp desktop held my itunes account
and i did the file hack for my new windows 7 desktop and everything went but the play counts and ratings. or i should just say the playlists followed it
idk if it was the difference in codes or something because i noticed xp used different slashes compared to windows 7. idk if it makes any difference but i cant figure it out.... stumped. id like to get atleast the play counts back
thank you so much for the vid - great help. I'm almost 100% on board with what you have going on here - i just need to know if this process also keeps songs that are UNchecked from my old computer to the new computer. I have about 31K+ songs and have TONS of unchecked items so me getting a new computer is kinda depending on whether or not the unchecked items (starred and play counts as well) will stay that way - look 4ward to your response. thanks in advance.
I've done this and it only manages to import half of my metadata. I look at the XML files and i try to copy/paste but this doesn't work... since i cannot save the file in XML format (for whatever reason).
Help? I use the import feature after backing up library and get half my metadata but not all...
Err..I don't know if this is for old version of iTunes or something, because all you need to do is copy the whole 'iTunes' folder into the 'Music' folder. iTunes will have automatically created an iTunes folder, just make sure you replace. You will keep play counts, ratings, everyhting. This worked perfect for me Mac to Mac. The only problem I got Mac to Win 7 was that Win 7 complained that some (10) files' names were 'too long'. Just Win 7 being lame, and they were really long classical songs.
I have a dell but transfering my library to a macbook pro. i have alot of files from frostwire and limewire how can i transfer all of it to my new laptop without just burning alot of cd's.
thanks very much for this video, im sure it helps out alot of people, but i have a slightly different issue where as i recently got a new ssd for my pc (windows) and am now using that as my primary hdd, but i still have my old normal hdd in the pc with all my itunes songs and ratings etc im leaving these on here as i have not enough space on the ssd, so when doing the part of editing the xml thing ive put in file://G:\MyMusic/ and it wont import and says unknown error (-50).... any ideas? thanks
This doesn't work from transferring to PC to Mac. I did exactly what you did and it didn't work. The message said "not all files were able to be transferred because they may not exist"
forgive my stupidity i didnt get this ummm can i just use a hardrive move my old itunes and replace my ma itunes with the itunes that i copied from pc? or would it bw just a blank itunes?
Thank you very much for posting this very helpful video. another question please... I have saved all the artwork to my desktop and itunes is linked to that. Will those album covers be exported as well? If not, do you know a way to transfer those files into the iTunes of the new PC?
Many thanks for posting this very helpful video. Another question... I have saved all the arwork to my desktop and itunes is linked to tha. Will those album covers be expored as well? Do you know if here is a way to tranfer them to my new PC?
Dear Kadavy :) Thanks, first and foresmost, for doing this vid, it's rad!
I've experienced a problem, however. At the very last step (I did the library.xml fine find and replace all, I did move my "music" folder containing ALL my music from my PC to my MAC via an external harddrive) when I need to import my library.xml file, it says "not all files were able to be transferred because they may not exist" and then nothing further happens.. messages are in danish, so my translation might be off. ty
@theossy hmmm...and your paths are corrected to the new paths on your Mac? How does your library look after this? Maybe your original library had a few missing files?
@kadavy same thing happened with me. i went from a mac to a mac and "some of the songs in the file "library.xml" were not imported because they could not be found."
it tool 2+ hours for that file to be bluetoothed to my new computer so im guessing they are there but i dont know what went wrong.
@kadavy same thing happened with me. i went from a mac to a mac and "some of the songs in the file "library.xml" were not imported because they could not be found."
it tool 2+ hours for that file to be bluetoothed to my new computer so im guessing they are there but i dont know what went wrong.
I have one question, in the xml when you edit the line, will it make any difference if i change file://localhost/C:/Users/[USER]/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/ for only C:/Users/[USER]/Music/ .I mean the 'file://localhost/C:/'
Just a quick question can you do this is a pc to mac to transfer the music over? I dont want to download any programs that will cost me. Thank you for the help and the tutorial. write back as soon as possible. please and thank you.
hey dude great vid but i have windows 7 and on my itunes i cant find the thing that you use to reaplce the files at 3:32 do you know what the pc version would be??
another question for you kadavy: I have a space when trying to replace the text in the xml file because my music is stored on an external hard drive. so in itunes when I find out the file path of the music it says: file://Volumes/Expansion Drive/My Music/iTunes/Music, is this space what is giving me difficulties? because every time i try it says the music files could not be found. please help me!
