How To Transfer ITunes Library to New MBP

[ghsDUDE]

Ok...so I got a new MBP and I just want to transfer over my Music, Playlists, Album Art, and Play Counts over to my new MBP.

I have an external hard drive but my iTunes Library has a lot of sub folders within it and I just want to transfer over what was stated above.

Which do I select to put on the external hard drive to transfer over?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Normally you transfer the complete iTunes folder, like in any of the guides below:

Migrating iTunes windows to Mac
Migrate Your iTunes Library from Windows to Mac (and keep your ratings, play counts and date added)
Move an iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac
Geek to Live: How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)

More can be found via "itunes windows to mac" or MRoogle​

 

[KwanMan]

transfer the whole folder over and delete what you dont want from itunes, makes life easier

 

[Mak47]

Easy, easy, easy way... assuming you're connected to a home Wifi network and don't have TB's full of data.

Open iTunes on your old computer, turn on "Home Sharing".

Open iTunes on your new MBP, you'll see "your name's" Library.

Highlight everything in the library.

Click the button on the bottom right that says "import".

Done.

 

[JTToft]

Easy, easy, easy way... assuming you're connected to a home Wifi network and don't have TB's full of data.

Open iTunes on your old computer, turn on "Home Sharing".

Open iTunes on your new MBP, you'll see "your name's" Library.

Highlight everything in the library.

Click the button on the bottom right that says "import".

Done.

- That won't transfer the play counts.

 

[Daytona 360]

Short answer:
- You can just copy the iTunes Music folder, iTunes Library, and iTunes Music Library to your new Music folder on your MBP. You can also copy the iTunes Library Genius if you are using the Genius functionality.

Long answer:
- The album artworks are actually embedded inside the music files so you don't need to copy the artwork folder.
- You can export and import playlists from iTunes, just right-click on the Playlists and select Export...
- There are plenty of Apple Scripts to manage play lists/play counts from Doug Adams site:
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/index.php
- I don't know what version of iTunes you are running. However since iTunes 9 Apple has changed the iTunes folder structure. You can read about it here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
- You can have iTunes try to convert the folder structure for you, but it is not always reliable in terms of where it puts the files. However if all your music files are properly tagged, you can start a new iTunes 9/10 Library. Inside the iTunes Media folder there is a folder called "Automatically Add to iTunes", just drag your music files into that folder and it will automatically create the underlying folder structures based on the tag information of the music files. It's a fairly manual process but I found it works better for me than having iTunes do it automatically.

Hope it helps.

 

[JTToft]

An alternative way to do it is to back up your iTunes library on your PC to DVDs, then restore from them on your MacBook Pro.
Takes some time, but you are certain to get everything with you, and it's easy.