How to get all iTunes media into iTunes?

[Soundhound]

I have a new mac set up and have put my iTunes media folder in it's proper place on an external. I've pointed iTunes to that folder, but none of it shows up in iTunes.

I forget how you get all the files into iTunes. Do you have to drag everything there? The iTunes media folder is quite large, about a terabyte.

Thanks!

 

[tjwilliams25]

All you have to do is make sure the external path is the same as the old computers', and then overwrite the current iTunes xml file with the one from the old music folder. Restart iTunes (or launch it if you had it closed) and voila, your library should be the same as it was on the old machine.

EDIT: I've done this several times after machine restores and it's a pretty painless process!

 

[Soundhound]

Thanks. I'm actually wanting to start over from scratch, and just have everything that's in iTunes reflect the iTunes Media Folder as is. (I've removed from stuff from the folder and don't need my old iTunes playlists etc)

 

[tjwilliams25]

This is still basically starting over from scratch. The XML file doesn't just keep track of playlists, it's the DNA of your iTunes library, so where every single file is on your external. Even if you had to go back through and delete the older music, it would still be faster than indexing the whole library again. If that's not your forte, then you can choose to import the music again, only make sure the "Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder" box is unchecked. This will build the index again, this time with all the files you currently have; only, if you have quite a bit of music the process will probably take several hours.

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Also, this entire process is easier if you think of iTunes as a single body, not just an app that reads your music files from a folder. At its very core, that's what it is, but it's also an organizing powerhouse. So, if you want to declutter your music stash, it's much easier to do it from iTunes itself instead of trying to do it in Finder (or Explorer if you were on Windows). Every change you make, iTunes keeps track of and maintains folder hierarchy accordingly, which is much easier than manually doing it yourself. I hope this helps.