Have followed instruction to the letter but every time I try to save the changed AppleScript Editor I get error msg:
Syntax Error
A "<" can't go here
which highlights the first character in the scripteditor - which I haven't changed, what do I do because I've tried saving it as other files to keep the content but I still can't get it to successfully import my ratings, play counts, etc. thank you!
can this be done from PC to Mac while keeping the date added on the original tracks? I tried doing this and the date added was changed to the day I added it to my mac. I really need the original date added to be shown. plz help fast! ty
Why would you have to hack to keep song ratings and play counts. I swear they industry is hiding something just to be greedy. Just like how laptop batteries only use AAA lithium ones but wants you to pay $100 for a whole thing.
hey my old computer crashed and my ipod got stolen and i want to transfer the library from my old computer to my new computer but i have to do ity from my new computer does any1 no how i can fix it
@kadavy This is urgent and might even be impossible, but i have an ipod synched to a pc laptop, and i switched over to a brand new imac. my pc has crashed and my ipod is still synched to that pc. so is there a way to get the songs off the ipod and onto my new library? (sorry if that was confusing)
Hey Kadavy. I'm trying to do this on a PC and I'm running into a problem. When I try to edit the .XML file to replace it with my new music folder directory (which happens to just be on my external hard drive) it crashes whenever I click replace all. I think it may because the file is too big and it has to replace too many things... can you help me? thx!
@Point1991 Try some different - perhaps more robust text editing programs. I'm not that familiar with what else is available for Windows, but a quick Google search brings up TextPad - maybe that will work?
@kadavy Thx for posting so quickly. Luckily I ended up not needing to change the file path because it was the same on my other computer... anyways, thx again bro!
I got my library onto my new computer, but I'm still having one more problem. It won't play any music. It has all of the playlists, counts, ratings, and even the lengths of the songs, so I know I did something right. But when I go to play a song, it brings up a little bar that says "Opening URL", and "Connecting..." underneath that. Any idea how to fix this?
bit of a problem... I followed the directions and I got my library to import. songs are there, playcounts there and everything looks good, except to the far left next to the checkmark box for every song is a little symbol that looks like the streaming symbol that appears when you use radios on iTunes. When I try to play a song, it has to try to connect to a URL, but it never seems to actually do so, and none of my music plays...
I've tried a few things but I can't seem to fix this : /
@kadavy Do you know how to do this if the computer you are transferring your library from is broke? Like taking out your external drive or something . . . .
@skinnyjeans899 If you check where your actual music files are stored (/Users/username/Music/iTunes on a mac) you may find a fille called "iTunes Music Library.xml" which you could edit as described in the screencast, to prepare for import.
I followed this step by step and I'm transferring from an old mac to my new macbook pro and when i try to import the library.xml it gives me a message saying "Some of the songs in the file 'Library.xml' were not imported because they could not be found" and it imports my playlists, but there are no songs in them or in the library at all! Did I do something wrong?
@MissMia2010 It sounds like the filepaths in your Library.xml file aren't actually pointing to where the files are located. Make sure you've changed your paths correctly.
Thank you so so so much dude. I am a DJ, and so I rely on itunes rating system to organize my songs. My tunes were filling up too much of my laptop space so I had to move it onto my external. I tried doing this on my own and thought I had lost all of my ratings and info. Luckily I found this video and it all works now. I am so god damn grateful and relieved, THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN!!!!!!!!!!! Thank You!
Thanks so much for posting this. I've spent all day trying to figure this out. Here's the thing: I wanted to transfer my music files from one PC to another PC, running Windows 7. So, I followed the instructions here, which are great, by the way. I used an external hard drive to transfer my files. Anyway, I had to tweak it a bit because I don't like having my music folder on my desktop. But, I wanted to follow your instructions to tee and then change them later to see if it would work. Well...
That's where my confusion lies, hehe. I won't get into too much detail of that because I think I'll just confuse you and the reader... and myself, heh. But, I'll say that I just forgot to change the location in the preferences-advance-iTunes Media folder location... on iTunes... and I wasn't getting any of my files synced. Meaning, I had the playlists, count, etc... but there was no music file and couldn't play, heh. It was set on desktop, to follow your directions. So, I just had to change...
the location from desktop to where I wanted my music folder, which is in the music folder of Windows 7. Also, I had to change the location in the xml file in notepad, for the location. I just had to watch this video over and over for it to click. All these little things, hehe. And I'm, by no means, a computer expert, heh. By the way, Windows 7 uses the "C:\" thing, too. So, if you're going to move the files, you have to change the location to where you moved it, main point. That was my problem.
This helped a lot, and I'm grateful that you put this up. I know I typed a lot here, but, this can be frustrating and I hope my experience can help others. There might be something else I wanted to mention, but, I can't think of anything now. Cheers!
@marokkoemil When you exported from Windows, did it produce an XML file? Do you see the ratings in the XML file? Could you send me the XML file so I could take a look? dkadavy gmail Send your edited XML file as well, please.
