Newbie with a MacBook Pro!

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Newbie with a MacBook Pro!

Hi all, probably a very stupid question, but i'm new to Macs. I have an iPod, iPhone & iPad but bought the Mac to try and centralise things. Currently I have my music library on a PC & in iCloud but want to store it all on the Mac as well as the cloud, so do I have to transfer it from the PC manually or can I pull it straight from the cloud? The cloud content includes CD rips as well as purchased content, so what's easiest?
Also regarding photos, I want to transfer them from my iPhone to the mac as we'll as store them in the cloud, again is this simple?ery much appreciated

Any assistance is very much appreciated, and there will no doubt be lots of stupid questions asked by me, as I'm not particularly tech savvy, so apologies in advance.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jan 12, 2016 12:24 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 12, 2016 1:00 PM in response to Cappsi67

Moving a library: Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its sub-folders and files) intact to the other drive, hold down the option/alt key while starting iTunes, and when requested to select a library select the iTunes Library.itl file in the copied folder.

When this is to a new computer put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music (or Home > Music) then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.) Remember to authorize the computer in iTunes to your Apple ID if you use this to sync to Apple mobile devices or play DRM protected media (e.g., movies).

Certain items used in iTunes related activities are not stored in the iTunes library folder but in special folders. If you are moving a library to a different computer you may wish to copy these too:

- Apple Music cache files: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/2015/09/new-flush-apple-music-cache-files/

- iOS device backups, various preferences files: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3285925

Windows users see tip at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4095896?answerId=18879381022#18879381022

Consider moving everything from your Windows PC to your Mac in a single move, including your iTunes library: About Windows Migration Assistant - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4796 - Learn about how to use Windows Migration Assistant to migrate your files from a Windows PC to a Mac. Additional tip by ChrisCA 05/2014 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7022914?answerId=28178940022#28178940022

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Answer 2

Jan 12, 2016 1:01 PM in response to Cappsi67

Read this about migration from PC to Mac from the Apple Knowledge Base.

Move your data from a Windows PC to a Mac - Apple Support

As for music on iCloud. When you log out of iTunes and iCloud on your PC and then back in on your Mac all of your iCloud items will be there as they are tied to your Apple ID login not your particular computer.

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Answer 3

Jan 12, 2016 1:01 PM in response to Cappsi67

Cappsi67 wrote:

....
Also regarding photos, I want to transfer them from my iPhone to the mac as we'll as store them in the cloud, again is this simple?ery much appreciated

.....

On your iDevices (if not already), go to Settings->Photos & Camera. Enable iCloud Photo Library.

Insure your iDevice(s) are on WiFi and it will sync the photos to iCloud.

On the new Mac, open the Photos app. Under menu Photos->Preferences, select

iCloud and the check iCloud Photo Library. You can choose to store full res

images on the Mac or optimize storage. If the Mac is already on a network, downloads/ syncing

should start.

How long the above process takes depends on how many images need to be moved.

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