How do I migrate my iTunes for windows library and playlists?
I want to copy my music lib folder from one PC to another, but I don?t
want to lose all my playlists.
I tired coping the 2 itunes setting files that are in \My Documents\My
Music\iTunes to the new machine also, but it lost all the links to my
music lib, which lives on a 2nd IDE drive.
I can go song by song and play each and itunes will prompt me to
re-point to the new file location, but this will take weeks since it
has to be done 1 song at a time.
I set the location of my music lib in the iTunes prefs, but it still
can do the links and my playlist are all worthless now.
Does Apple have an facility for migrating one?s itunes from one PC to another?
thanx in advnce |
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
15 Aug 2005 01:35 PDT
sherpaj...
There is likely a way, but I don't see any automated utilities
for Windows users (wouldn't you know). There are several for
use on a Mac.
From what I can gather, if everything else is in place and
working except the location of the songs, this seems to be
contained in the iTunes Music Library.xml file, per a post
on this page at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (see #9):
http://www.tuaw.com/2005/06/22/how-to-move-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-mac/
I just verified this to be true by downloading and installing
iTunes.
You note that iTunes is pointing you to the new location
for each file, so it could just be a matter of editing
the xml file which stores the locations.
Changing the file locations without a utility would require
that you open the xml file in a text editor like Notepad,
and use the 'find and replace' function to change the paths
for your songs. Accomplishing this depends on your willingness
and ability to work with a text editor in this manner. The
complexity will depend on how many sub-folders you're using
in the main folder where your songs are stored. If they're
all in a single folder, you could probably accomplish the
task in one sweep of 'find and replace'. If you have multiple
sub-folders, it will get a lot more complicated. I'd caution
you to use a copy of the original file for editing, and reserve
a copy untouched.
A typical entry for a single song would look like this:
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/C:/Media/MP3/Bassic%20-
%20Martin%20Lindhe/silent_as_snow.mp3/</string>
So, if the song (and all the others from that directory) is now
located in E:/MP3, you would have to do a 'find and replace' to
replace 'C:/Media/MP3' with 'E:/MP3'.
The only other simpler option I can think of is to make
an exact copy of the 2nd IDE drive on your 1st computer
and slave it in your second computer with the same drive
letter and directory structure as the one on your 1st PC.
This will effectively duplicate the path that already
exists in the xml file you transferred with your installation.
Let me know where this takes you...
sublime1-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
15 Aug 2005 01:48 PDT
I just read sleekgeek-ga's excellent contribution, and, if
you don't mind having all your music on the main drive of
your new PC, it looks like it will work quite well.
If you'd rather not have these files taking up space on
your main drive, I'd go with duplicating the second IDE
and slaving it on your new PC in a way that duplicates
the directory structures already stored in the xml file.
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
sherpaj-ga
on
22 Aug 2005 17:26 PDT
I will try these solutions out and get back to you.
|