Man! You just made my day! So hacking the xml file does the trick!
I´ve been looking for this info on and of for about a month now.
If you ever get depressed to the point where you wonder if your life has any meaning at all, just remember you turned at least one day in one guys life into a happy day :)
@kadavy I actually got around it by just dragging the apps to my desk top and then external driving them to the new mac! Thanks for the quick reply. Mahalo!
@kadavy I got around it by just dragging my apps to the desk top and exDriving them over then dragging back into itunes! thanks for the quick Responce. Mahalo!
If we just cared about the syncing music, apps, videos, and podcasts, will the regular copying the iTunes media files work and my iPhone will sync normally to my new computer?
lordskull70 19 minutes ago
hey, i bought tons of stuff from itunes and now they are only on my itunes.. how do i transfer em from itunes to my pc?
TheTurkiii 4 days ago
Can I use one of the old Ipod Shuffles? (its from a PC to a Mac btw) Its just that I cant find a USB stick right now.
RushingRiver117 1 week ago
how do you do it if your old computer is broken
ClassicStyl 1 week ago
omg thank you so much!!
nadiafrhn 1 month ago
all my playlist were back but the rating and play counts arenot...... HELP
hongyewu 1 month ago
I did this but still lost my ratings and play counts. really confused ;(
hongyewu 1 month ago
noooooo
McMafia2092 1 month ago
does it let u sync your iphone without wiping it
McMafia2092 1 month ago
WOW!
soccermouse98 2 months ago
why would you probably be doing it from a windows to a mac? steve jobs can suck the devil's winky in hell.
ventilatedzygote 2 months ago
the files were still stored on the external hd, but then an easy relocation of itunes folder to the computer HD by changing the itunes media folder to a folder on the transfered to computer's hard drive and re-consolidating the library
skustel 3 months ago
to all having the same problem as @kakoulos, with the some of the songs could not be found error message, i have found the solution:
on the comp you're transferring music to, before importing the xml file to itunes, go file --> library --> organize library --> consolidate library ( check box that you should check) THEN import the edited xml file to itunes.
i still got the error message but it was for 40 songs out of nearly 1,000. it took all night to import from a external HD
good luck!
skustel 3 months ago
@skustel For some reason when I checked the consolidate library and press ok, it will uncheck it when I come back to the consolidate library after I pressed ok. Does it happen to you?
SKADANNY117 2 months ago
@kakoulos same here, anyone found any fix its for the some of your songs could not be found message?
skustel 3 months ago
i love that the album on the screen is 'a weekend in the city'. good taste
ALittleBitDramaticcc 3 months ago
does this work for apps movies etc. does it work from one windows to another windows?????
xxReMaKeZx 3 months ago
does this also work for switching from different windows computers??and do I need safari on both??
nwash93 3 months ago
U suck!
serg233310 4 months ago
Your voice pisses me off.
TheMacAppleMac 4 months ago
DO you lose your contacts if you move to another computer? Or does it not erase that when u first sync on ur new computer? HELP!
coolnik 4 months ago
That just jacked everything up and now I have NO music working in iTunes.
amyrhoads 6 months ago
Whoa that was awesome.
JOne016 6 months ago
Hey kadavy,
i would like to thank you for your video and detailed description. But am also writing back to mention a problem that potentially might help others too. I did all the procedures correct (as far as i know) until the point of import. When i imported the Library.xml from the desktop, a message from iTunes said "Some songs in the file Library.xml were not imported because they could not be found" And my result on my itunes was that all my playlists appeared, but no songs whatsoever!
kakoulos 6 months ago 7
@kakoulos the same message appeared to me, and then next to all my imported songs appeared an exclamation mark and now im unable to use them at all?
by the way does this method also apply to pc?
mazndz 4 months ago
@kakoulos this same thing happened to me!!!!
HighOnChlorine21 4 months ago
@kakoulos If you have not figured this out or for people in the future here is what I did. I am transferring from my desktop mac to my macbook They both have the same user name and features and I just simply wanted my desktop library on my new laptop. So follow the steps word for word until he tells you to change the source. Simply place your iTunes folder where it was on the old one and then import playlist. No need to change anything hope that helps some of you.
ironmen360 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@kakoulos If you have not figured this out or for people in the future here is what I did. I am transferring from my desktop mac to my macbook They both have the same user name and features and I just simply wanted my desktop library on my new laptop. So follow the steps word for word until he tells you to change the source. Simply place your iTunes folder where it was on the old one and then import playlist. No need to change anything hope that helps some of you.
ironmen360 1 month ago
i have a problem i share music with my friend and all the music is at his computer and i want to save it here on my computer but i cant. Can you help me
Rascars12 6 months ago
Tab to the "Replace with" field and type in something that looks like: C:\Users\sue\iTunes\Music\
Click "Replace All"
Save the file. It will be saved as a .txt file, bu will still work.
