Importing Music library from MBP 2015 to MBP 2024

Hi - considering upgrading current MBP Early 2015 (SSD near capacity) to MBP 2024. Have Music library on an external NAS drive. I have many non-Apple purchases in that library (CD's). The Music App on my current 2015 MBP is effectively iTunes allowing me to import my CD collection as well as Apple Store purchases. Will the Music App on the new 2024 MBP retain that ability? How would I import ALL of that library to the new 2024 MBP? My 2023 iPad Air appears not to allow that.


Thoughts?


Cheers,


Kerraddoo




MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Jul 22, 2024 9:19 AM

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Posted on Jul 22, 2024 1:36 PM

The Music app in Sonoma allows the import of locally stored media, and ripping content from CD (assuming you attach an optical drive). See Import music from a computer to Music on Mac - Apple Support and Import songs from CDs into Music on Mac - Apple Support. If you want to retain your playlists, play counts, ratings, etc. then you should open the existing library with the newer app rather than import the media into an otherwise empty library. Once the library has been updated by, say, Sonoma, it will no longer be accessible from Monterey, though you can keep a backup copy of the compatible library.


tt2

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 22, 2024 1:36 PM in response to kerraddoo

The Music app in Sonoma allows the import of locally stored media, and ripping content from CD (assuming you attach an optical drive). See Import music from a computer to Music on Mac - Apple Support and Import songs from CDs into Music on Mac - Apple Support. If you want to retain your playlists, play counts, ratings, etc. then you should open the existing library with the newer app rather than import the media into an otherwise empty library. Once the library has been updated by, say, Sonoma, it will no longer be accessible from Monterey, though you can keep a backup copy of the compatible library.


tt2

Jul 22, 2024 11:16 AM in response to kerraddoo

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


Upgrading to Monterey, or from pre-Mojave iTunes

Music in Monterey sometimes has trouble processing iTunes libraries and will stall on import. Newer versions of Music may also decline to convert older iTunes libraries. In such cases the library may need to be converted first by iTunes in Mojave and/or Music in Catalina, before it can be recognized in the newer version of Music. If you don't have access to suitable hardware or software for these conversions I may be able to help via an exchange of emails. See address in my profile.


tt2

Jul 22, 2024 12:15 PM in response to kerraddoo

Hi - thanks for this. It is helpful but I guess what I'm really asking is - does the functionality still exist in Music on a new MacBook Pro (ie 2024) to rip a new CD to Music's library or has the assumption been made that all Music will be streamed or downloaded from Apple Music/ Apple Match? It's not clear to me that that functionality has been retained on new MacBook Pros.

Clearly there will be occasions in the future where I have purchased a CD and want to add it to my Music library.


Current architecture is MacBook Pro early 2015 running Monterey 12.7.5. Music database sat on a NAS drive. This works fine but I'm considering updating that to a MacBook Pro 2024 with a bigger SSD.


In all fairness it is probably a question that I should put directly to Apple.


regards,



Kerraddoo


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Importing Music library from MBP 2015 to MBP 2024

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