Migrating iTunes Library from WinPC to Apple Music

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Migrating iTunes Library from WinPC to Apple Music

I just set up my first Mac, a new MacBook Pro. I also have a Windows 10 PC with iTunes. On my PC, the iTunes library files are on one internal drive and the music files are on another internal drive.

When I used Migration Assistant to transfer the music and library files during setup, it stuck the files in "Shared" and did not update the library file to the new Mac location as the XML file points to the Windows location.

What is my best course of action is to transfer the music and library files? I want to preserve the folder hierarchy of Apple Music. Should I run Migration Assistant again? Have iTunes move the entire library to an external drive and then copy the ITL file to Mac? Move the files in Shared to the Apple Music folder, open the ITL file in Apple Music and hope it let's me update the library location?

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Feb 16, 2023 3:34 PM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

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Feb 17, 2023 3:36 PM in response to William Zeallor

See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. Pay particular attention to the section macOS 10.15 Catalina and later and also look at Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community. The Music app doesn't use the old iTunes Album Artwork folder, nor will it host podcasts, audobooks, etc. Ideally you'd get the iTunes library into a portable shape before porting it over to ensure the library knows where the music has ended up, but I've got techniques and tools to repair things after the fact if needed. See Music File - Apple Community for example.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

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Feb 17, 2023 1:18 AM in response to William Zeallor

The key is to copy the library to an external drive in the portable shape, i.e. an iTunes folder with the library files, and inside that an iTunes Media folder containing all of the media. You can do that by copying the existing iTunes folder to your external drive as X:\iTunes, shift-starting iTunes to choose a library, then opening X:\iTunes\Tunes Library.itl. Now you would reset the media folder to X:\iTunes\iTunes Media via Edit > Preferences > Advanced, then you would consolidate the library with File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files. The library should now be ready to transfer to a Mac by copying over the whole iTunes folder. After transfering the folder to local storage on the Mac, or a Mac formatted external drive, option-start Music and choose the .itl file which Music should be able to convert to the .musiclibrary format and locate the files at whatever path they end up on.

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Answer 3

turingtest2

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Feb 16, 2023 5:39 PM in response to William Zeallor

See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

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Feb 19, 2023 4:07 AM in response to William Zeallor

The key is to copy over the whole library in this portable shape, with the .itl file in the same folder as the media folder. Then when you access the .itl file with Music it should fix the links to files that will no longer be on their original Windows paths. As I said above you may need to copy the iTunes folder from the NTFS drive to a Mac drive first, then access the new copy via Music, which will prompt for a location to save the converted database.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

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Feb 17, 2023 7:07 PM in response to William Zeallor

What is the path to the existing media folder? What is the location of the existing library file? Did you read my earlier post to the thread which gave a potential strategy here? I think Music prefers HFS/APFS. NTFS is read only on a Mac. When you open a .itl in Music you get prompted for a location to store the resulting library and a folder name to use. ~/Music/ is the default location, and the default folder name to add is Music. Names and locations can be changed after the fact to tidy things up if needs be.

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Answer 6

Feb 19, 2023 7:42 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for all of you assistance. I managed to get the playlists and music over. Everything was on the external drive. I opened the ITL file in Apple Music and then consolidated to the Mac HD. It didn't transfer flawlessly. About 100 files failed to copy over, which isn't a surprise given that Apple Music appears to be a reskinned iTunes. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be an easy way to get a list of entries without files. It also created the file structure shown here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/whats-the-itunes-folder-structure-in-monterey.2337406/?post=30922006#post-30922006 with music in its own directory in media.

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Answer 7

Feb 16, 2023 6:08 PM in response to turingtest2

I read that. Unfortunately, I have a hard time following it. But it seems the gist is that I should move entire media library to an external drive via iTunes, then copy the ITL file over, and open it with Apple Music?

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Answer 8

Feb 17, 2023 2:37 PM in response to turingtest2

I have not yet opened Apple Music. To preserve the default folder hierarchy, should I copy the Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks folders over to HD > Music > Music > Media > Music and the Album Artwork folder to HD > Music > Music? Also, is it correct that there are two Music folders nested directly?

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Answer 9

Feb 17, 2023 3:52 PM in response to turingtest2

Awesome. So I have the portably formatted directories on the external NTFS drive. I guess my questions are then, when I open the ITL file on the external with Apple Music, will it automatically create the .musiclibrary version in Music > Music? And should I be doing this instead from an exFat formatted drive or is NTFS fine because I’m just copying not editing?

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Answer 10

Feb 17, 2023 6:11 PM in response to William Zeallor

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I will be able to get it portably formatted as I apparently have this bug My iTunes media folder keeps resetting to… - Apple Community. The XML file seems to point at the correct path when I close iTunes. Only up reopening does it reset so I'm not sure what's happening in the ITL file.

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Answer 11

Feb 18, 2023 2:26 PM in response to turingtest2

I got the library in the portable, consolidated format. So, it seems like my next step is to copy over the artist folders to the Mac. Should I copy to HD > Music > Music > Media?

Next, after the artist folders are copied, I should open the ITL file via Apple Music. When it's imported, does it present a dialogue box asking for the location of the media files directory? I ask because the ITL file will point to the external drive but the media folders will be on the Mac.

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Answer 12

turingtest2

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Feb 19, 2023 10:27 AM in response to William Zeallor

Lost & Found playlists

Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag/drop it into the Found playlist (you must drag & drop, not add to playlist or copy/paste). Create a smart playlist called Lost matching All the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Found. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist.

See also https://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=mxlistmias.

As for layout see Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community and the section on iTunes Media Organization.

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Migrating iTunes Library from WinPC to Apple Music

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