Go into iTunes, File, Library, Import Playlist, and click on you .txt file and you should have all your tunes, with playlists, ratings, play counts, and last played data.
Suerreal 6 months ago
For those copying PC to PC:
Go to where you have the library xml file stored.
Right click on the title of it, and choose to open it with Notepad.
Look at the file and find something that looks like this: file://localhost/C:/Users/sue/iTunes/Music/
and highlight it and copy it.
Click on Edit to get the pulldown menu where you will find "Relace".
Click on this and paste your text into the "Find what" field.
Suerreal 6 months ago 4
This has been flagged as spam show
Tab to the "Replace with" field and type in something that looks like: C:\Users\sue\iTunes\Music\
Click "Replace All"
Save the file. It will be saved as a .txt file, bu will still work.
Go into iTunes, File, Library, Import Playlist, and click on you .txt file and you should have all your tunes, with playlists, ratings, play counts, and last played data.
Suerreal 6 months ago
I am transferring from a Powerbook to a MacBook Pro and this didn't work at all and has screwed everything up. I get an error -50 and all kind of other junk.
WirelessHD 6 months ago
Automagically...damn straight! Great tip. Long time mac and PC user and I have never seen that one. Thanks!
jones3420012001 6 months ago
Hey Kadavy! I followed every step and when I enter Import Playlist, I get this message. "Some of the songs in the file “Library.xml” were not imported because they could not be found." What do I do to fix this and make it work?
TheArtofPhungShui 6 months ago
does this process still work if both the old and new computers r pc?
touchdownman330 6 months ago
home sharing is only working one way for me whats up with that
D4v3yb01 7 months ago
can i do this and not do the changing url thing cuz i dont care about ratings and counts?
soccerkiller100 7 months ago
Where do you put the "itunesmusic" folder at the end? didnt you take it off your desktop? did you just put it where it was when it was called Itunes Media on the old computer?
ki11erdrag0n 7 months ago
this didnt help me at all, but i found a way that works without coding and made a vid of it myself for all the pissed off people out there. works on windows! :]
SergiosTorrents 7 months ago
WTF i cant do this on windows.... is there anyway i can get help with this
SergeCWazukie 7 months ago in playlist How To...
Hey, what do you do if the music on your original itunes wasn't sourced from the itunes music folder, but from another folder that was permanently stored on an external harddrive?
lydiatheiceskater 7 months ago
Hi, thanks for the post.. However I have followed your video down to the very last detail, and when i attempt to import the edited library.xml file it says the file cannot be imported. An unknown error occured (-50). Am i missing something?? please please help, this is urgent
ogrove4 7 months ago
Thank you! This will still work with PC desktop to PC laptop, right?
KrazyGreen17 7 months ago
Hey, i was just wondering if you could help me
i've managed to transfer all the files over and they are all there except certain ones. I have established the reason for that, but now none of them are playing :/ could you tell me why? i think it is something to do with the url but im not sure
stefandoyle04 8 months ago
3:19 How do you do the 'find find' part on a PC?
maddie271 8 months ago
is there a way to do the 'replace with' thing on a windows?
x33AznnGiirl 8 months ago
too complicated screw it lol
tjmorris818 8 months ago
this video is worthless
SMReasor 8 months ago
you skipped the main step which is how to actually move the files to the other computer, not save them to the desktop. im transferring my itunes lib from my desktop pc to my new macbook, and this video was totally worthless
SMReasor 8 months ago
@SMReasor Agreed, he left out a crucial step which makes this a complete waste of time. This fellow is not very good at explaining the process.
metrotv 8 months ago
@SMReasor thats the easy part lmao
blacknight560 8 months ago
@mrjamscoots not all of us by songs from itunes...
fullysick3 8 months ago
thank you so much! ah so happy that i didnt lose any information
sustutefuf 9 months ago
I did this, but now I can't open any kind of file on iTunes. I mean, I can't import anything, I drag it and nothing happens. Yes, they are valid audio files. Help please I am about to kill myself :(
flo1065 9 months ago
can i use this method to transfer apps ??? pls replyy
scope4xbox 9 months ago
when i go to find a little bar just pops up on the top of the page its not that whole pop up window with the find and replace thing so i dont have the option to find and replace
whatd i do wrong?
baseballplyr2203 9 months ago
tthis is hart to do wen your high
1for2for3 9 months ago 2
Moved library from a work laptop to a home pc. It worked perfectly after some mac interpretation to pc. Thanks for the good work kadavy!
