Old iTunes folder to Catalina or Big Sur Music.app

Ok, never mind. I redid everything and it all papers to be there. Thank so much for your tips!

Would you happen to know where the podcasts all went, though. I had podcasts downloaded in the same folder and they didn't auto populate upon opening Apple podcasts.

TY

Thanks so much Matti!... I transitioned from Mojave to Big Sur and with your guidance and the discussion tips from members, I could settle the Music app.... now I need to settle the TV app... Thanks again!...

Hi Matti — I had already started the process in a slightly different way by copying my 33,173 item, 132.6 day, 193.43 GB iTunes folder created in Mojave from a backup drive into my fancy new Mac Air running Catalina but got stumped about how to get 25 playlist folders (each containing multiple playlists) and another 200+ playlists to make the journey. You provided invaluable pieces of the puzzle and put a smile on my face. Gratefully yours, Fels

Hi, did you ever figure this out? My library is 400 GB and also keep having to force quit Music for Not Responding after said rainbow wheel of death....any further clarification on how we do it with big libraries?

Thank you for all your efforts and for posting this.

I wish I had the brain power to follow your instructions. The problem is that my old computer is dead so I have to use the iTunes folder from time machine. Also all these music/music/music folders are really confusing.

I bet they do it on purpose...

Thank you very much turingtest2!

This sounds do-able, I'll certainly try that. Thanks also for the link!

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

You're looking at what would normally be the iTunes Media folder The iTunes folder that contains the iTunes Library.itl file is usually the one above that, unless you'd made a choice in the past to put the media folder in a new location while leaving the library files in the old one.

tt2

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

If I recall correctly I did once move the iTunes folder to a remote drive, but it was, I think, the entire folder. Oh dear I've gone to my old G5 and on another internal drive I have this: Now what?

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?

Search for all of the .itl files on your computer and check their modification dates. Hopefully you can locate whatever library you consider to be your main up to date library and switch back to it.

tt2

The only .itl files I have are on the 2nd internal disk on the G5. I've now copied that to an external drive. So, how was iTunes on my G5 able to function without those files? Could I go to the 2019 media folder and drop in the newer media from 2021 and expect the .itl to update the newly dropped media?

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

[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252151523?answerId=254782285022#254782285022 So should I

1) rename "iTunes Media" to "Media" (Step 5)

2) combine that with the old duplicate "iTunes Music" folders (Step 5), then

3) reset the library to point to Music/Music/Media (Step 7) etc]

[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252151523?answerId=252151523021#252151523021

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.

Done, but... it didn't pick up any of the files moved to the new "Media" folder. Due to my dual location set-up (?) it chose the default file location as the old

.../Music/Music/Music/iTunes Media; not ....Music/Music/Music/Media

(.itl library file also only found the /Music/Music/Music/iTunes Media; not the ....Music/Music/Music/Media)

As a result, I reversed step 5, trying to recreate the ...Music/Music/iTunes Music folder, but iTunes now can't locate those files.

I fear I'm going to have to unwind everything and start over; going through 'reorganise' the entire library didn't pick up the old "music" files either.

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.]

[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252151523?answerId=252151523021#252151523021

8. Quit Music.app. Inside ~/Music/Music/iTune Media/ 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 Inside ~/Music/Music/Media folder).]

Is it right?

And where is there a "7" and "4" point?

How big is your Music folder inside ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media? How much free space do you have? On a Mac you can potentially move a folder around within the same volume and Music should keep track of everything, but it might be safer to consolidate to the correct path and then remove the originals by hand.

tt2