My iTunes library was on an external hard drive. Now that I have 'Music' how do I move the library file so that it preserves my playlists, ratings, and comments?

After using the option-start method to open either Music or TV and selecting an old .itl file you will be prompted for a location to save the converted library. Typically the converted library will attempt to reference the media at its current location. You should be able to set up both Music and TV to use your original iTunes Media folder, or you can opt to make the Music library on the internal drive, then consolidate to a media folder inside the new library folder you've created.

tt2

When you use the option-start-Music process you get prompted for a location to save the converted database. Thereafter that will be the database the Music opens each time it starts. The media folder is available from preferences. If you want your Music on your internal drive you can make sure the library folder is there, reset the media folder if needed, then consolidate to the new path. See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for a general primer on library organization. While based on iTunes the principles are much the same for Music.

tt2

You might also want to see.the 'macOS 10.15 Catalina and later' section in:

Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community

See also How to move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Support for Apple's approach to this topic.

Sorry for the delay. Moving content by hand tends to break things. With iTunes you could selectively consolidate selected content to the current media folder, which created new copies and updated in the links in the .itl file. Unfortunately it doesn't work like this with Music where consolidate appears to be an all or nothing affair. However if you want (and have room for) your music on your internal drive then after converting the iTunes library to a Music library (which will leave out non-music content) you should be able to designate a new media folder and consolidate the library to that.

tt2

Hi Mystic Halo,

We see that you have your music files stored on an external hard drive, and after getting a new one with the updated Music app, you want to ensure all of your information moves to the app.

In short, the first time you open Music it should scan your internal drive for your music library files and automatically import them. Depending on how you've configured the external that may not happen and you may need to manually point the Music app at your music file location on your external. See how to update that preference in the Music app below.

• Change where your music files are stored on Mac

If those tips don't resolve the issue or if you have further questions, feel free to reply to this post.

Cheers!

What is the location of your active .musiclibrary file? What is the path to the media folder listed under Music > Preferences > Files? The Rearrange Files option is greyed out if the library is already using the modern layout that adds an additional Music folder inside the media folder. Arguably it would make more sense for Music to have an option to undo this switch, but it doesn't.

tt2

Mystic Halo,

Thanks for clarifying.

In that case, you'll want to use the steps in the following article to copy your files back over to your Macs internal storage.

• Import music from a computer to Music on Mac

Locate the main iTunes folder on your external drive and select it to import. Additionally, ensure in the Music app under Music > Preferences > Files that the option to "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library" is checked prior to importing your library.

Take care.