Transferring music files from one MacBook to another via external hard drive

So long story short I lost my music on my iMac where I stored my most recent Music library (the data extraction got it back, but the hard drive failed so all it could pull is the files with NO names or anything, so there's no way I'm sorting through 3 users worth of thousands of songs and trying to rename them in Music).

I just want my music that I'd uploaded from CDs years ago, because most everything in the last 10+ years I've bought and have redownloaded from my account. So I found my iTunes library from my 2010 MacBook Pro, which was last updated in 2017.

I'm not sure the best way to transfer to music to my current MacBook.

I ultimately want the files from that previous iTunes library moved to current MacBook, where I can have all those files plus what I've already downloaded from purchases in one file, which I can then backup manually to an external drive while also importing into Apple Music.

I did transfer the entire iTunes folder from the old MacBook to an external. Is the best method to transfer those files to my current MacBook, and if so where do I put them (since there's multiple folders in the iTunes folder) so that all the info (artist, song name, artwork, etc.) is transferred - and can it be in the same folder as my current Apple Music files on my current MacBook?

Or should I try homesharing if it lets me? Would that music data go into both the Music library AND the macbook's Music files?

I have the "add copy" thing checked off (see attached), so if I just import music from the external into Music, would it automatically add it into my Music files, and would that be adequate? Would those copies that get added to the file be able to be backed up, i.e. would everything still play and would I be able to use those files to backup my music since it's a copy and not the original file?

This part from this article confused me: "By default, Music places a copy of each audio file in the Music folder (Home/Music/Music) and leaves the original file in the current location. For information about adding an alias to the file (instead of creating a copy), see Change where your music files are stored.

When you import an item by dragging it to the Music window or choosing File > Add To Library or File > Import, a reference (or “pointer”) to the item—not the item itself—is placed in the Music folder. You might not be able to play the song if you move it."