How to transfer Playlists from iTunes to Music
@bigredmachine asked how to do this in December, 2020. That thread seems to have been closed out so I can't reply there. I have a similar situation to him: my iTunes library on an external hard drive to my old laptop. I managed to port my library to the new laptop running Monterey 12.2 and the Music app. But the playlists were empty. I found that the following worked for me. You will need to modify the paths to match your own system. If you are unsure of the path, export a playlist from Music and look at the file.
File -> Library -> Export Playlist from iTunes as xml.
Use text editor to change file path in the new system.
file:///Volumes/<volumename>/Music-N/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Music/
is replaced with
file:///Users/<username>/Music/My%20Music/Media/Music/
Move the file to where Music can see it. (I used iCloud as my go-between.)
File -> Library -> Import Playlist from Music.
Assuming the relative location or file name in the Media folder didn’t change, all the tracks should be in the new playlist in Music.
(I did have an issue with an Apple lossless track and the AAC track generated from it showing up as the AAC track listed twice, so it is not perfect. Back everything up before you start messing with stuff.)
MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.2
