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Transfer music to new MacBook Pro

I have an extensive music library on an old (2009) MacBook Pro. It consists of music that I purchased on iTunes as well as music that I added from my CDs. I bought a new 2018 MacBook Pro and I want to transfer all the music to the new machine. My internet connection is relatively slow so I do not want to upload my library to iCloud first as it will take too much time. Are there other fast methods that I could use?

As an alternative consideration - all my music is also on my iPhone 6s - perhaps I can transfer this music to my new MacBook Pro

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018), macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)

Posted on Nov 27, 2018 6:37 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 28, 2018 5:30 PM

Hey Mike.


After further review, it looks like iCloud Music Library is only available to those who subscribe to Apple Music. On Apple's support document, titled Access your music collection on all of your devices with Apple Music , under the "If you don't subscribe to Apple Music" section, they recommend as follows,


" You can redownload your past purchases from the iTunes Store on your iOS device or computer. Even if you bought an item on your iPhone, you can redownload it on your Mac.


You can manually sync the music on your iOS device with iTunes on your computer using a USB cable or over Wi-Fi. When you sync manually, your content copies from one device to another. For example, syncing your iPhone with your computer copies any selected music from iTunes on your computer to your device (if it's not already there). Your music collection stores locally on all of your devices and you can listen to it without being connected to Wi-Fi or the Internet."


Hope this gives you a little more information.


Best of Luck.


- Alex

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3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 28, 2018 5:30 PM in response to mike.in.ottawa

Hey Mike.


After further review, it looks like iCloud Music Library is only available to those who subscribe to Apple Music. On Apple's support document, titled Access your music collection on all of your devices with Apple Music , under the "If you don't subscribe to Apple Music" section, they recommend as follows,


" You can redownload your past purchases from the iTunes Store on your iOS device or computer. Even if you bought an item on your iPhone, you can redownload it on your Mac.


You can manually sync the music on your iOS device with iTunes on your computer using a USB cable or over Wi-Fi. When you sync manually, your content copies from one device to another. For example, syncing your iPhone with your computer copies any selected music from iTunes on your computer to your device (if it's not already there). Your music collection stores locally on all of your devices and you can listen to it without being connected to Wi-Fi or the Internet."


Hope this gives you a little more information.


Best of Luck.


- Alex

Nov 28, 2018 6:19 AM in response to mike.in.ottawa

Hello, mike.in.ottawa!


As I understand it, you have an impressive music library that you're looking to transfer to a newly purchased MacBook Pro. You don't want to use iCloud to do this, as it would take too much time.


Firstly, I have to say that Apple Music Library (iCloud) would be a great and passive solution to this. You can set it and forget it. Leave it uploading overnight?


However, if you still don't want to use iCloud, I would recommend first trying to plug your iPhone into iTunes, clicking on it, and seeing if it will do it automatically. With the rise of iCloud, there is the possibility that Apple has phased that out. If that is the case and iTunes no longer works, this article has some helpful third-party solutions you may want to try. You can also google "Transfer Music from iPhone to Mac".


Best of luck.


- Alex

Transfer music to new MacBook Pro

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