929tim 9 months ago
do playlists transfer also?
mbless2 9 months ago
i did it and it only worked for playlists :/ i dont' have my rankings and playcounts... help!
flo1065 9 months ago
This is just speculatory but isn't it easier just to copy all the files at once with Crtl A and then compressing those files with Win rar? I personally dont care for my playlists or play counts...
honorguard88 10 months ago
and best resource i found out of 2 videos i used this along with the home sharing which i never knew existed in my itunes...
i tried the file hack a few times but the ratings and play count still didnt follow... idk if i connect my ipod touch, if it will pickup on the old xml file (transferred from my old comp.) i hacked and recover the info or not . Or just do what scares me and it redoes the info its getting from my new desktop sinces its a different computer...
blaqkXelectriqk 10 months ago
i dont know what i did wrong if i did. my old, past expired, windows xp desktop held my itunes account
and i did the file hack for my new windows 7 desktop and everything went but the play counts and ratings. or i should just say the playlists followed it
idk if it was the difference in codes or something because i noticed xp used different slashes compared to windows 7. idk if it makes any difference but i cant figure it out.... stumped. id like to get atleast the play counts back
blaqkXelectriqk 10 months ago
Thanks really helped just haven't tried it yet but looks pretty easy to me.Thanks!!!!!!
Ross19148 10 months ago
omg.. sooo confusing.. is it just because you have a Mac? At 1:15, i dont have that on my computer, nothing...
MrSmurfdeNoodles 10 months ago
errrm .......... home sharing ........? -_-
lilbondblacky 11 months ago
this didnt work perfectly but i think that was my fault... but it worked for what i need it to and no other resource was helpful.... thank uuuu
sosupahigh 11 months ago
(If it makes any difference) I'm going from windows to windows. Thanks in advance (again)
doutol1 11 months ago
thank you so much for the vid - great help. I'm almost 100% on board with what you have going on here - i just need to know if this process also keeps songs that are UNchecked from my old computer to the new computer. I have about 31K+ songs and have TONS of unchecked items so me getting a new computer is kinda depending on whether or not the unchecked items (starred and play counts as well) will stay that way - look 4ward to your response. thanks in advance.
doutol1 11 months ago
After I had export and import the above to a new mac, does it mean that I can sync my iphone with both computers?
yamidaka 11 months ago
I've done this and it only manages to import half of my metadata. I look at the XML files and i try to copy/paste but this doesn't work... since i cannot save the file in XML format (for whatever reason).
Help? I use the import feature after backing up library and get half my metadata but not all...
(This is PC to PC btw)
Joppsta360 11 months ago
This guy is a badass, at around 5:10 in his itunes you can see Albert Hammond jr.
sweet
themiggzone 11 months ago
for mac to mac : copy itunes folder to new mac, workes fine for me; play count, album art, playlist, apps, and videos included
samsungboy2000 1 year ago
@samsungboy2000 really???
sugerloafer96 11 months ago
kinda complicated
saif0316 1 year ago
Err..I don't know if this is for old version of iTunes or something, because all you need to do is copy the whole 'iTunes' folder into the 'Music' folder. iTunes will have automatically created an iTunes folder, just make sure you replace. You will keep play counts, ratings, everyhting. This worked perfect for me Mac to Mac. The only problem I got Mac to Win 7 was that Win 7 complained that some (10) files' names were 'too long'. Just Win 7 being lame, and they were really long classical songs.
Will762 1 year ago
THANKS THIS HELPED SO MUCH
MuffinShooter1 1 year ago
will it work if your old computer was not a mac?
booitslexi 1 year ago
I have a dell but transfering my library to a macbook pro. i have alot of files from frostwire and limewire how can i transfer all of it to my new laptop without just burning alot of cd's.
Thanks
xgm4life 1 year ago
thanks a lot man, totally more straight-forward instructions than all the other complicated guides on the web
DazzaMeach 1 year ago
hey one quick questions
can u use a usb to transfer them?
great vid btw very user friendly
MrP0CS 1 year ago
thanks very much for this video, im sure it helps out alot of people, but i have a slightly different issue where as i recently got a new ssd for my pc (windows) and am now using that as my primary hdd, but i still have my old normal hdd in the pc with all my itunes songs and ratings etc im leaving these on here as i have not enough space on the ssd, so when doing the part of editing the xml thing ive put in file://G:\MyMusic/ and it wont import and says unknown error (-50).... any ideas? thanks
MegaBlap 1 year ago
This doesn't work from transferring to PC to Mac. I did exactly what you did and it didn't work. The message said "not all files were able to be transferred because they may not exist"
semtechdeck13 1 year ago
How would I replace an itunes account on a computer with a different itunes account that's on a different computer?
