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How to transfer your iTunes library & playlists to a new computer

If you use an iPod, iTouch, or iPhone and plan on getting a new computer, you will want to read this article! OR, if you use any of these devices and want to make sure your library stays safe, you will want to read this article!

Yesterday, I helped a customer setup a new Windows 7 computer and transfer email, favorites, and other data from his old Windows XP computer. Turns out that he also needed to move his iTunes library of more than 8,000 songs and almost 150 playlists!

There isn’t too much I panic about when I arrive at a customer’s home or office, but moving large, customized iTunes libraries is something that does get me a little nervous. In the past, I have had to open an iTunes XML file in a word processor and then use find and replace to enter the path to the storage location on the new computer. It was extremely difficult and tedious.

I am happy to report that I successfully transferred the entire 36 gigabyte library and playlists using the following technique:

  1. On the old computer, open iTunes
  2. Click Edit –> Preferences from the menus
  3. Click the Advanced tab
  4. Click the check box next to Keep iTunes Media folder organized (if it isn’t already)
  5. Click OK
  6. Click File –> Library –> Organize Library (if the box wasn’t checked, be prepared to wait for a few a minutes as iTunes organizes your library).
  7. Now close iTunes and copy your entire My Music folder to an external hard drive, or you can do as I did and pull the hard drive from the old computer and use an USB hard drive adaptor to connect it to the new computer.
  8. DON’T COPY THE MUSIC TO THE NEW COMPUTER YET.
  9. Instead, download and install iTunes on the new computer
  10. Start iTunes and repeat steps 2-5 (above)
  11. Close iTunes
  12. Open the Music folder on the new computer
  13. You should see an iTunes folder, double-click it
  14. Now you will see either an iTunes Music or iTunes Media folder (doesn’t matter what name it has)
  15. Click one time on the folder and delete it
  16. Connect your backup hard drive to the new computer and navigate to the My Music folder and open it
  17. Push Ctrl+A on your keyboard to select all contents in the My Music folder
  18. Drag the files to the Music folder on the new computer
  19. Click yes when asked if you want to overwrite any existing files with the same name
  20. Close open Windows
  21. Start iTunes and your libary, including playlists, should be there.

Good luck!

For those of you with a DVD burner on your system (most systems built after 2006 include a DVD burner), you can backup your iTunes library and info via DVD using these steps:

  1. Make sure you have 5-20 blank DVDs (DVD-R or DVD+R) on hand for the backup
  2. Start iTunes
  3. Click File –> Library –> Backup to Disk from menus
  4. Click Back Up button
  5. Follow on-screen instructions.

To restore the backup:

  1. Start iTunes
  2. Insert the first DVD in the backup set
  3. Follow on-screen instructions
Links to Apple’s official instructions on this process:
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126 thoughts on “How to transfer your iTunes library & playlists to a new computer”

  1. Eric

    When I click “Organize Library”…I am prompted to check a box for either “Consolodate files” or “Reorganize files in the folder “iTunes Music””…

    Which do I check?….

    THX!

      1. Rick

        Playlists can sometimes be tricky, but if you follow the directions exactly, it should work. You can also see the links I added for the directions from iTunes…I cannot wait for the iCloud so that all this stuff sync more seamlessly! Thanks.

        1. Gene

          Thanks, Rick, but I still don’t know what to do at step 6. There are two buttons to choose from when you Click File–>Library–>Organize Library, and you don’t say what to do next.

          Gene

  3. Joe

    only directions i have found to completely transfer itunes music and library… thank you so much….

  5. Sue

    Question On Step #14: What if there there are both “itunes music” AND “itunes media” – delete both?

  6. haile

    You are a GOD!!!! I looked ad 35874509834750 sites, and tried 325-87346908374 different complicated things….with nothing… this was so easy and worked!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! SO MUCH!

  7. Happy_Macomb

    What if your old computer is no longer functional so you can’t take the step of “organizing” your media folder on the old computer (although the harddrive is still ok)?

  8. Carmen

    Awesome!!! Spent 2 hours trying to gtransfer before I found this and it worked like a dream! Thank you so much!!

  9. Darren

    Thank you so much. Wow, I can’t even imagine how much time this saved me (and I would still have done it wrong). Thank you for sharing.

    1. Jim

      Same here. I followed the directions but the playlists are not coming over. Only the music. I’m transferring from and XP to Windows 7 and just can’t get the playlists to come over. Argh!

  12. paul

    I do this today, transferring my Itunes to a new laptop, but although it copied my library perfectly, it did not transfer my playlists, of which I had many specific ones I need. The box marked “keep Itunes folder organized” was already checked also, but only my library got moved correctly. Can anyone help me out? Thanx…..

