Q: Transfer itunes playlists to new computer

All you normally need to do is copy the entire iTunes folder from the user's Music folder on one computer into the user's Music folder on the other. You can use a network share or an external drive to help with the move.

See this migrate iTunes library post for more details and strategies for when the library isn't in the usual layout.

tt2

Your playlists are all stored inside the file iTunes Libary.itl.

(Whether or not you see the .itl extension depends on your system settings.)

Many, but not all, updates to iTunes also make small changes to the internal structure of the iTunes database. When this happens the old database is archived in the Previous iTunes Libraries folder and used to construct a new one. It is a good idea to keep a few of these in case the current database is damaged or you want to revert to an older build of iTunes after an upgrade.

By default iTunes will open the library file at <User's Music>\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl where the path to <User's Music> depends on the OS and the user name. To open a specific library press and hold down shift as you start iTunes, keep holding until asked to choose or create a library, click choose and browse to the file. Double-clicking the file does not achieve the same thing.

See also Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash. It is possible that you are seeing the same symptoms, particularly if your new computer has a different build of iTunes from the old one.

tt2

The previous iTunes library files are created by iTunes during some updates.  Your playlists are contained with the current iTunes database which will be called iTunes Library.itl (all the previous versions have a date within the filename, following the pattern iTunes Library yyyy-mm-dd.itl).  The current iTunes Library.itl file will, by default, be in the C:\Users\username\Music iTunes folder, in the following structure:

If you copied this complete structure from the old computer to your new one, then you should be able to hold down the SHIFT key as you start iTunes, then when you see this prompt:

click on Choose Library..., navigate to the iTunes folder, and select the iTunes Library.itl file you'll find there.  Depending on your settings in Windows it may just appear as "iTunes Library", like this:

It shouldn't be ... if I understand correctly, you:

1. installed and ran iTunes on the new computer - this will have automatically created the iTunes folder structure with a new "empty" library
2. copied this newly-created iTunes folder to your desktop
3. copied the complete iTunes folder structure from your old computer to the external HDD, and then from there to the same location on your new computer as the folders created in step 1 - since you copied these folders in step 2, rather than moving them, this step should have over-written the new/empty library with the everything from your old one

This should give you access to your complete library, including playlists.  This may be a dumb question, but have you clicked on the Playlists entry at the top of the iTunes window, so that the sidebar listing your playlists is shown?  Copying the library should be an all-or-nothing process - either it succeeds and you have your music and your playlists, or it fails and you don't have either.

Not knowing which instructions you followed, this is all you did, right?  Or were there extra steps involving adding media to iTunes using File > Add Folder to Library... or copying to the Automatically Add to iTunes folder?  If so, its possible that you've created a new library and added your media to it - which would result in a library containing all your music but none of the previous playlists.  It may be worth:

• copying the existing iTunes Library.itl file (new computer) from the iTunes folder to your desktop
• recopying the iTunes Library.itl file again from your external drive, or the old PC if you still have access to it
• with iTunes not running, copy this into the iTunes folder on the new machine, overwriting any file with the same name that's found there

Then use the SHIFT-start method to run iTunes and make sure that you're selecting the iTunes Library.itl file you just copied.

I just checked this page: How to move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Support - if this is what you followed then:

• the procedure in the linked document Back up your iTunes library by copying it to an external drive - Apple Support will have consolidated your library and copied the C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes folder and all its content to the external drive
• all the procedure headed "Part 2" does is ensure that you preserve any media you've added on the new computer after installing iTunes but before copying anything from the old one
• the procedure headed "Part 3" will have copied the iTunes folder - both media and the database file that includes your playlists - from the external drive to C:\Users\username\My Music on the new computer
• the procedure headed "Part 4" is relevant only if you had new media on the new computer, and replicated it in Part 2

If this is what you did you should be OK, and you should have your playlists as well as your media.

No, that won't make any difference.  The key thing to check is that the iTunes Library.itl file is correctly copied from your old computer to the external drive and then to your new computer.  Check the date/time on the file and its size to make sure that you're seeing the "same" file at each stage.  As long as you followed the consolidation steps in Back up your iTunes library by copying it to an external drive - Apple Support then the library should be OK, but again I would check that the date/time stamp on the iTunes Library.itl file that you're copying corresponds to the last time you ran iTunes on the old computer.

Yes, after you've checked that everything you expect to be in the library is there and will play.

That suggests that the copy operation from your old computer wasn't 100% successful.  You can identify all tracks that have "broken links" as follows:

• create a new playlist called "Found"
• select everything in your library and drag-and-drop it to this new playlist - iTunes will only add songs for which the links to media files are valid
• create a smart playlist called "Not Found", with these rules:
  • Playlist is Music
  • Playlist is no Found

This second playlist will list all songs that have broken links.  To resolve these, I'll repeat turingtest2's description of the solution approaches:

The "missing file" error happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.

Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. (Due to a bug in iTunes 12 you currently have to say No twice!) Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case.

In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links.

If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works.