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iPod Switching computers, how am I going to save my smartlists?

L

lactocrit

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2004
17
0
Hey guys,

I'm going off to Uni in less than 10 days and obviously I'm bringing my beloved iPod. Thing is, I'll have to switch over to my laptop. Sending the songs over isn't that big a problem ('cept it's going to take forever, even on my home network.) The problem is, I still haven't figured out how I can get my Play Count and Last Played info over to the other machine.

Look forward to hearing from you guys.
 
lactocrit said:
Hey guys,

I'm going off to Uni in less than 10 days and obviously I'm bringing my beloved iPod. Thing is, I'll have to switch over to my laptop. Sending the songs over isn't that big a problem ('cept it's going to take forever, even on my home network.) The problem is, I still haven't figured out how I can get my Play Count and Last Played info over to the other machine.

Look forward to hearing from you guys.
Click to expand...

Fairly easy. On your laptop's (assuming a Mac) iTunes music folder, copy the Library and .xml files from your desktop. When you lauch iTunes, everything will be preserved just as you had it on your desktop. Look at attachment. If you are using windows, who knows!
 

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mad jew said:
You should still have these files from memory. They'll be in the iTunes folder in your My Music folder or wherever you keep your tunes. :)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, my "switch" isn't going well. After spending ages transferring songs from one machine to another AND transfer the iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Music Library.xml files, some how iTunes still can't "find" the music file.

This may be a little confusing..
basically on my main machine, my music files are stored under:
C:\Documents and Settings\Eugene Lee\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
while on my laptop:
C:\Documents and Settings\Eugene Li\My Documents\My Music\iTunes

Note the "Lee" and "Li" difference.

I edited the xml file to reflect this difference (replacing all Eugene%20Lee with Eugene%20Li. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work. I'm guessing the .itl file has to be edited as well.

Now, unless I manually tell itunes where each song is, I'm stuck with a useless library.

Anyone out there able to give me a hand?
 
:(
(sorry for being a bit of a pest, but I'm getting desperate. Leaving in less than 12 hours)
 
lactocrit said:
Unfortunately, my "switch" isn't going well.
Click to expand...


Switching around here generally has the connotations that a Mac is involved - PC to Mac user is a Switcher. Just to reaffirm, there is no Mac, is there?


lactocrit said:
After spending ages transferring songs from one machine to another AND transfer the iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Music Library.xml files, some how iTunes still can't "find" the music file.
Click to expand...


It can't find your music? As in, you have the music in your iTunes folder but iTunes is coming up with blank screens saying you have no music?


lactocrit said:
This may be a little confusing..
basically on my main machine, my music files are stored under...

Note the "Lee" and "Li" difference.
Click to expand...


That shouldn't matter.


lactocrit said:
I edited the xml file to reflect this difference (replacing all Eugene%20Lee with Eugene%20Li. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work. I'm guessing the .itl file has to be edited as well.
Click to expand...


I think this may be where the problems began. You don't need to edit this file. Assuming you let iTunes keep all your music organised itself (if not ignore what I'm saying), then you simply needed to copy across the iTunes folder with iTunes Music, iTunes Library and iTunes Library.xml from one My Music folder to the next. No editing is required AFAIK.


lactocrit said:
Now, unless I manually tell itunes where each song is, I'm stuck with a useless library.
Click to expand...


At last resort, you can delete the Library and Library.xml files to get a completely new library. You will of course then have to reimport your music by simply dragging it into iTunes. This will lose your play-counts and playlists though, which is obviously undesirable.
 
> Just to reaffirm, there is no Mac, is there?
Sorry, took the liberty to hijack the term.




>It can't find your music? As in, you have the music in your iTunes folder but iTunes is coming up with blank screens saying you have no music?
No, what I have is a full library of songs with all the info.
However, the "!" would appear when I play it. A message saying the file cannot be found that pops up.

>I think this may be where the problems began. You don't need to edit this file. Assuming you let iTunes keep all your music organised itself (if not ignore what I'm saying), then you simply needed to copy across the iTunes folder with iTunes Music, iTunes Library and iTunes Library.xml from one My Music folder to the next. No editing is required AFAIK.

I was beginning to think you're right... but then after I sent the original, un-edited .xml over......... still stuck with the same problem.
"Original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"


>At last resort, you can delete the Library and Library.xml files to get a completely new library. You will of course then have to reimport your music by simply dragging it into iTunes. This will lose your play-counts and playlists though, which is obviously undesirable.

This, I would hate to do. =P
 
lactocrit said:
I was beginning to think you're right... but then after I sent the original, un-edited .xml over......... still stuck with the same problem.
"Original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"
Click to expand...


If there is even a slight change in the folder structure of that iTunes folder, it will throw the whole thing out of context and you'll get that warning no matter which file you try. Sorry to say this, but there's really no point in trying to edit it to get your stuff back. When transferring libraries, it's best to actually take the entire iTunes library and drag it into the new computer, completely unchanged.

The Library files are very fragile and will get corrupted with even the slightest change. As an example, I once tried to transfer my library to a new computer. I split my library in half and dragged them across separately. I had all the right files in what I thought were the right places, but for some reason it didn't work. I had to end up dragging the whole iTunes folder across as one entity. If this isn't possible then I'm sorry, but you may have to lose your playlists. :(
 
Yeah, sorry. :(

I suppose it's worth a try editing the Library file... I just don't think you'll get anywhere.

Could you try to transfer the library again or is it too late?
 
Guys.. any alternative to dragging 20 gigs from one computer to another just to save my playcount and last-played?


pretty please?
 
Actually what do you mean by itunes folder.
if that's just simply where I put my mp3 files (the my music folder on windows), then no I did not attempt to split it.
 
Okay, from memory iTunes creates a folder inside My Music called iTunes. Inside that is the iTunes Music folder (with your music) and two other files called iTunes Library and iTunes Library.xml or something to that effect.

This is all assuming you let iTunes organise your music though, which it does by default. :)

However, are you saying you dragged that folder across and you're still getting the little greyed exclamation marks next to your music?
 
mad jew said:
Okay, from memory iTunes creates a folder inside My Music called iTunes. Inside that is the iTunes Music folder (with your music) and two other files called iTunes Library and iTunes Library.xml or something to that effect.

This is all assuming you let iTunes organise your music though, which it does by default. :)

However, are you saying you dragged that folder across and you're still getting the little greyed exclamation marks next to your music?
Click to expand...

Unfortunatey, yes.
That's what I did.
 
Crap. So you read the link I gave you and that pretty much looks exactly like what you did (apart from maybe backing up the music on your new computer)?
 
mad jew said:
Crap. So you read the link I gave you and that pretty much looks exactly like what you did (apart from maybe backing up the music on your new computer)?
Click to expand...

ahhh man... If I really were to follow the webpage's instructions, I'd need to free up another 20gigs of harddrive space just to accomodate the COPY of my songs.

And then I'd still have to send it across the network since my mini&nano surely won't be big enough.

AHHH

My man, is there any alternative?
 
So sorry, but I can't think of a better way. The network transfer is obviously going to take way too long. I just wish Apple would introduce a way of exporting smart playlists in terms of their parameters, not just the actual tracks within them. :(
 
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