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Old iTunes folder to Catalina or Big Sur Music.app

FYI. I have tested how to best import an old iTunes folder to the Music.app on a cleanly installed Big Sur (Catalina was the same but I skipped it). My current "iTunes" folder in Mojave was created 2006 (15 GB folder containing 1800 songs).


With my setup the Music.app could successfully parse the old “iTunes Library.itl” and convert it to the new “Music Library.musiclibrary”.


In that process the Music.app wanted to create a new mainly empty “Music” folder. I want all stuff in the same folder so I manually organised the old iTunes folder to the new Music.app layout:


~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary

~/Music/Music/Media/Music/[imported and downloaded artists/albums]

~/Music/Music/Media/Automatically Add to Music/ <- created automatically

~/Music/Music/Media/Downloads-Music/ <- created after authorisation (Catalina)


Convert old iTunes folder to the new folder structure:


0. In the old macOS iTunes.app check the song count (View > Show Status Bar) so you can compare it in the new Music.app.


1. Copy the old "iTunes" folder to macOS 11.0 Big Sur ~/Music/ folder and rename it "Music".


2. Option-start macOS 11.0 Big Sur Music.app and choose the old ~/Music/Music/iTunes Library.itl as a library. Music.app prompts to create a new “Music 1” folder. Save it on the Desktop (or where ever because this folder is deleted at step #5).


3. Wait a while for the old library to load (check the song count via View > Show Status Bar).


4. Quit Music.app. Open “Music 1” folder created in step #2 and move "Music Library.musiclibrary" from it to the ~/Music/Music/ folder you renamed in step #1. Delete the temporary “Music 1” folder from the Desktop.


5. Inside ~/Music/Music/ folder create a new "Media" folder, rename the old "iTunes Music" folder to "Music" and move it to "Media" folder you just created.


6. Option-start macOS 11.0 Big Sur Music.app and choose the newly created and moved ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary as a library.


7. Open Music.app > Preferences... > Files, click "Reset", "OK" and "Yes" to the alert "Would you like to move and rename the files in your new Media folder to match the "Keep Media folder organized" preference?".


8. Quit Music.app. Inside ~/Music/Music/Media/Music/ folder delete the "Automatically Add to iTunes" and "Automatically Add to Music" folders after verifying they are empty (a new "Automatically Add to Music" was created in step #7 in the upper folder).


9. Now you should have all imported songs available in the new Music.app with the new folder structure.


There are the following old iTunes files that AFAIK serve no purpose anymore and might be deleted. I am not yet sure whether the "Album Artwork" is still needed because the album art is still there even if it is trashed.


iTunes Library Extras.itdb

iTunes Library Genius.itdb

iTunes Library.itl

iTunes Library.xml

iTunes Music Library.xml

Posted on Dec 9, 2020 12:01 PM

Reply
104 replies

Oct 4, 2021 10:51 AM in response to enamic5

Rather than force download each individual folder you might want to have a peak at the Mobile Documents folder. It can be found at Finder—>Go—>option key reveals Library so select it—>Mobile Documents. Stuff in iCloud appears also in this folder. If your music is there you might be able to chose it as your Music Media file location. This advice comes with a big maybe. Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest backing everything up first.

Oct 5, 2021 10:27 AM in response to Matti Haveri

These instructions were AMAZING! When I upgraded from Mojave to Big Sur on my laptop a few weeks ago, the upgrade went super sideways. With regard to my music, this meant I was left with my Mojave iTunes folder on a backup external hard disk, and a completely clean install of Big Sur on my laptop with an empty Apple Music.


My music library is 48 Gig for 7000+ songs.


I followed these instructions and so far (a day later) everything I've checked and care about appears to have come through perfectly including playlists and ratings.


As reported by others, in Step 8 when I quit Apple Music, I got a popup "Saving Music Library....". I went and had dinner and when I came back maybe an hour later, it had completed successfully and quit properly. (So I don't know exactly how long it took, just that it was less than an hour.)


THANK YOU SO MUCH! I never would have figured this out on my own.

Oct 28, 2021 11:13 AM in response to Marfos27

Marfos27 wrote:

Thank you very much turingtest2!
This sounds do-able, I'll certainly try that. Thanks also for the link!

So will this iTunes library be part of the Music library or will it remain a separate but accessible library?


The process creates a new Music library based on the old iTunes one. When you close Music, and then reopen later, it will open the new library that you've made. The .itl file isn't used any more, but the media in the old iTunes folder is, at least until such time as you might choose to consolidate it to a new location.


tt2

Oct 28, 2021 12:16 PM in response to turingtest2

No, the mod date is only the date I opened it and took a look, my recent post-2019 music isn't there but it is in my current G5 iTunes Folder, the one that apparently has only Media in it and iTunes on that machine works fine and has all my stuff. So, the music isn't split between the two, but the 2019 only has music up till 2019.

I do have an iPod that has all my music, minus videos and other miscellaneous items on it in full resolution. I don't know if it would be possible to import that into Music and if it would actually import cover, ratings, and playlists?

I'm going to copy the 2019 folder with the .itl to a remote disk and think about it so I'll be back, but I'd like to merge the two libraries. If not I presume I can import the missing media into the new/old 2019?







Oct 29, 2021 8:41 AM in response to Sweejak

Presumably the library was reliant on one .itl file or the other. Note that double-clicking an .itl file opens iTunes with the last library selected via the option-start-iTunes method, so depending on what you did you might not have changed between them. Whatever library file you have active will be the one that takes note of any new files you add to the library. You can add the whole media folder if needed to pick up any orphaned tracks.


tt2

Oct 29, 2021 10:19 AM in response to turingtest2

Well well, option opening iTunes and selecting the old .itl resulted in iTunes with all my media. So, all this time iTunes was using the 2nd internal .itl but taking the Media from the 2021 on my main drive which is where iTunes is directed to save things. No wonder I've been confused. To fix this should I just replace the media file in the 2019 (Drag and Drop) or just direct iTunes to save to that old 2019 media file on the 2nd Internal?

Nov 21, 2021 7:11 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks for doing this. I just finished installing my iTunes Library from a late 2013 MBP on Mojave to a MBA M1 on Big Sur.

Admittedly I had to read through this a few times, but it went as written with a little help from captsri on #5 and #8.


Well done. My playlists, ratings, play count, album art all intact.

Next time I see you, coffee is on me.


Question:

What to do with the iTunes Media folder? It still holds Audiobooks, Home Videos, Music Copy, Podcasts.

Leave it?

Rename it?

Nov 22, 2021 9:42 AM in response to EsTaF

If you're trying to get to the default layout of a music library then your library file should be:

~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary.

and your media folder should be:

~/Music/Music/Media


Like iTunes, Music doesn't scan the media folder to see what should be added or removed from the library to match it. You can use File > Add to Library > {Media Folder} to import any music content in the media folder than isn't already known to the library. Video content should be organized under ~/Movies/TV/Media. Podcasts and audiobooks can be imported into Podcasts and Books respectively.


tt2

Old iTunes folder to Catalina or Big Sur Music.app

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