switching from PC laptop to MAC: how do I back up itunes playlists?

[Corporate Thug]

my biggest hurdle is going back and figuring out which songs go on "my top rated" list for 30 gigs worth of songs after I switch. Is there an easier way to do this then tediously going through each song?

 

[TheStu]

Well, you can just back up the itunes folder on Windows, all of it mind you. Start up your Mac, update iTunes, open iTunes. Now, Quit iTunes (Quit, don't just close), and copy that iTunes folder into your iTunes folder on your mac. Let it replace the iTunes Library file there. Now, double click the iTunes library file (don't open iTunes from the Dock) and everything should be there.

 

[Kadarin]

I haven't messed with it, but there's an Export and an Export Library function both under File.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Well, you can just back up the itunes folder on Windows, all of it mind you. Start up your Mac, update iTunes, open iTunes. Now, Quit iTunes (Quit, don't just close), and copy that iTunes folder into your iTunes folder on your mac. Let it replace the iTunes Library file there. Now, double click the iTunes library file (don't open iTunes from the Dock) and everything should be there.

thanx stu, just to be perfectly clear, playists are saved in the itunes folder?

 

[TheStu]

Playlists are saved within the iTunes Library file. It is an XML file iirc so it just points to the files that are contained in the playlist.

So on your windows machine you will want to copy everything inside of My Documents/My Music/iTunes (should be iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Music Library.xml, iTunes Music Folder, and Album Artwork Folder)


Then drop those into the Music folder of your new mac, after running iTunes at least once. You want it to build its own library file and what not, so when you place yours there, it will call it, and not overwrite.