  13. Paul

    I did this today, transferring my old Itunes library to my new laptop, and everything transferred except my playlists, of which i had many. Do you, Rick, or anyone else have any suggestions? Thanx…..

  14. Jeff

    Wonderful! I tried so many other works-around and this was the only way that worked. I found it’s very important to do all the right steps on the first computer. Thank you so much.

  15. Brittany

    Dude! You are amazing! Worked perfectly! And I was getting my previous information from the Apple/iTunes help website. If I can’t marry you then at least let me put you on my Christmas card list so I can remind you yearly what a valuable resource you were/are to someone whose music is sooo important to her. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

  16. Julie

    For me the only thing that worked was following the instructions on Apple’s website, which I found to be much clearer.

    1. Jasmine

      Julie, where did you find the instructions on how to move the music with the playlists intact? My old computer crashed, but my iTunes always ran off of my external hard drive anyway…so I have all the music. However, I am having trouble transferring my music + playlists.

        1. Jasmine

          I still can’t figure out how to get my new computer to recognize my iTunes Media folder from my external hard drive. In my iTunes preferences I have it set to where my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive is the default, but now all that is in my iTunes file is just the random audio files that were on my new computer. As a matter of fact only random audio files I had on my new computer are showing up. None of which I care to much about at the moment.

          My entire old iTunes library and music and playlists is MIA. No idea how to get it to sync properly. Any help would be great. Thanks!

        2. Jasmine

          A little addendum to the above:

          I tried the “Add folder” option and clicked on the folder where my iTunes Media is on my external and now my old music is here, but none of my playlists.

          Does this mean I will have to re-create all of my playlists from scratch? :/

          1. Rick

            Playlists are the hardest to come over IF you don’t follow the steps perfectly AND have the same version of iTunes on the old computer and the new computer. So, yes, you will probably have to recreate playlists if they didn’t come over. Good luck.

          2. Jasmine

            OK, it must be that the iTunes I had when my computer crashed was an older version than the one I currently have. Do you think there is a way to figure out which older version of iTunes I had then download it to my new computer and try to transfer files over using your instructions and then upgrading iTunes again?

            I know it’s a long shot, but I found this site with old iTunes versions on it
            http://www.oldapps.com/itunes.php?old_itunes=6277

    3. Eleanor S. Towns

      Tell Mrs. Rickster I am in love with you! Thank you so much for your directions on transferring iTunes AND playlists. Nobody else even understood the question. I am setting up a new MAC for my son, and everytime I touch his music I get stressed for fear of losing it. I have it backed up on 2 external drives and will keep his old computer for a few months.

      A nervous wannabee grannygeek MOM.

    4. Jodi

      Dude, you’re my hero! After trying to unsuccessfully transfer iTunes once before (tunes missing and no playlists), I not only found your instructions easy to follow, but they worked perfectly, too! My entire iTunes collection (WITH playlists) transferred flawlessly. Thanks a ton!

    5. Jeff

      You are the man!!
      Your instructions worked perfectly.
      I spent hours recreating my playlists with my last new laptop.
      Thanks so much.

      1. Rick

        I’ve seen many of the comments to my tip say they have gotten their playlists and everything, and others who have not had success. My best suggestion is to try again, and methodically go through the steps…be sure to read the link to Apple as well. Good luck.

    8. Chris

      After following the instructions, I have all my playlists, but I cannot access any of my music. Each song has the exclamation point beside it saying Itunes cannot locate the file.

      Any advice?

    10. Ray

      I had a desk top and it is trashed with my old I tunes file. What course of action can I take to put all my old files onto my new I Mac? thank you for the help

      1. Rick

        If your iTunes files are missing or corrupted, you may not have any recourse. You could try hooking the hard drive to an enclosure and see if the files can be recovered.

    12. Kevin

      itunes will automatically create a folder C:\Users\*name*\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media for your music when you install it on your new computer.
      Make sure your music and playlist files are in a folder of the same name on your old computer before you try this! I had saved my music in a different folder to save space and was very frustrated when my playlists weren’t transferring… until I realised it was my fault!!

      Thanks for the instructions Rick!

    16. Casey

      What do I do if the iTunes on the new computer already has songs on it? I’m unsure whether to delete the ‘iTunes Media’ folder. Or is this just a copy of what is on iTunes and everything in iTunes will stay there? Thanks

        1. Rick

          If you have existing music you down’t want to lose, then you will need to just import the songs into your existing library. Don’t try deleting what you already have that you want to keep.

          1. Casey

            I added the folder to the library on the new computer which had the ‘my music’ folder from the other computer in it. I have all my songs now in one place but it didnt copy my playlists. Can I copy them in without having to create them manually?

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