Okay… You have 2 options. 1 is to attempt to copy your entire iTunes database over to your mac. This will (probably) create errors and be a lot of effort to make it work right. The second is to simply create a new iTunes library, copy all your playlists over (tedious process) and then re-sync any other apple devices you have to the new library. Neither works that well – when I transferred everything over to my Mac, I used the first method and it worked pretty well for me.
Instructions for Method 1:
1. Go to iTunes on your windows laptop. Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced. This will give you the file path of where iTunes has stored your music. If you have the boxes underneath (“Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised” and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library”) ticked, then your music will all be in that file path. If it isn’t, then the song files may be anywhere on your hard drive. If you haven’t got your library organised, tick those boxes and click “Ok”. iTunes should then copy all your tracks into one place on your hard drive, making it easier to transfer.
2. Once it has done that, connect your Mac and PC onto the same network. Copy (using the windows laptop) the entire directory into the “Music” folder (or wherever you want) on your Mac’s hard drive. This will also copy all the iTunes library data with it – all your playlists, the database etc.
3. Go to your mac. Close iTunes completely (right click on the logo, Force Quit) And then launch it up again whilst holding the option (alt) key. Click “Choose Library”. Go to wherever you stored the iTunes data from your laptop and then select “iTunes Music Library” (or “iTunes Library if that doesn’t exist).
4. It should open up – try playing a track. If it gives you an error message (it probably will), it will give the option to find the tracks. Navigate to the files and it should then auto-detect the rest of your music library – it may take a while.
5. All done.
Instructions for Method 2:
1. Same as above.
2. Copy the “iTunes Library/Media/Music” folder from wherever it is stored on your hard drive to your mac’s music folder.
3. Go to iTunes, go to File -> Add to Library. Select the music folder on your mac. Let it take ages.
4. (Can be done whilst stage 3 is chugging) Go to iTunes on your Laptop, go to your playlists. Select a playlist you want to transfer, go File -> Library -> Export Playlist. Repeat for every single playlist in your library.
5. Copy all the playlist files to your mac. Go to iTunes -> File -> Library -> Import playlist. Select the playlists (it might let you do them all at once, I’m not sure. If it doesn’t, do it for each one in turn..).
6. Re-sync every apple device you own to the new library – it will wipe all the media off them and put it on again in the process.. Takes a while.
That should work. Choose your method, either will take a while. Apple have not made it easy..
bob6397
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