I am attempting to copy my wife's Music Library to a new user on my iMac.
Update 2021-04-09
My previous attempts failed. I thought this may have been due to attempting to copy from Catalina to Big Sur.
I have now updated my iMac to Big Sur, but still not having much luck.
I now have a fresh copy of my wife's iTunes folder on the desktop of her login on the iMac.
My many attempts to get Music to use this have failed.
There was a iTunes folder and Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary from previous failed attempts, which I deleted.
I have been unable to find any Automatically Add to iTunes folder
It is frustrating, as I can see ALL the music, but not access it in Music.
Update 2
I have partial success.
I gave up on trying to copy the iTunes folder.
I went into the Music Files menu and there was an import option (I can't remember exactly, but think Import Library – it is now gone).
My wife's playlists are missing, but that is a minor issue.
It seems this is a case where all the instructions on the web no longer work.
Years ago I did similar things, but it seems much harder without iTunes.
After many web searches I followed a set of steps:-
Copying Your iTunes Folder
Plug your USB flash drive or external drive into your computer. Go to
the iTunes folder. Finder double-click the Music folder. You'll find
the iTunes folder here. Copy the iTunes folder. Click once the iTunes
folder to select it, then press ⌘ Command+C to copy the entire
folder. If you already have music in iTunes on the new computer,
you'll instead double-click the iTunes folder and then copy the iTunes
Media folder inside of it. Open your USB flash drive or external hard
drive. On the left side of the File Explorer or Finder window, click
the name of your plugged-in USB flash drive or external flash drive.
Paste in the copied iTunes folder. Press ⌘ Command+V to paste in the
folder.Transferring Your Library
Plug your USB flash drive or external drive into the new computer.
Open the flash drive or external drive. Either click the drive's name
in the File Explorer (Windows) or Finder , or wait for the drive's
window to open automatically. Copy the iTunes folder. Click the iTunes
folder inside of the drive's window, then press or ⌘ Command+C. Open
your computer's Music folder. Go to the location of the Music folder,
which is where you found the iTunes folder on your first computer. You
shouldn't see an iTunes folder here if you haven't already used iTunes
on this computer. If you instead copied the iTunes Media folder in the
last part, you'll double-click the iTunes Media folder, then
double-click the Automatically Add to iTunes folder before proceeding.
Paste in the iTunes folder. Press ⌘ Command+V to do so. You should
see the iTunes folder appear in the Music folder. Once the folder
finishes copying into the Music folder, you should be able to open
iTunes and view your music.If you do see an iTunes folder and you haven't already used iTunes on
this computer, you can delete the iTunes folder clicking it and
dragging the folder to the Trash.
The copied directory looks like the following (edited for brevity)
iTunes
|-- Album\ Artwork
| |-- Cache
| |-- Cloud
| |-- Cloud\ Purchases
| |-- Custom
| |-- Download
| |-- Generated
| `-- Store
|-- Mobile\ Applications
…
|-- Previous\ iTunes\ Libraries
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2010-07-19
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2010-11-02
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2011-03-18
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2011-03-26
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2011-10-10.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2012-03-19.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2013-05-07.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2013-05-29.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2014-10-18.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2016-01-15.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2016-11-15.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2017-03-04.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2017-05-27.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2017-10-24.itl
| |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2018-09-28.itl
| `-- iTunes\ Library\ 2019-01-20.itl
|-- iPod\ Games
| |-- Klondike
| `-- iPod\ Quiz
|-- iTunes\ Library\ Extras.itdb
|-- iTunes\ Library\ Genius.itdb
|-- iTunes\ Library.itl
|-- iTunes\ Music
| |-- Alan\ Clark
| |-- Alan\ Clark,\ Eddie\ Gomez\ over\ The\ Acetones
| |-- Alan\ Clarke\ over\ The\ Acetones
| |-- Alan\ Clarke,\ Mike\ Brecker,\ Mike\ Mainieri,\ Neil\ Jason\ &\ Steve\ Jordon
| |-- Aled\ Jones
| |-- Andrew\ Dalton
| |-- Andrew\ Parrott_\ Taverner\ Consort\ &\ Players
| |-- Antonio\ Vivaldi
…
| |-- Winsome\ Evans
| |-- Yvonne\ Kenny,\ Adelaide\ Symphony\ Orchestra
| `-- Yvonne\ Kenny;\ Takuo\ Yuasa_\ Adelaide\ Symphony\ Orchestra
|-- iTunes\ Music\ Library.xml
`-- sentinel
119 directories, 48 files
I have had several tries and at one stage using Library / Import Playlist I could get a couple of tunes to play, but I am reluctant to do for hundreds.
Can anyone help, or suggest an alternative.
I have been unable to find any Apple instructions for the Mac – although they have Windows instructions.
My iMac is running Catalina
Best Answer
I'm not sure why the instructions refer to the 'Automatically Add to iTunes' folder. This shouldn't be necessary, so long as your old & new users have the same name & you always used default settings for iTunes.
Your previous library must be consolidated before you do this - that ensures all necessary data/tunes are in that folder structure & not scattered elsewhere. iTunes should do this by default. In prefs > Advanced, the boxes for 'Keep iTunes Media folder organised' and 'Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library' should be checked. If they aren't, you need to manually consolidate, from the File menu > Library >
Then all you need to do is copy the entire iTunes folder to the new Mac.
If there was no existing structure, ie if the account hasn't yet launched iTunes, then it should immediately see & use the new data. This should show in the folder location in the advanced tab.