Can I move iTunes from one PC to another?

timberflake

I have a laptop and a desktop computer. I've had the desktop for for about 4 years and brought the laptop last year so as you can imagine the laptop is quite a bit faster! Desktop is a Athlon 3400 with 2gb Ram, laptop is a 1.6 dual core processor with 2gb Ram.

Anyway, up until now, I've always used the desktop for video encoding and iTunes, but its really starting to chug along now so I'd like to be able to use just the laptop and do away with the desktop. My question is, I have around 3000 music tracks on iTunes on the desktop, is there any way to transfer them to the laptop without having to re-import it all over again??

Would appreciate any assistance.

davester

you can set up 5 computers with the same itunes account. Also are your tracks DRM encoded, so that they are linked to a particular account. If not then you can move them at your leasure in anyway you want.

timberflake

davester wrote: »

you can set up 5 computers with the same itunes account

How I do that? And how do I make it so that all of the music thats on the desktop get transferred over to the laptop? Just to be clear, I want to get rid of the desktop and just have the laptop.

davester

you install itunes and login. then authorise your computer in the store menu

Money_Grabber13579

Easiest way is to copy the whole iTunes music folder to exactly the same location on your new computer.

Then hold down the shift key and double click to open iTunes on your new computer. It will bring up a dialog box to select a playlist to link to the account. Navigate to the iTunes folder, and then select the file, which will be named something like iTunes Library. Click okay and you're done!

timberflake

davester wrote: »

you install itunes and login. then authorise your computer in the store menu

This doesn't work, I've already authorised my laptop and my music isn't there.

timberflake

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

Easiest way is to copy the whole iTunes music folder to exactly the same location on your new computer.

Then hold down the shift key and double click to open iTunes on your new computer. It will bring up a dialog box to select a playlist to link to the account. Navigate to the iTunes folder, and then select the file, which will be named something like iTunes Library. Click okay and you're done!

Thanks, I'm waiting for my music to copy over and will give this a go!

Money_Grabber13579

timberflake wrote: »

Thanks, I'm waiting for my music to copy over and will give this a go!

Just to give you the precise method, after the dialog box comes up, choose the choose library button. Then navigate to the iTunes music folder, which should be in C:\MyMusic\iTunes or something pretty similar. The iTunes playlist you want to select is the one just inside the iTunes music folder.

timberflake

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

Just to give you the precise method, after the dialog box comes up, choose the choose library button. Then navigate to the iTunes music folder, which should be in C:\MyMusic\iTunes or something pretty similar. The iTunes playlist you want to select is the one just inside the iTunes music folder.

Worked perfectly, thanks for your help.

Money_Grabber13579

timberflake wrote: »

Worked perfectly, thanks for your help.

Good to hear! I always thought moving iTunes was very cumbersome, and didn't really have an easy solution! Until someone showed me that way. Means you don't lose your ratings, playcounts etc.

Marty_J

If you sign in to your iTunes account on both computers, you can easily copy content between them using iTunes' Home Sharing feature.