iTunes on a 2025 Macbook Air

OldieTimer wrote:

Can I copy my itunes from an old imac to a 2025 MacBook Air.

Yes.

I have been told I cannot because my 2025 MacBook air does not support iTunes. It is now music.

Who ever told you that was very much mistaken.

It is entirely possible to migrate your iTunes Library from a Mac using iTunes to one using the Music app.

click here ➜ Move your iTunes library to another computer - Apple Support

and here ➜ Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community

If your library is not consolidated, i.e the media is in not in single folder and organized under iTunes artist, album, song scheme, then you may need to consolidate it first.

click here ➜ Make a split library portable - Apple Community

OldieTimer wrote:

Can I copy my itunes from an old imac to a 2025 MacBook Air.

I have been told I cannot because my 2025 MacBook air does not support iTunes. It is now music.

There would be no point in copying your iTunes application from your old iMac to a 2025 MacBook Air. Starting in Catalina, Apple split the functions of iTunes. There is no more iTunes application, and if you copy over one from an old version of macOS, the Mac will refuse to run it. Now you use the Music, TV, Books, and Podcast applications – and do iPhone/iPad/iPod management using the Finder.

You can bring over the music, movies, and TV shows in your iTunes Library.

OldieTimer wrote:

Thanks for the advice everyone.

My IMac is running Monterey, inthe dock there is not a ITunes App. It shows Music.

In which case your library is already in Apple Music format. So should be a direct transfer then.

Sorry but I don’t know how to find the version of I tunes I am using.

There is none. If you are on Monterey there is no iTunes. you are using Apple Music to access your library and as such your library is already in the Apple Music library format as said above.

Just copy over the "Music Library.musiclibrary" file in the Music Folder in your user folder and the Media folder there too assuming all the media files are in the Media folder also.

I will qualify some of what what Phil0124 has posted and state that the answers are not a definite "yes".

The article: Move your iTunes library to another computer - Apple Support

is about Windows. You have a two Macs. Windows is not part of this.

The user doc Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community

hasn't been updated in 3 years so it may or may not still be applicable.

You do not say what version library you have. It may depend upon what versions you are using. A 2025 MBA is likely running Tahoe macOS. My experience with trying to open an iTunes 7 library file with a Sequoia Mac was it utterly failed to do so. Apple transitioned from iTunes to Music back in Catalina days. Since then there have been 6 macOS upgrades. When I read up about this, apparently Apple did support an iTunes --> Music transition but this may have only been around the time of transition between the two. In other words, Big Sur Music could open a Catalina iTunes library file, but a Tahoe version of Music may no longer be capable to opening any iTunes version library. Apple does not always provide legacy support for long.

This is one of those, "try it and see" questions. If you cannot open it then you have your answer. If you can open it then you have your answer. If you cannot open it, you will have to save your media files and rebuild your Music library from scratch using those.

Limnos wrote:

I will qualify some of what what Phil0124 has posted and state that the answers are not a definite "yes".

The article: Move your iTunes library to another computer - Apple Support

is about Windows. You have a two Macs. Windows is not part of this.

It's the same general process whether it's a Mac or Windows.

The user doc Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community

hasn't been updated in 3 years so it may or may not still be applicable.

Nothing has changed that requires an update. It still works the same way. Turingtest2, a valued member of this community can attest to that fact.

You do not say what version library you have. It may depend upon what versions you are using. A 2025 MBA is likely running Tahoe macOS. My experience with trying to open an iTunes 7 library file with a Sequoia Mac was it utterly failed to do so. Apple transitioned from iTunes to Music back in Catalina days. Since then there have been 6 macOS upgrades. When I read up about this, apparently Apple did support an iTunes --> Music transition but this may have only been around the time of transition between the two. In other words, Big Sur Music could open a Catalina iTunes library file, but a Tahoe version of Music may no longer be capable to opening any iTunes version library. Apple does not always provide legacy support for long.

This is one of those, "try it and see" questions. If you cannot open it then you have your answer. If you can open it then you have your answer. If you cannot open it, you will have to save your media files and rebuild your Music library from scratch using those.

While some exceptionally old iTunes Libraries may pose an issue or generate an error when trying to load into the Music App, libraries from around El Capitan through Mojave should open fine.

Without knowing the age of the library it's hard to say for sure. First step is to try it, before attempting to fix something that may not need fixing.

In any case, even older iTunes Libraries can be coaxed into migrating, but may require extra steps.

I can confirm an iTunes Library from a 2007 iMac running Yosemite was successfully loaded into a Mac running Sequoia last year.

Either way, it's possible to do.

OldieTimer wrote:

I bought a IMac in 2011 and then moved the ITunes over to it. The IMac when I first got it was running Snow Leopard I think.

That would make it a 21.5" or 27" Mid 2011 iMac.

Sorry but I don’t know how to find the version of I tunes I am using.

Versions of iTunes that ran on Snow Leopard would have been very old. If you upgraded the OS and iTunes as far as possible, a Mid 2011 iMac would be running High Sierra, and iTunes 12.8.3.

This seems inconsistent with your statement that the iMac is running Monterey. The oldest iMac that is eligible to run Monterey was released in Late 2015, and it would not have been able to run Snow Leopard.