Migrating from iTunes to the Music App

A guide to upgrading your iTunes library from PC, to the Music app on a new Mac, while keeping your playlists, ratings, and other metadata intact. These steps also work when upgrading from an older Mac to a new one.

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00:00 Intro
00:20 Consolidating iTunes
01:22 Copying Your Library
03:35 Future-proofing Your Library
04:40 Copying Music Into an Existing Library

[MartinGreen-pr]

Great tutorial, helped me to move all my music from a 2010 iMac using iTunes to a 2023 MacBook Pro using music. Thanks

[VinceVega]

This is the best tutorial that I have watched whilst setting up 2 new macs.I am upgrading from an 11yr old imac.

[VatroslavHaramustek]

this didn't work for me... but i find solution. after copying itunes to external drive (as in video) just on mac hold "option" key when opening music app. it will ask you for database file. just find it on external hard drive (in itunes folder). it will import everything. now consolidate files as in video. that's it! :D

[dannyd]

Will my playlist be on the apple music app

[bigtrev]

What happens if you already have iTunes Match on pc set up so your library is in the cloud as you move over to the Mac into Apple Music?

[BeatsbytheSXMZ]

When I paste the iTunes library into the Mac music folder as you explained, the music in the Music App doesn't populate

[jessevallado]

Can you detail how to migrate your playlists please? Thank you

[waffleninja]

Thank you so much for this! I was really scared to transfer my music from a windows computer to a new Mac but your instructions were super clear and easy!

[dannymartial]

This is sooo helpful. You even provided edge-cases and future-proofing steps. Thanks!

[thecolonel]

I have completely moved to the Apple eco-system, this month. Mac Mini, iPhone11, iWatch series 6, and iPad Gen9. Not everything has arrived yet, got the iPhone and the iWatch for now. Looking to transfer iTunes from my PC to iphone11 (if possible). This video did not discuss that directly, but you saved me when my Mac Mini is ready to fire up and transfer. Thanks!

[Toebex]

I wish you made tutorials for every single tech-related issue. I sort of knew how to do this, but you cleared up a lot of questions I had. Im planning to essentially start my tech life from scratch. Brand new Mac Pro and iPhone after using the same mac pro for 12 years and iphone for 6 years. I was planning to restore my new computer from a carbon copy clone, then i thought maybe my time machine backup, but there are terabytes of messy very old stuff in there that I want to get away from, and doing the time machine restore would be unneccesary and unpredictable. I just want to copy of the essential files from my old mac, notably my iPhone backup (in MobileSync), my iTunes library, most of my premiere and after effects files+exports and a handful of applications (over 70% dont even work anymore on newer OS's). I think id rather just copy them over when its all new, rather than copy everything and then delete whatever I didnt want. This video clears up a lot for the iTunes side. I dont have any movies or tv shows, just music. Thank you and sorry for the long comment.

[honeyxi]

What makes iTunes or Music app sometimes plays music videos show just black videos on Mac?

[a.j.cepeda]

How would I do this with an iPad Pro? I have been searching and trying to do this with my old HD from a PC. I have all my music and located it on the HD but am having trouble transferring it to my iPad Pro. Please advise if you can….

[swinstondc]

This was incredibly helpful while being super concise. Thanks a bunch!

[sarajanehaven]

Can you please clarify the 'however' statement at 5:52 about previous playlists and ratings not migrating over. Does this mean only the sound files migrate and I would have to then recreate the iTunes playlists in the Music app? Also, can you confirm that in this process, existing Music playlists will not be overwritten? Thanks!

[blaynestaleypro]

WHAT ABOUT PLAYLISTS??? Will it preserve my itunes playlists???? That is crucial information.

[HH-mfqz]

Thank you very much for the grat video!
The only useful video I found on this topic

[digiify]

Thanks for this! I was certain this would mess up my entire library for some reason. Glad to know it was this simple and I can keep all my music! you rock!!!

[jamescocklin]

When I click on organize library and check the box consolidate files I immediately get a pop-up that says copying files failed and unknown error has occurred. What do I do next?

[moraditax]

This was simple, helpful, concise, and even relaxing. This is art. I will check your other videos :)