HapplyFace 1 year ago
What about apps etc??
sammy1064 1 year ago
forgive my stupidity i didnt get this ummm can i just use a hardrive move my old itunes and replace my ma itunes with the itunes that i copied from pc? or would it bw just a blank itunes?
slimboni123 1 year ago
thank-you very much mate. This was SO useful!
Rockadoodleross 1 year ago
actually i wannted to transfer apps does that work with apps??
golden30ice 1 year ago
Thank you very much for posting this very helpful video. another question please... I have saved all the artwork to my desktop and itunes is linked to that. Will those album covers be exported as well? If not, do you know a way to transfer those files into the iTunes of the new PC?
GiotaX 1 year ago
Many thanks for posting this very helpful video. Another question... I have saved all the arwork to my desktop and itunes is linked to tha. Will those album covers be expored as well? Do you know if here is a way to tranfer them to my new PC?
GiotaX 1 year ago
94,000 viewer!
Travis2014 1 year ago
Dear Kadavy :) Thanks, first and foresmost, for doing this vid, it's rad!
I've experienced a problem, however. At the very last step (I did the library.xml fine find and replace all, I did move my "music" folder containing ALL my music from my PC to my MAC via an external harddrive) when I need to import my library.xml file, it says "not all files were able to be transferred because they may not exist" and then nothing further happens.. messages are in danish, so my translation might be off. ty
theossy 1 year ago
@theossy hmmm...and your paths are corrected to the new paths on your Mac? How does your library look after this? Maybe your original library had a few missing files?
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy same thing happened with me. i went from a mac to a mac and "some of the songs in the file "library.xml" were not imported because they could not be found."
it tool 2+ hours for that file to be bluetoothed to my new computer so im guessing they are there but i dont know what went wrong.
after i click "ok" only radio streams show up.
roxyswimmer96 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@kadavy same thing happened with me. i went from a mac to a mac and "some of the songs in the file "library.xml" were not imported because they could not be found."
it tool 2+ hours for that file to be bluetoothed to my new computer so im guessing they are there but i dont know what went wrong.
after i click "ok" only radio streams show up.
roxyswimmer96 1 year ago
@theossy the same thing is happening to me. did you ever find a solution?
JosephHonKong 9 months ago
Another question, should I import first the songs or the xml into itunes
maydarkruleoverlight 1 year ago
I have one question, in the xml when you edit the line, will it make any difference if i change file://localhost/C:/Users/[USER]/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/ for only C:/Users/[USER]/Music/ .I mean the 'file://localhost/C:/'
maydarkruleoverlight 1 year ago
@kadavy It doenst work for Mac to PC.
Got it while asking you for help. i tried .xml and .txt files but if you want to import the Playlist at a PC u need .m3u. :D thanks for your vid bro
regards rasche
liketheusp 1 year ago
I have no idea whats going on....
CelesteRepchukTV 1 year ago
2:38
BLACK SLASH
xnick01295 1 year ago
Comment removed
xnick01295 1 year ago
Just a quick question can you do this is a pc to mac to transfer the music over? I dont want to download any programs that will cost me. Thank you for the help and the tutorial. write back as soon as possible. please and thank you.
Jeffa101 1 year ago
hey dude great vid but i have windows 7 and on my itunes i cant find the thing that you use to reaplce the files at 3:32 do you know what the pc version would be??
1234565456789a 1 year ago
thanks for this. very informative. great vid.
Editor02Channel 1 year ago
Does this retain your album cover art???
Bratwurst86 1 year ago
another question for you kadavy: I have a space when trying to replace the text in the xml file because my music is stored on an external hard drive. so in itunes when I find out the file path of the music it says: file://Volumes/Expansion Drive/My Music/iTunes/Music, is this space what is giving me difficulties? because every time i try it says the music files could not be found. please help me!
Point1991 1 year ago
@Point1991 try changing the space to "%20" (that's "entity encoding" for a space)
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy HELP!!
Have followed instruction to the letter but every time I try to save the changed AppleScript Editor I get error msg:
Syntax Error
A "<" can't go here
which highlights the first character in the scripteditor - which I haven't changed, what do I do because I've tried saving it as other files to keep the content but I still can't get it to successfully import my ratings, play counts, etc. thank you!
0306150 1 year ago
@kadavy I guessed that I should of done that b4 I saw this comment. But it's already started importing the new playlist. OOO, let's c if it works!
Kooberz 1 year ago
can this be done from PC to Mac while keeping the date added on the original tracks? I tried doing this and the date added was changed to the day I added it to my mac. I really need the original date added to be shown. plz help fast! ty
Point1991 1 year ago
my playlist names are imported but not the actual songs?? help!
scattertheashes09 1 year ago
@scattertheashes09 i have exactly the same problems, all the playlists (like music, podcasts and most played) are imported, but they are empty!
