Jan 04, 2020 How to Move Your iTunes Library. How access library mac 10.11.6. You can move your iTunes library to a different folder, computer, or drive. Here's how to do it, even in macOS Catalina, which ditches iTunes for the Music app.
Apple's iTunes software is, in the main, designed to transfer data to their devices but not in the other direction. In general if you try to connect and sync an Apple device to a new library iTunes will want to erase all the current media content and replace it with items from the new library. See Move your iTunes library to a new computer for advice on moving a working library to a new computer if that is still a possibility.
Should you be in the unfortunate position where your computer has been lost, stolen or damaged and you have no viable backup of your library then you can use the steps below to attempt to recover most, if not all, of your media and other information from your devices. If, however the library that has been lost or damaged was on your current computer see Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash first.
If you still have the computer, but it is in a non-bootable state, then it may be possible to extract the hard drive, put it in an external drive bay and recover data from it that way. The steps in Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows may help to allow iTunes to properly access any recovered data. If the drive is accessible then using your old drive may well be easier than what follows, though it depends in part on the mix of purchased vs. ripped media and whether or not your device holds all your media, or a subset of it. If you have an iPod classic, nano, or shuffle see Recover media from an iPod instead of this tip.
Sync
Set up your new preferences for syncing Music, TV Shows, Podcasts, Info etc. then click Sync. You may get an erase and sync warning at this point however provided you have recovered all of your content from the device then you can safely proceed. For a device that holds calendar or contact information you should be prompted to restore or merge. Click merge to copy this information into your computer. Your device is now properly associated with your new library and you shouldn't have lost any data.
Media recovery software
This list is by no means comprehensive. Compatibility and feature details may have altered since this tip was published. There is usually a trade-off between cost and ease of use.
Product | Description | Win | Mac | iPod | iOS | Playlists | Ratings |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Floola | Free cross platform (Linux too) iPod manager. It appears to have partial support for extracting playlists to m3u files rather than transferring directly to iTunes. | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➖ | ? | ➖ |
iPod Access | Copies music, videos, playlists, ratings and more. Can extract content from hard drive based iPods with damaged databases. | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
iPod2PC | Can copy songs, podcasts and playlists to iTunes or a folder of your choice. | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ | ? |
iRip | Claims it can copy the contents of your iPod or iPhone to your Mac or PC with a single click. | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ? |
MediaMonkey | Although primarily an alternative media manager to iTunes, MediaMonkey can also be used to copy files from an iPod or iOS device to the local file system. Tracks can be copied directly into the iTunes Automatically Add to iTunes folder to add and organize them within the iTunes library. Recommended, particularly for retrieving selected files rather than everything on the device. | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ | ➕ | ➖ | ➖ |
Music Rescue | Copies music, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, audio recordings, playlists and notes. | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ? |
PhoneView | Save iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch app data, voicemail, text messages, iMessages, call log, notes, contacts, music and photos to your Mac. | ➖ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
Senuti | Transfer music from your iPod or iPhone to your computer with this easy to use application for Mac. | ➖ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
SharePod | Free tool that can add, remove and copy media to or from your device. | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
TouchCopy | Comprehensive tools for copying media and other items from your device to your computer. | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
TuneJack | Can copy all songs & playlists from your iPod/iOS device to your PC and optionally add them to iTunes. | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
iRepo | Can copy selected songs & playlists from your iPod/iOS device to your PC/Mac and optionally add them to iTunes. (TuneJack with options) | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
iGadget | Can copy selected songs & playlists from your iPod/iOS device to your PC/Mac and optionally add them to iTunes. Can also add other data as notes to non-iOS devices. (TuneJack with more options) | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ |
YamiPod | Yet another iPod manager. Mainly designed as a free cross platform (Linux too) alternative to iTunes for hard drive based iPods it includes features for transferring media from your device to your computer. | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➖ | ? | ➖ |
Metadata only | A Windows script that imports regular playlists from an iPod or iOS device into the iTunes library. Can import from a selected playlist, or playlist folder, or all playlists on the device. Use to extract metadata not recovered with other tools, e.g. the method given in Recover media from an iPod below. | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➖ |
Metadata only | A Windows script that copies highest play count, skip count, rating and most recent played & skipped date of selected tracks or playlist between iTunes and an iPod or iOS device. Use to extract metadata not recovered with other tools, e.g. the method in Recover media from an iPod below. | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ | ➕ | ➖ | ➕ |
Recover media from an iPod | This approach is mainly aimed at older devices that can be accessed via disk mode, however free tools such as iFunBox or MediaMonkey which give access to the iOS file system may also allow you to use this method to extract media from an iOS device. Windows users would also be able to make use of the two scripts above to recover playlists and stats. The user tip is an alternative to the iLounge Article: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide that has been previously referred to. Recommended for retrieving everything from the device in one go. | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➕ | ➖ | ➖ |
Product | Description | Win | Mac | iPod | iOS | Playlists | Ratings |
See also:
Jul 16,2019 • Filed to: iTunes Music Transfer • Proven solutions
Is it possible to transfer my iTunes library from pc to mac and/or mac to pc?
