How can i transfer my iTunes library and/or music files

Question

I have a new external hard drive and i'm trying to transfer all my music files to it to make my computer work a little faster. (i have a lot of music on my laptop.) I have a lot of imported music from other files and ripped cds as well as songs from friends' ipods. last time i tried to copy my music (which took a very long time) and then move it to the hard drive i lost most of the music files when i deleted the original folder. I don't know how to make a copy of all the songs in my itunes, is there a way to do this? Can anyone help me transfer my music to speed up my computer?

Answer 1

Export the source iTunes library as an XML file (File>Export Library…). This will create a file that holds information about the location, song filenames, and *song rating*! Replace the file paths in your XML file with the path that the songs from the source library will be in when you import them. This path may point to your FireWire Drive, a DVD you have burned, or a temporary folder on your hard drive that you have copied your music to. Just to be sure of the new path, copy one of the files from this location to your library, export your destination library, and look at the file path to that song in the resulting XML file. To actually replace the file paths, I did a Find/Change in TextWrangler. Set the preferences in iTunes in your source library to “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.” This is under “Advanced.” Import your library (File>Import). Delete redundant files. If you’re like me, you have some duplicate songs in your multiple libraries. This is a tedious task, but I plan to do it over time.

Answer 2

iTunes Help Site:

http://discussions.apple.com/category.js...