It's easy to browse a list of songs using home sharing and import all the songs that are "not in my library".
Once that is done, is there an easy way to get the same playlist on the new library?
There is no option to import a playlist. You can drag a playlist from another computer to one of yours. But that would end up copying all songs again and creating duplicates.
I ended up using Screen Sharing to export that playlist as File -> Library -> Export Playlist…, choosing XML format, then saving it to the desktop of the current mac. From there, it imported the playlist fine, but I was hoping I was missing a simpler, more drag and drop solution.
I can't believe I'm actually looking for another feature to be added to iTunes – it's got to be there somewhere.
Also, I don't want all the playlists – just a few so exporting the whole library won't speed things up or simplify the operation.
Best Answer
Create a new playlist on your local machine with the same name as the one you would like to import.
Click on the library that you wish to import a playlist from over Home Sharing.
Expand the library by clicking on the arrow to the left of the name.
Expand the folder called Playlists from within the library.
Drag the playlist from the home sharing library onto the one you have created.
Your music will be copied over into the new playlist. This method does have one flaw, however. If you already have some of these songs in your library, they will be duplicated. But, File > Display Duplicates may help you with that.
Unfortunately, this is the only way to do this over Home Sharing. Hopefully, iTunes 11 will improve on this, but I'm not getting my hopes up.