Merge 2 iTunes libraries (XP and OSX)
I have an older xp desktop that houses most of my music I copied from my personal collection of CDs. I recently purchased a new iMac and moved my old iBook iTunes library over to it. I would like to consolidate all of my music to my iMac but I'm not sure how to go about it while keeping my ratings/play counts/lyrics/art work and so on. What is the best way to go about this?
I have found some software for sale (TuneRanger http://www.acertant.com/web/tuneranger/default.htm and SuperSync http://www.supersync.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1) that seem like they would do the job and then some.. but I'm only interested in moving my library once and getting rid of my old XP desktop. Are there any suggestions on how to go about this? !
[757 byte] By [
DeusRom] at [2007-11-11 21:23:30]
# 1 Re: Merge 2 iTunes libraries (XP and OSX)
Ipod 101 has articles on how to move libraries while keeping play counts, ratings, etc. Not sure exactly where it is but check the HELP or ARTICLES Section. That's your best bet.
# 2 Re: Merge 2 iTunes libraries (XP and OSX)
The only two articles I could find on iPod 101 that were remotely close were "The Complete Guide to Backing Up iPod & iTunes Music" and "Moving your iTunes Library to a New Hard Drive" but neither really hit on consolidating two libraries (one being XP and one being OSX).
I connected the two computers through my network and shared the folder with all my itunes information to my mac. I then opened iTunes with the option key held down to see if I could even open the library with my mac computer. Sadly, that did not work. I tried importing the xml file to import all the music that way and again no luck. I would hate to spend $20 or more just to move these files once if there is an easier way to do this. Thanks!
# 3 Re: Merge 2 iTunes libraries (XP and OSX)
Yeah, iTunes really doesn't have any mechanism for this. If the PC's collection is way huger than what's on the Mac right now, it's fairly straightforward to transfer it into iTunes (at the expense of the Mac collection).
One possibility is to transfer the PC collection/library over to the Mac's iTunes, and then import either the Mac stuff or the recently-PC stuff into a unified iTunes library...but you'll lose lottsa metadata with that (can't recall exactly what, but it's not info you want to lose; playcounts, or ratings, or something...). Post a reply if you'd like to learn more about doing this.
If you're a scripter, the task is quite do-able using AppleScript and the .xml file from the PC. (But, you'd have to write it yourself, barring any volunteers popping up here ;-)
S2_Mac at 2007-11-15 16:09:57 >
# 4 Re: Merge 2 iTunes libraries (XP and OSX)
Well my next idea was to just move my windows library to my mac as an additional library and then combine them once it worked properly. So, I actually have the library on my iMac but I'm missing my play counts, add date, and last played date. I've been trying to get this work for the past 5 hours and I've about had it for the day. Here is what I've done so far:
1. I moved my windows itunes music folder to my iMac (my music was on an external HD)
2. I moved my itunes library folder to my iMac (Located in My Documents)
3. I opened the xml file and replaced all instances of "D:\Music" to the proper *temporary* Mac location (file://localhost/Users/***/Desktop/untitled folder/iTunes/iTunes Music/) just so I is not confused with my current iTunes library.
4. I opened iTunes while holding down the option key and created a new iTunes library. Once it was created I pointed told it to look in my music folder (file://localhost/Users/***/Desktop/untitled folder/iTunes/iTunes Music/)
5. I imported the xml file and iTunes found and added all my music with most of my metadata.
So now I'm curious how else I can manipulate this information to keep my playcounts, add date, and last played date. I would like all the data that I had in my iTunes library on my windows computer. I think that all the information is located in the .itl file but the version from my XP library is not able to be open in my osx iTunes. In almost all the searching and reading I've done the last few hours people have been saying that the XP and OSX versions of the itl file are the same and can be opened with both versions of iTunes (osx and XP) but I'm not experiencing that. I've tried opening the original XP iTunes .itl file with my mac but it is greyed out and will not let me open it. My iMac did create a new itl file but it doesn't have the itl extension. I tried removing the extension but it still didn't work. Any help you can give me would be amazing. Thanks!