The brand new expensive computer will not provide you the level of joy that you are expecting from it without the lovely melodic tunes stored in your iTunes library. So you need a reliable and quick way to transfer all your favorite tunes to your new hard drive and start having all the fun. Therefore, the need for transferring iTunes library from your personal computer to Mac computer is inevitable. To transfer the entire iTunes Library from PC to Mac does not need you to be a system engineer. There are however multiple ways to accomplish this task and transfer your files easily from one computer to other. Let us explore some nice ways to use the iTunes backup and restore the wide variety of data to our local machines.
Before you start your transfer process, reliable network connectivity between the two computers is needed i.e. between your PC and Mac. The iTunes software must be installed on both computers also. Your Apple id must also be linked to iTunes library in order to proceed successfully. In this first method of transferring iTunes library from PC to Mac machine, we will not make use of any external storage devices or hard drives. Instead, we will make use of the gadgets like iPod, iPad or iPhone. We need to choose a robust tool like iMusic to transfer the iTunes library from Personal pc computer to Mac.
iMusic is a powerful all-in-one multimedia management tool that has built-in features for transferring media files and fixing iTunes-related issues. One particular feature that stands out in this regard is the Rebuild iTunes Library feature that can be used to transfer the entire iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac in no time!
Due to the fact that iMusic is compatible with both Microsoft Windows technology as well as Mac operating system, you will find it enjoyable not to run into OS compatibility issues. Follow the steps below to enjoy a convenient experience of transferring your iTunes library from PC to Mac:
Step 1: Download and install iMusic. Connect your device with your computer and click on the “Library” , “Add” button on the top bar. Select the files from PC to iTunes Library.
Step 2: Disconnect your device from one computer and connect it with the other computer. Once you have connected the device, click on the “Toolbox”. Hit the “Rebuilt iTunes Library” on this new computer and select your device from the screen. Click on the “Start” button.
Step 3: Now, select the corresponding tab which is present at the top and click on the “Export to Mac”. This is the last step which may take some time depending upon the music present on your computer. Once the process is completed, you will see the pop-up on the screen showing the successful transfer. Which means that you have finished the process transferring itunes from PC to Mac.
Using the “Rebuild iTunes” feature is easy but you need to be cautious also locate folders yourself. This may take a lot of time to complete depending upon your computer speed and data files, but in the end, it leaves you happy and satisfied.
Related article reading: transfer itunes playlist to new computer.
Keeping your iTunes files in one location makes your job easier for using this method. Then you can arrange a hard drive to copy all your files to it and enjoy transferring the data to a new location on the new machine. The best way is to you External Hard Drive or the USB depending upon the music library present on your computer. Before you continue, remember that this method will not work the Apple music and you can only transfer the tracks which are already present on your computer or you have purchased from the iTunes Library.
The Home Sharing Method is relatively an easy method to transfer the iTunes library from PC to Mac. The necessary condition to complete this method is to install the iTunes on the both computers first. Moreover, you will also need to use the same iTunes account on the both computer. Let’s see the step by step procedure to use the Home Sharing Method.
Conclusion:All methods have their own pros and cons, if you don’t want to use the same iTunes account on both computers, the best way is to transfer the iTunes library from PC to Mac using iMusic. Moreover, it will also save you a lot of time as you will not need to transfer the data from one computer to hard drive and then to the other computer. In this way, you can also preserve the library on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Which is your favorite method? Let us know in the comments section below.