Help!!!!

[inflictionmitch]

So, I just tried transferring my Itunes folder from an old PC to my new PC - I followed all instructions in the Apple Quicktime video (saved all songs as data, saved this all to my ipod's hard drive (pasting PC's Itunes folder into Ipod's Itunes folder) and then on my new PC, I pasted my Ipod's Itunes floder into my new PC's Itunes folder. The transfer took almost 20 minutes. And now, I open Itunes on my new PC and my library is... still empty!!! Did I miss something here? This is freaking me out!

[CrzyCanuck72]

You missed one step; you have to manually add the files to the iTunes library. Open iTunes and drag the entire iTunes Music folder onto it. That will import all the songs.

[jhollington]

Where is your iTunes folder? Have you left it in the default location, and pasted it into it's proper default location on the new PC?

The main issue that you're likely having here is that iTunes expects it's library files to be located in your "My Music\iTunes" directory. You will want to ensure that you have copied the "iTunes 4 Music Library.itl" and "iTunes Music Library.xml" files into that location.

Likewise, your actual music files should be in the same relative path as they were on the old PC, so that iTunes can locate them properly.

[jhollington]

Originally posted by CrzyCanuck72
You missed one step; you have to manually add the files to the iTunes library. Open iTunes and drag the entire iTunes Music folder onto it. That will import all the songs.
As a worst-case scenario, that will work, but you will lose all of your playlists, ratings, and playcounts.

If you ensure that you've copied over the library database files properly (as indicated in my other post above), then everything should be okay, and you shouldn't need to reimport.

[inflictionmitch]

Wow, that was quick! Thanks guys!


How do I manually drag the files into Itunes? I already pasted the full Itunes folder from my Ipod into the new one on my PC. Is there somewhere from within Itunes on my new PC where I have drag the stuff across? how do I do this?

Sorry if this seems a bit naive! :)

[jhollington]

To simply import the files into iTunes, you should be able to just do a File->Add Folder operation and specify the folder where the music is located.

However, I would suggest that the other option of ensuring that you move the iTunes Music Libraries from your "My Music\iTunes" folder on the old computer to your "My Music\iTunes" folder on the new computer is probably simpler then reimporting everything.

For this to work, however, your music will have to be in the same relative location as it was on the old computer (in other words, if it was in D:\Music on the old computer, it should be in D:\Music on the new computer as well).

[inflictionmitch]

Thing is, I've already re-imported everything from my Ipod's hard drive to my new Itunes - if I go into My Computer and look in my new PC's Itunes folders, I can see all my music there - but if I actually open Itunes, my library's empty. Does that make any sense?

[CrzyCanuck72]

Did you just import it to your hard drive, or did you import it into iTunes with my method? iTunes has no way of knowing whether music is in that folder unless you explicitly tell it it's there by adding it to the library. If oyu want to keep your playlists and ratings, also import the iTunes Library.xml and iTunes Library.itl files from your old computer.

[inflictionmitch]

Cool, but how do I let Itunes know that ithe files are there?

[CrzyCanuck72]

By either dragging them into iTunes or using the File>Add To Library command. Use File>Import to improt the .xml and .itl files.

[inflictionmitch]

But the problem is, the songs can already be seen in the Itunes folder if I go there through My Computer. If I try to add it through the actual Itunes software, via "add folder to library", nothing seems to happen.