Readers Respond: How Did You Overcome iTunes Transfer Hurdles?

Moving iTunes libraries from one computer to another can be one of the trickiest - and least pleasant - experiences for iPod/iPhone owners. Though there are a number of techniques that different people suggest and swear by - from iPod copy software to burning libraries to CD - nothing's foolproof.

Anyone who's had iTunes for a few years has probably run into this problem, though. Share your tips and tricks about what's been successful - or not - for you.

This isn't a place to ask for tech support. If you have questions, post them in the forum for an answer.

This worked PERFECTLY

So simple! This was SO easy! Absolutely blown away.

—Guest Hugh

Best way

is to follow these directions: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589. Worked fine and fast for me, less than 1 minute. You're welcome.

—Guest Nuno

FANTASTIC. EASY. THANK YOU!

Followed (simple) instructions, step-by-step, and it worked! I was so nervous about this working because it was for a friend and wanted to do right by her. Maybe tonight, she'll do right by me...DOH!

—Guest Aldo

Worked like a charm!

This step-by-step method worked perfectly. The only change I had to make was I had to erase the iTunes file on my NEW computer before dragging and dropping the backup from the portable drive into the new computer. Otherwise this worked!

—Guest JB

Didn't work

Kept opening folder after folder until it looked like nothing would transfer.

—Guest Roy

Easy

That was so easy to do. Saved me hours of frustration and kept my teenage daughter happy. Thank You.

—Guest Pete

It works!

I've just transferred my iTunes seamlessly to my new laptop from an external hard drive. I was not previously aware that you had to hold down the Shift key when opening iTunes on your new device.

—Guest Ben

Brilliant and Easy!

Worked a treat...thank you :) Just follow the instructions carefully.

—Guest BaRRaS

Here's my solution

The only reason to have iTunes on a machine is if you have an iPod. I once had an iPod but when I got my Android phone, I used DoubleTwist and AirSync to shove my iTunes library onto the phone. No problems since.

—Guest KD1S

How I did it

I did the external drive without iTunes installed - I saved the file to my computer and THEN installed iTunes - it installed with all of my songs, movies, etc =) hope it helps someone!

—Guest KK

Thank you!

Thank you for the easy and helpful article. I was about to clear my iPhone when I changed computers but luckily I found this article! Very helpful and saved me a lot of time.

—Guest Daisy

Quick and Effective

I found that the external hard drive was the easiest way. I'm pretty computer savvy, since I run all the technology aspects of our church services. I've learned many new softwares, but I decided to do the external hard drive since I would normally just use a jump drive but I don't think a jumpdrive exists that would have enough storage (about 120 GB). It was pretty simple and only took about 10 minutes to transfer my data on each computer. Just remember to put the data on your new computer and copy it from there not directly from the external hard drive because once you remove it, iTunes won't be able to find the file. (I realized this when it was half way through transferring and had to start over; not fun). iTunes really needs to come up with easier ways to do this and quit inhibiting its users. Although, I think iTunes is terrible already, but I can't give up my iPod.

—Guest Evelyn

sharing music/apps/books/movies on itune

To share downloaded material across two accounts (one computer) without having to repurchase, copy the file into your shared folder (on your hard drive under users), then open second account and drag download onto iTunes alias. I use this between my two kids' accounts all the time.

—Guest glamourcheeks

So what about...

None of these methods work for merging your music collection that you have on the iPhone with the one on your computer. And Jen, some of us had music BEFORE iTunes.

—Guest Ralf

Unconnected Songs After Transfer

I completed the transfer, first copying my library from my old computer to an external hard drive, following all the steps. It worked and retained the playlists. There was a problem. I had big number of missing songs that weren't connected. I searched for the song and asked iTunes to find all the songs, but it didn't find them all. I transferred it from my music to my music on the other computer, the same folder on both computers. I transferred it from Vista to Windows 7. It could have been because in the iTunes library folder I transferred to the new computer, I had one iTunes library folder inside another one. I think I also had some old files in the iTunes library folder. I had one file called previous iTunes libraries in it. I don't think that is normally in the iTunes library folder. What are the troubleshooting steps to take when you get a large number on unconnected songs after making the transfer? [I'd try either http://ipod.about.com/od/itunesproblems/qt/Fixing-The-Itunes-Exclamation-Point.htm or http://ipod.about.com/od/restoreandreformatipod/ss/Backup-Itunes-To-External-Hd_2.htm -- Sam]

—Guest Luke