PC iTunes songs to Mac?

[Spocker]

Okay, I'm sure this has been commented on, but Im scared of finding the answer.

Question is: I have iTunes and all my songs on my PC. I'm finally entering the world of Mac with my soon-to-be-shipped Mac Mini, BUT will i be able to transfer my PC iTunes songs over to the Mac? Or am i just screwed? If it is possible (I hope and pray), how is that accomplished?

Spocker (A babe in the Mac woods)

 

[Logik]

Okay, I'm sure this has been commented on, but Im scared of finding the answer.

Question is: I have iTunes and all my songs on my PC. I'm finally entering the world of Mac with my soon-to-be-shipped Mac Mini, BUT will i be able to transfer my PC iTunes songs over to the Mac? Or am i just screwed? If it is possible (I hope and pray), how is that accomplished?

Spocker (A babe in the Mac woods)

burn them to a data cd.. then add them to the library in iTunes on the mini. if you wont' be using your PC anymore, deactivate that computer, you'll be asked to activate the mini, just type in your apple id / password

 

[mad jew]

deactivate that computer, you'll be asked to activate the mini, just type in your apple id / password

That's assuming they're iTunes songs from the iTunes music store. Otherwise, just transfer the files along with the other files you'll be moving (documents, emails etc.) Enjoy the Mac.

 

[fartheststar]

Okay, I'm sure this has been commented on, but Im scared of finding the answer.

Question is: I have iTunes and all my songs on my PC. I'm finally entering the world of Mac with my soon-to-be-shipped Mac Mini, BUT will i be able to transfer my PC iTunes songs over to the Mac? Or am i just screwed? If it is possible (I hope and pray), how is that accomplished?

Spocker (A babe in the Mac woods)

If you have an iPod with all your songs on it, you can also find some software at http://www.versiontracker.com that will download the songs from your iPod to your mac Mini. That would be the simplest bet.

As a previous poster commented, if you have iTunes Music Store files, de-authorize your PC if you're not going to use it any more and just "authorize" your mac.

 

[Spocker]

As a previous poster commented, if you have iTunes Music Store files, de-authorize your PC if you're not going to use it any more and just "authorize" your mac.[/QUOTE]

Okay, great suggestions!
My songs are from the iTunes Music Store, i don't own an iPod, and I dont plan on using the PC for iTunes anymore, so what will this "de/authorize" thing do for me concerning the Mini and the PC?

I guess I'll just burn them all to CDs then load them on the Mini? That's a lil exspensive.

Spocker

 

[jeremy.king]

I would guess that you will have a tough time preserving playlists and counts without an iPod.

But you can just copy your iTunes folder (assuming its consolidated) from your PC to your mac (network, firewire, crossover cable, many ways) and then re-import into iTunes on your mac.

 

[adam1185]

It's very easy to preserve all of your playlists, playcounts, ratings, etc, etc. without an iPod...just copy those 2 itunes library files from you my documents, my music (or wherever they are) and put them music/itunes on your mac. I do it all the time.

Edit: I don't think you even have to reimport from within itunes. Provided you place all your music in music/itunes/itunes music it should just do it automatically when you load itunes as long as those 2 files are in place

 

[advres]

If your comps are networked then just download Blue Coconut. I believe the program only runs on macs but it will allow you to "transfer" any song from any shared playlist to another computer.

That may be illegal so you didn't hear it from me ; )

google it.

 

[GFLPraxis]

As mentioned by advres, there are programs that can strip the DRM off of AAC files. Then they can be transfered at will.

It may be illegal. I think it's only illegal if you give the songs to people though.

 

[ftaok]

As mentioned by advres, there are programs that can strip the DRM off of AAC files. Then they can be transfered at will.

It may be illegal. I think it's only illegal if you give the songs to people though.

Actually, in the USA, the DCMA makes it illegal to bypass DRM. So stripping the DRM off of iTMS songs would be illegal regardless of what you intend to do with it. It would also be in violation of the "terms of sale" that the buyer agreed to with Apple when purchasing the song.

Whether or not this is "fair" is up for debate. Personally, I don't have any need to strip the DRM off of my songs, so it's moot. There are, however, so uses where stripping the DRM would be ethically OK (my opinion only), such as burning the songs onto an MP3 CD for your car player or transferring the songs onto a non-iPod mp3 player.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Actually, in the USA, the DCMA makes it illegal to bypass DRM. So stripping the DRM off of iTMS songs would be illegal regardless of what you intend to do with it. It would also be in violation of the "terms of sale" that the buyer agreed to with Apple when purchasing the song.

Whether or not this is "fair" is up for debate. Personally, I don't have any need to strip the DRM off of my songs, so it's moot. There are, however, so uses where stripping the DRM would be ethically OK (my opinion only), such as burning the songs onto an MP3 CD for your car player or transferring the songs onto a non-iPod mp3 player.

Awww. That sucks.

I don't have any DRMed music so I never did it myself.

 

[Xenious]

It's very easy to preserve all of your playlists, playcounts, ratings, etc, etc. without an iPod...just copy those 2 itunes library files from you my documents, my music (or wherever they are) and put them music/itunes on your mac. I do it all the time.

Edit: I don't think you even have to reimport from within itunes. Provided you place all your music in music/itunes/itunes music it should just do it automatically when you load itunes as long as those 2 files are in place

This is correct. You don't have to reimport or anything. It is just a matter of copying the files and the xml database file over from your "My Music" folder on the PC to the Music folder on the mac. I did this simple copy when i switched and was impressed that it all worked (playlists, playcounts, ratings, etc) without any other work.

 

[ja0912]

iTunes only lets you play purchased songs on 5 computers, if you don't deauthorize the pc it will still count against your 5 computers.

Burning your music as a Data CD, also known as a MP3 CD, (opposed to an audio cd) will fit almost 200 songs per disc.

This is what Apple Support has to say about it, when using an iPod: http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/tutorial/ip_gettingstarted_t12.html

 

[Kirbdog]

My roommates and I have all of the computers in the apt behind a router. (i know, who would have guessed that) I just hooked my new mac to the router, shared the iTunes folders in the PC's and copied all the music files through the network. If you have a router it is quite easy.