Transfering iTunes from Windows to Mac help needed

imickimick
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a hard drive, from a friend, who used to use Windows. His Windows needs to be reloaded, but he decided to switch to an iMac.

How do I get his iTunes library from his old hard drive, which is now attached to my iMac via a usb cable, to his new iMac? Remember, it's from Windows to Mac.



It should be noted that since switching to a Mac, he's purchased new music on his iMac. So, will copying his iTunes library to the iMac, cause his to lose his purchases made recently?



I'm not sure if he's upgraded or not, but the old library is with iTunes 8.x. If he's upgraded to 9, will that cause a problem?



Any help would be appreciated!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    bbwibbwi Posts: 812member
    so can you see all the music on the drive when its plugged into your mac?
  • Reply 2 of 7
    imickimick Posts: 351member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bbwi View Post


    so can you see all the music on the drive when its plugged into your mac?



    I don't think so. I can just see the drive and it's structure of files and folders.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    bbwibbwi Posts: 812member
    Huh? So you can see the files and folders but you don't know if there's music in them?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    Plug the windows HDD into your friends new iMac... he can then browse the HDD and find the iTunes folder and all the music files (.mp3 and .acc) in it.

    If iTunes (on the Mac) is set to automatically copy music into the iTunes folder and organize it, then... You can just drag and drop the music files from the Windows HDD onto iTunes. Then wait... wait... wait... while they copy over. If your friend used the SAME iTunes account name on his new Mac iTunes setup, then the copy-protected items from the Windows HDD should still play on the new Mac.

    By importing them in this fashion, you won't have to worry about ver 8 / ver 9 compatibilities.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    imickimick Posts: 351member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bbwi View Post


    Huh? So you can see the files and folders but you don't know if there's music in them?



    Ooops. I misread your question.

    Sure. I can see the directory called "iTunes". Everything is in there.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    imickimick Posts: 351member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    Plug the windows HDD into your friends new iMac... he can then browse the HDD and find the iTunes folder and all the music files (.mp3 and .acc) in it.

    If iTunes (on the Mac) is set to automatically copy music into the iTunes folder and organize it, then... You can just drag and drop the music files from the Windows HDD onto iTunes. Then wait... wait... wait... while they copy over. If your friend used the SAME iTunes account name on his new Mac iTunes setup, then the copy-protected items from the Windows HDD should still play on the new Mac.

    By importing them in this fashion, you won't have to worry about ver 8 / ver 9 compatibilities.



    Thanks King - Normally that should work, but he's 5 hours from here. We're doing it thru the mail. I have his entire itunes directory burned to a DL DVD. Will that work if he just sticks the dvd in his iMac?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iMick View Post


    Thanks King - Normally that should work, but he's 5 hours from here. We're doing it thru the mail. I have his entire itunes directory burned to a DL DVD. Will that work if he just sticks the dvd in his iMac?



    Yes. (again... any copy-protected stuff will have to have the same appleID authorized on the new computer as was used to purchase them.)
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