Can I hook up Mac Mini as external HD just for iTunes?

[visvaldis]

I have a 2013 Mac Mini, OS 10.9.5. OS is too old for Firefox and gmail, can't be updated. I will need to buy a Mac Mini with more recent OS. But one that supports iTunes. That means no later than Mojave.
I do not want to pay monthly rent for Apple's Music App. and prefer to have iTunes instead. What if I bought a newer Mac and used my current MacMini as an external HD just for the iTunes? All I would need is a short USB connector. Would that work?

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

No, you can't use it as an external drive. But you can use it as a network server.

But your current machine has iTunes, so what is the problem?

 

[DunedinD]

You would have trouble using iTunes on a more recent OS but don’t be too fearful of the Music app; for local library management, it’s able to work just like iTunes. The Apple Music subscription part is optional, except you’ll see some traces of it in UI as a reminder it exists.

 

[bladerunner88]

I have a 2013 Mac Mini, OS 10.9.5. OS is too old for Firefox and gmail, can't be updated. I will need to buy a Mac Mini with more recent OS. But one that supports iTunes. That means no later than Mojave.
I do not want to pay monthly rent for Apple's Music App. and prefer to have iTunes instead. What if I bought a newer Mac and used my current MacMini as an external HD just for the iTunes? All I would need is a short USB connector. Would that work?

Yeah, you could connect your old Mini via something called "Firewire Target Disk Mode" and it will appear on the desktop of you new Mac just like a hard drive and you could store your iTunes library there.

Also you should be aware of a fun Utility called Retroactive:

https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive#reprocessing-raw-photos-in-aperture (scroll down)

This wil let you upgrade your OS while still letting you use iTunes etc! Works like a Charm...it's not being maintained any more but still works. I use it to keep Aperture and iTunes Vs 11.4 still running.

 

[ivnj]

There was no 2013 mac mini.

G4, core solo, core duo, core 2 duo, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020, M1, M2, M2 Pro, M4, M4 Pro. There was no 2013.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I do not want to pay monthly rent for Apple's Music App.

There's no monthly cost for the Music app 🧐

 

[mcnallym]

I use music on my Mac Studio and no subscription.
No idea why would want to stick with iTunes.
Made the leap to Music and TV without any issues,

 

[bladerunner88]

I use music on my Mac Studio and no subscription.
No idea why would want to stick with iTunes.
Made the leap to Music and TV without any issues,

so say you have a bunch of Music you own in an iTunes folder, and want to listen to it using Music what would you do? Point Music at the iTunes folder or create a new Music Library and move the iTunes music to it?

 

[DigiH]

I do not want to pay monthly rent for Apple's Music App. and prefer to have iTunes instead.

I think you are getting mixed up with the Music application and the Apple Music streaming subscription service.

The new Music application basically is iTunes minus some sections like the App Store, iPhone syncing etc. so you can just have your current local iTunes Music library updated and everything looks much the same, with your playlists in the left sidebar, playing all your local music files. And you can keep it like that just never subscribing to the additional Apple Music streaming at all.

So not need to keep any old legacy iTunes copy around, just upgrade to the latest Music app on your new Mac mini and everything will stay much the same, just the application has a different name now.

 

[Boyd01]

so say you have a bunch of Music you own in an iTunes folder, and want to listen to it using Music what would you do?

I've been using iTunes on a Mini with home sharing as a media server for almost 10 years now. Just replaced a 2014 Mini running iTunes on Mojave with a new base m4 Mini and the Music/TV apps on Sequoia. Ran into a number of issues that probably aren't relevant to this thread. However, moving my media to the new Mac worked fine. I have over 2tb of music, movies and tv shows in an iTunes library on a 4tb external ssd.

My biggest concern was migrating all of my music, tv and movie playlists to the new apps. To do this, I held the option key while starting the Music app. It asks you to select the library location. I then browsed to select the iTunes Library.itl file from the media folder on the external disk. This worked perfectly and moved all my playlists to the new Music app while keeping the media in the original location.

If you are just using the default location for your music library, then go there and do the same thing. Now, if you just want to move your music and don't have any playlists, I'm not certain that you need to do anything. Wouldn't the new Music app automatically find your old iTunes music in the default location? Sorry, not sure.

The one "gotcha" to importing playlists this way is that it creates empty movie and tv show playlists in the Music app (if you have them) since iTunes includes everything in a single app. I had to manually delete these from the Music app (and manually delete my music playlists from the TV app).

 

[bladerunner88]

ok I tried pointing its to iTunes Library.itl in my iTunes folder and it said loading but about an hour later not much had happened. What did seem to work is making an Alias of my iTunes Music folder and pointing at that.

That being said maybe I just need to go back and figure out wot going on as have more than one iTunes Music folder. So maybe am just confusing myself at this point loLs