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I have a new laptop and I want to replicate iTunes from the old to the new. I have exported and then imported the playlist library and all the playlists show in the new iTunes. However they are all empty. I have copied and moved the music source folder to the new computer already. Have I got to rebuild every play list? Is there a way of getting all the play lists to see the music they used to?
thanks
Windows, Windows 10
Apologies for my lack of clarity when trying to be brief. The iTunes library folder would normally be in your user's Music folder not Program Files. As a rule you would copy this folder from your user's Music folder in the old machine to your user's Music folder in the new one, and install iTunes in the usual way from iTunes - Apple. If your library is at different path you can press and hold down shift as you launch iTunes and use the Choose Library option to select the iTunes Library.itl file inside. If the library is still missing content you expect to see then see Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.
tt2
Thanks tt2. As I am in my 80’s but tech Savvy I will read this slowly and try to assimilate what it is saying. Does it mean my library export needs to be in the folder that holds all the music files. And then copy that folder over to the new machine and import the library to iTunes from that folder? If so then that’s why it hasn’t worked. My music folder was copied over first and I followed it with the library export as a separate file and it is still separate.
many thanks I will try that. As my music folder is 147gb is there a way I can unite the two on the new machine?
many thanks
In the most common cases all you need to do is copy the entire iTunes folder from one machine to the other. If you put the copied folder into the usual path of <User's Music>\iTunes then open iTunes it will usually show your library just as it was on the previous computer. The user tip covers variations on initial conditions that might make the easy steps fail and how to prepare for moving the library, or how to repair things after the move if it hasn't worked as expected. When moving the whole library there is no need to export or import playlists.
tt2
Copied the iTunes folder in Program Files and pasted it into the new laptop. I can see all of music in this folder. How do I open iTunes now. There is nothing on the start button. I downloaded iTunes hoping they would see each other but even though the downloaded version had all of my Playlists in it the playlists were still empty.
perhaps I am too old to understand what you are saying.
thanks for trying
No apologies needed. You are trying and are being very helpful.
Ok so I have copied the folder from Users music and pasted that onto the new laptop. I deleted the separate library file that I had copied as I wanted it to use the file in the users music folder. I deleted iTunes and then reinstalled it. When I open the new download all my playlists are in it but are all empty. I’m not sure how the new download associated itself with my playlist library as I hadn’t imported it into there? You sent me a link if this happened. I’m not sure I follow what it is telling me. Can you explain it simply so that someone keen but old can follow it.
of course you can just give up on me and I wouldn’t blame you. I could just laboriously fill all the playlists again but that is defeatist and that’s not me.
Many many thanks for your help
As a rule iTunes uses a library at the path <User's Music>\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. You can press and hold down shift when launching iTunes to get an option to choose or create a new library if your library is elsewhere for some reason. There are some default lists that an empty library will include, so perhaps you're seeing these. More likely it is because you imported an exported version of the library, but the files weren't in the same paths on the new system as the old one, so while the lists were created no files were added to the library. As I mentioned elsewhere if you move/copy the library correctly there is no need to export or import anything. If you import the files that you already copied over into the otherwise empty library you will get all of the songs, but not the ratings, play counts, playlist membership, etc. that were part of your old library.
Exactly what happens when you add files to the library depends on their location (inside or outside the media folder) and the state of the Keep... and Copy... options under Edit > Preferences > Advanced.
tt2
Yippee. You got there in the end. Holding the shift and choosing the library sorted it.
thank you very much for your patience and your help. Extremely grateful
Thanks tt2. Will start again tomorrow
A question. All of my music files are in a separate folder on the desktop. When I make a playlist and fill it from that folder does it copy the files into Users Music as well?
Thanks I will open iTunes in safe mode and choose my library tomorrow.
thanks again for your help
You're welcome. 🙂
tt2
Move playlist and music to a new computer