What to do !?
Bratwurst86 1 year ago
I very much agree with your taste in music!
iguanasoup2 1 year ago
i got all my songs, playlists, play counts, ratings, but all the songs show up as audio streams and do not play
paperroses101 1 year ago
This is why I hate itunes...
capitalsown 1 year ago
tried this few times. got my playlists but not any of the play counts, or ratings. maybe the file im directing it to is wrong?
paperroses101 1 year ago
I want to move my itunes library from old pc to mac probook cant i just put them next to eachother hook up a usb to both and transfer it.
Bleachallstarz 1 year ago
Why would you have to hack to keep song ratings and play counts. I swear they industry is hiding something just to be greedy. Just like how laptop batteries only use AAA lithium ones but wants you to pay $100 for a whole thing.
brucenatelee 1 year ago
if i do this will i still have my songs on the other computer??
LZFly 1 year ago
How long would it take to transfer about 19 gb of music from one computer to the other one ?
Doodlez123456789 1 year ago
@kadavy how do you open up the find so that it shows you how to replace all? mine just goes into the standard find banner on the xml document
Ledphones 1 year ago
Hey Kadavy, super video! Everything worked fine except that I've lost all my ratings...any ideas?!?!
Cheers!!
solo1mono1meister 1 year ago
hey my old computer crashed and my ipod got stolen and i want to transfer the library from my old computer to my new computer but i have to do ity from my new computer does any1 no how i can fix it
MrSammyb63 1 year ago
@kadavy This is urgent and might even be impossible, but i have an ipod synched to a pc laptop, and i switched over to a brand new imac. my pc has crashed and my ipod is still synched to that pc. so is there a way to get the songs off the ipod and onto my new library? (sorry if that was confusing)
1NINJAD 1 year ago
@1NINJAD There is iPod to computer transfer software available. If you check out my partner site, transfermymusic they have some.
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy but is there any free software, or will i have to pay?
1NINJAD 1 year ago
Um, if your PC crashed, turn your PC back on?
capitalsown 1 year ago
@capitalsown my pc is dead, and plus i already found another website that let me transfer all my stuff from my ipod to my imac. for free...
1NINJAD 1 year ago
Hey Kadavy. I'm trying to do this on a PC and I'm running into a problem. When I try to edit the .XML file to replace it with my new music folder directory (which happens to just be on my external hard drive) it crashes whenever I click replace all. I think it may because the file is too big and it has to replace too many things... can you help me? thx!
Point1991 1 year ago
@Point1991 Try some different - perhaps more robust text editing programs. I'm not that familiar with what else is available for Windows, but a quick Google search brings up TextPad - maybe that will work?
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy Thx for posting so quickly. Luckily I ended up not needing to change the file path because it was the same on my other computer... anyways, thx again bro!
Point1991 1 year ago
I got my library onto my new computer, but I'm still having one more problem. It won't play any music. It has all of the playlists, counts, ratings, and even the lengths of the songs, so I know I did something right. But when I go to play a song, it brings up a little bar that says "Opening URL", and "Connecting..." underneath that. Any idea how to fix this?
pittfan1827 1 year ago
@pittfan1827 what does the filepath look like in your XML file? ("C:\filepath"?)
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy Never mind, I got everything worked out. Thank you very much for all of your help though!
pittfan1827 1 year ago
@pittfan1827 mine is doing the same thing
paperroses101 1 year ago
does this method keeps your checked / unchecked tracks...I ask since that is the way I
choose which songs to sync with my ipod.. sryy for bad english
travielocos 1 year ago
will the .xml file also transfer things like iPhone settings, essentially I want to keep everything in my new iTunes exactly as in the old one....
dannypires1 1 year ago
bit of a problem... I followed the directions and I got my library to import. songs are there, playcounts there and everything looks good, except to the far left next to the checkmark box for every song is a little symbol that looks like the streaming symbol that appears when you use radios on iTunes. When I try to play a song, it has to try to connect to a URL, but it never seems to actually do so, and none of my music plays...
I've tried a few things but I can't seem to fix this : /
Ninja4820 1 year ago
what about for windows )=
yeah3652 1 year ago
@yeah3652 This should work fine the same way on Windows - have you found it to be different?
