How to save iTunes settings

[gaanee]

I am going to reformat my laptop, so backing up my music collection. Is it possible to save songs customizations and iTunes settings, e.g. start/stop times for songs, and apply those settings after reformatting and reinstalling iTunes?

 

[Weaselboy]

That is all part of the iTunes Library. If you just copy your ~/Music/iTunes folder to an external drive then copy it back afterwards, all that info will still be there.

 

[gaanee]

I tried that before- moving songs from one folder to another and that information (start/stop time) is lost when you import it again to iTunes from the new folder.

 

[Weaselboy]

I tried that before- moving songs from one folder to another and that information (start/stop time) is lost when you import it again to iTunes from the new folder.

You should not need to reimport anything. If you follow this and move the whole folder all the music and play data included in the library goes along with it.

 

[gaanee]

Does all songs have to be in iTunes music folder? I have the entire music collection in a separate folder, so can I just copy that folder to external drive and put it back after reformatting?

 

[Weaselboy]

Does all songs have to be in iTunes music folder? I have the entire music collection in a separate folder, so can I just copy that folder to external drive and put it back after reformatting?

You can keep it separate and just tell iTunes preferences in the advanced tab where the folder is and uncheck the box that says to copy to the iTunes media folder.

 

[gaanee]

You can keep it separate and just tell iTunes preferences in the advanced tab where the folder is and uncheck the box that says to copy to the iTunes media folder.

Sorry for a noob question, Could you please direct me to which instructions you are referring to?

In my case, I have all music albums stored under "Documents -> xyzMusic ->... and then all folders according to artists' name. So, I have not synced it with iTunes Music folder. Now I want to copy everything under xyzMusic to external drive, reformat and then copy back to laptop. In doing this, how should I make sure that it retains all the information (start/stop times and such) associated in iTunes?

 

[Consultant]

Basically all your song info are saved in
User/Music/iTunes folder inside

iTunes Music Library.xml
iTunes Library.itl

As long as you backed up your iTunes preferences and those files and put files back to where it is, you'll keep your settings.

If that's too complicated for you use Time Machine or Migration Assistant.

 

[gaanee]

Also, do I need to back up all the iPhone apps or after reinstalling iTunes, it will automatically download it?

 

[Consultant]

I backup my apps too. But you can always re-download them from iTunes.

 

[Weaselboy]

Also, do I need to back up all the iPhone apps or after reinstalling iTunes, it will automatically download it?

They will be gone from the computer, so yes, you will need to back them up from the iPhone.