transfer library to Apple music

Hi Jim,

Here's where it get weird!

The actual path to the song is:

/Jim Passpor/Music//Bruce Springsteen/The River, Disc 2/2-08 Drive All Night.m4a

but Music shows the track in"get info" as:

/Jim Passpor/Music/Music/Media/Music/Bruce Springsteen/The River, Disc 2/2-08 Drive All Night.m4a

That's certainly weird, unless Music made a copy of the fle second path as you imported it, which would be the default behaviour if the media folder is set to /Jim Passpor/Music/Music/Media[.localized] and the Copy Files preference is enabled.

I would be tempted to rearrange things so that your artist folders end up in /Jim Passpor/Music/Music/Media/Music, then use a global search and replace operation on the XML file to change file:///Users/Jim/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/ to file:///Volumes/Jim%20Passpor/Music/Music/Media.localized/ then save the edited file with a new name (in case you need to retrace your steps) before importing the XML file.

TBH if I were doing this myself I'd probably want to get rid of the doubly nested /Music/Music/ folder, which should be question of moving whatever is currently inside /Jim Passpor/Music/Music up one level, deleting the now empty terminal /Music folder, and then adjusting the instructions in the paragraph above using /Music/ instead of /Music/Music/.

tt2

See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. There have been a couple of threads lately where it seems Music hasn't managed to import the .itl file correctly. Using a earlier version backed up in Time Machine, or getting iTunes on the source machine to refresh the .itl file, may help here.

tt2

An alternative approach if Music isn't able to convert the .itl file might be to export the library as an XML file from iTunes, copy over the XML file, edit if needed to accommodate any path changes, then import the XML into an empty Music library. Tracks will show the current date for date added, but otherwise this should result in an identical library to the one in iTunes.

tt2

Hi.

The .localized bit suggests that the displayed name of the folder might be different in different regions. The extension would normally be hidden in Finder so you're not aware of it. You should continue to use the long form name in your XML if that is the real name of the folder. You can check using this advice; Show or hide filename extensions on Mac - Apple Support.

This line of XML is incomplete:

<string>file:///Users/liubarbaro/SynologyDrive/brett/Music/Music/Media.localized/Beenie%20Man/Tropical%20Storm/Bad%20

From context it should continue:

<string>file:///Users/liubarbaro/SynologyDrive/brett/Music/Music/Media.localized/Beenie%20Man/Tropical%20Storm/Bad%20Girl.mp3</string>

Is the forum software clipping it (we'll soon find out) or did you miss out the rest of it due to wrapping from wherever you copied it?

The file:///Users/ users bit at the beginning would suggest local storage in the user's profile folder rather than a network location.

You cannot use ~ as a shortcut in the XML file.

Spaces in the path are replaced with %20 in the XML.

Make a new test library and add in one track from its current location on the NAS, export the library as an XML file. then inspect the generated XML. My guess is that you should see a path like:

<string>file:///SynologyDrive/brett/Music/Music/Media.localized/Beenie%20Man/Tropical%20Storm/Bad%20Girl.mp3</string>

(but perhaps with only two slashes at the beginning?)

The file tab in get info should show the current location for a track that plays. The file:// syntax is used when the track isn't where it is expected to be. What is displayed should be the last known location, although it may be tweaked slightly if/when the media folder location is changed or as a result of the media folder layout preference (whether or not there is an additional subfolder called Music in the media folder).

tt2

I got it to work!!!

Fixed the paths in the xml file and used "Import Playlist...", and it worked on my old library xml file!! :) :) :)

Thank you SO much for your help with this. I haven't combed through it yet, but I can at least see that my play count and ratings seem to be intact. This is a HUGE weight off my shoulders. I will explore it a bit and let you know if anything remarkable shows up. But THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,

B

Update - I tried same experiment but used "Import Playlist...", and it worked. Trying to capitalize on this now. I will send updates.

Ask away. This is my hobby. Cheaper than golf!