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy I looked at it for a while and found where all my songs are on my old comp, just copied it to my flash drive. Thanks.
yeah3652 1 year ago
@kadavy Do you know how to do this if the computer you are transferring your library from is broke? Like taking out your external drive or something . . . .
skinnyjeans899 1 year ago
@skinnyjeans899 If you check where your actual music files are stored (/Users/username/Music/iTunes on a mac) you may find a fille called "iTunes Music Library.xml" which you could edit as described in the screencast, to prepare for import.
kadavy 1 year ago
Comment removed
MissMia2010 1 year ago
I followed this step by step and I'm transferring from an old mac to my new macbook pro and when i try to import the library.xml it gives me a message saying "Some of the songs in the file 'Library.xml' were not imported because they could not be found" and it imports my playlists, but there are no songs in them or in the library at all! Did I do something wrong?
MissMia2010 1 year ago
@MissMia2010 It sounds like the filepaths in your Library.xml file aren't actually pointing to where the files are located. Make sure you've changed your paths correctly.
kadavy 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Thank you so so so much dude. I am a DJ, and so I rely on itunes rating system to organize my songs. My tunes were filling up too much of my laptop space so I had to move it onto my external. I tried doing this on my own and thought I had lost all of my ratings and info. Luckily I found this video and it all works now. I am so god damn grateful and relieved, THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN!!!!!!!!!!! Thank You!
Point1991 1 year ago
Thanks so much for posting this. I've spent all day trying to figure this out. Here's the thing: I wanted to transfer my music files from one PC to another PC, running Windows 7. So, I followed the instructions here, which are great, by the way. I used an external hard drive to transfer my files. Anyway, I had to tweak it a bit because I don't like having my music folder on my desktop. But, I wanted to follow your instructions to tee and then change them later to see if it would work. Well...
pianomist 1 year ago
That's where my confusion lies, hehe. I won't get into too much detail of that because I think I'll just confuse you and the reader... and myself, heh. But, I'll say that I just forgot to change the location in the preferences-advance-iTunes Media folder location... on iTunes... and I wasn't getting any of my files synced. Meaning, I had the playlists, count, etc... but there was no music file and couldn't play, heh. It was set on desktop, to follow your directions. So, I just had to change...
pianomist 1 year ago
the location from desktop to where I wanted my music folder, which is in the music folder of Windows 7. Also, I had to change the location in the xml file in notepad, for the location. I just had to watch this video over and over for it to click. All these little things, hehe. And I'm, by no means, a computer expert, heh. By the way, Windows 7 uses the "C:\" thing, too. So, if you're going to move the files, you have to change the location to where you moved it, main point. That was my problem.
pianomist 1 year ago
This helped a lot, and I'm grateful that you put this up. I know I typed a lot here, but, this can be frustrating and I hope my experience can help others. There might be something else I wanted to mention, but, I can't think of anything now. Cheers!
pianomist 1 year ago
@pianomist I'm very glad the video eventually helped! Thanks so much for sharing!
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy Thank you very much for this video! It helped tremendously! Take care!
pianomist 1 year ago
From itunes 9 windows to itunes 9 mac. Yes, the playlists were transferred.
marokkoemil 1 year ago
@marokkoemil When you exported from Windows, did it produce an XML file? Do you see the ratings in the XML file? Could you send me the XML file so I could take a look? dkadavy gmail Send your edited XML file as well, please.
kadavy 1 year ago
It didn't help with song ratings even though i did it step by step...
marokkoemil 1 year ago
@marokkoemil What version of iTunes, and what operating system, is the source and destination computer?
Did it transfer other stuff like Playlists?
kadavy 1 year ago
Man! You just made my day! So hacking the xml file does the trick!
I´ve been looking for this info on and of for about a month now.
If you ever get depressed to the point where you wonder if your life has any meaning at all, just remember you turned at least one day in one guys life into a happy day :)
Thanks
ibrahimsky 1 year ago
@ibrahimsky haha! Thanks, I'm glad I could make someone's day!
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy actually 2 people´s day :D
korgertube 1 year ago
does this work with transferring apps? i have alot of DL'd games that i would like to move too... help pls!
ONxCamouflage 1 year ago
@ONxCamouflage Don't they transfer just fine if you sync your iPhone with your new computer?
kadavy 1 year ago
@kadavy I actually got around it by just dragging the apps to my desk top and then external driving them to the new mac! Thanks for the quick reply. Mahalo!
ONxCamouflage 1 year ago
@kadavy I got around it by just dragging my apps to the desk top and exDriving them over then dragging back into itunes! thanks for the quick Responce. Mahalo!
ONxCamouflage 1 year ago
Great! It woks!
I'm a PC user, and I could transfer from one PC to another with your tutorial
Tks from Brazil
xandcouto 1 year ago
But what about the application purchases for iPhones and such? What' the work around for that?
MalibuStevie 1 year ago
will all your apps go with it 2?
metallicanstones28 1 year ago
Automagically....haha......I have windows.....don't know how to do this.
IndianaArielVTM87 1 year ago
didnt work
JimmyC023 1 year ago