how to transfer itunes library from pc to mac

Copy all of that to your Mac, and launch iTunes. After performing the prerequisites (changing settings and consolidating), copy the iTunes folder to an external hard drive, and then copy your iTunes Media folder into that the iTunes folder. What if your music isn’t stored in the default location on Windows? In that case, you’ll have a database and library files in the iTunes folder in the regular location, and an iTunes Media folder elsewhere-perhaps on an external hard drive. (Older versions of iTunes required some find/replace voodoo with the iTunes Library.xml file to update file paths, which is why you upgraded prior to transferring.) Since iTunes uses the same file format for both Mac and Windows, the program will be able to read your iTunes Library file and it will show your music, videos, podcasts, and so on with playlists, ratings, play counts, and the like. Once you’ve copied the iTunes folder to the Mac, you can launch iTunes. (Note that you’ll lose any playlists, play counts, and the like associated with those files, however.) However, if you’ve already added music, you won’t be able to merge the libraries in the iTunes Media folder, found in the iTunes folder, move the Music folder to your desktop and add those files into iTunes after you’ve completed this process. If there’s no music there, you can just replace the folder. If there is already an iTunes folder, it means you’ve launched iTunes at least once on the Mac. In either case, you’ll want to copy the iTunes folder to the Music folder in your user folder on the Mac.

Now copy the entire iTunes folder to an external hard drive (OS X should be able to read FAT or NTFS volumes created on a PC), or copy it across your network to your new Mac (the former method will be much faster).

Windows XP: Documents and Settings yourusernameMy DocumentsMy MusiciTunes.

Depending on the version of Windows, this folder will be (by default) in one of the following locations:

If the Upgrade To iTunes Media Organization option is not dimmed, check this too it sorts your files in separate sub-folders.Īfter this is done-these two steps may take a while if you have a big library-it’s time to copy the iTunes folder. This moves any files that weren’t in the right folder, and makes sure that the library file has the correct pointers to these files’ locations. Next, choose File -> Library -> Organize Library.

How to transfer itunes library from pc to mac