One would typically expect to find an Tunes music file at <some path>/iTunes/iTunes Media/<AlbumArtist>/<Album>/[D-]## <Name>.<Ext>. Depending on what is done in the way of copying files to different drives or locations they are ether going to be in the same location on the new computer, or for example at <some other path>/iTunes/iTunes Media/<AlbumArtist>/<Album>/[D-]## <Name>.<Ext>. Or you might also swap /iTunes/iTunes Media/ for /Music/Media. If the path changes then you need to perform a search and replace on the XML, otherwise you can use it as it is. If you do a search and replace you must make sure the new paths are properly formed and correspond to the new locations, or the whole thing will break.

tt2

Activate the Apple Music app.

Select Music > Preferences from the toolbar at the top of your screen.

To enable it, click Sync Library under the General tab. You won't get the option to enable Sync Library if you don't have an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription.

Select OK.

Hi! New to this conversation, but very similar situation. I had been using a 2015 MacBook Pro retina 15" with OS X 10.11.6. I've been collecting and curating my 20000 mp3s since 2003, and so it is extremely important to me to retain the information I have input. I last saved my iTunes library in 2020, and exported it as an XML at the same time. I did a clean install of everything on my new M1 mini - did not use Migration Assistant. All my data is stored on a NAS. Now I can't get "Music" to import my itl file (just spins) or my xml file (does nothing).

I wanted to let you know I tried the XML thing and it didn't work. However, I'm not sure what you mean by "edit if needed to accommodate any path changes". Could you expand on that?

Thanks,

B

Hi tt2 -

First off, I'd like to join my colleague in thanking you profusely for your help with this! You are very clear and knowledgeable. Nice hobby! I hope it brings you satisfaction.

Still having trouble - I've been reformatting my xml file, but to no avail. (BTW - I have 32116 songs in my library.)

For example, let's look at the first track in my XML file.

This is the path to the file (obtained by selecting the file, <command>-i, copying/pasting the path from the info window, then adding the track name):

/Users/liubarbaro/SynologyDrive/brett/Music/Music/Media.localized/Beenie Man/Tropical Storm/Bad Girl.mp3

Here is the corresponding line that I have updated in my XML file:

<key>Location</key><string>file:///Users/liubarbaro/SynologyDrive/brett/Music/Music/Media.localized/Beenie%20Man/Tropical%20Storm/Bad%20Girl.mp3</string>

I have also tried deleting the "file://" portion in the xml, replacing it with a "~", using just "Media" instead of "Media.localized" (what's with the ".localized" anyway?), and a few other things.

Every time I try to import the xml file, I navigate to it, double click it, and the window just disappears and nothing else happens. Any ideas? Thanks!

For reference, here is the beginning of the xml file, including this track:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>

<key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>

<key>Application Version</key><string>12.8.2.3</string>

<key>Date</key><date>2020-05-30T21:35:09Z</date>

<key>Features</key><integer>5</integer>

<key>Library Persistent ID</key><string>74920C38D5F6BEFD</string>

<key>Tracks</key>

<dict>

<key>14233</key>

<dict>

<key>Track ID</key><integer>14233</integer>

<key>Size</key><integer>3745459</integer>

<key>Total Time</key><integer>234057</integer>

<key>Year</key><integer>2002</integer>

<key>Date Modified</key><date>2007-07-22T01:58:12Z</date>

<key>Date Added</key><date>2007-07-05T03:00:04Z</date>

<key>Bit Rate</key><integer>128</integer>

<key>Sample Rate</key><integer>44100</integer>

<key>Play Count</key><integer>2</integer>

<key>Play Date</key><integer>3478699764</integer>

<key>Play Date UTC</key><date>2014-03-27T00:29:24Z</date>

<key>Persistent ID</key><string>B85FC9C3E8989618</string>

<key>Track Type</key><string>File</string>

<key>File Folder Count</key><integer>4</integer>

<key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>1</integer>

<key>Name</key><string>Bad Girl</string>

<key>Artist</key><string>Beenie Man</string>

<key>Album</key><string>Tropical Storm</string>

<key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>

<key>Comments</key><string>http://www.supermusic.nu/</string>

<key>Location</key><string>/Users/liubarbaro/SynologyDrive/brett/Music/Music/Media.localized/Beenie%20Man/Tropical%20Storm/Bad%20Girl.mp3</string>

</dict>