iTunes onto a new PC, without old PC, copying media over from Apple device

Xstyle

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Hi all,

I have an iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, and just bought my wife an iPhone 4S (I'm trying to hold out for the iPhone 5!).

My initial problem is this:
- Old laptop is dead, got a new PC.
- My iTunes library is on the iPhone 3GS.
- Needs to be copied into the new iTunes on new PC. Syncing will erase the iPhone by putting the current blank iTunes library from the PC onto it, I want the polar opposite! iTunes purchases have gone into the library, but not the downloads.

I came across this informative article, but it doesn't answer this situation. Others have asked too...
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articl ... hard-drive

Can anyone advise the easiest and cost effective way to solve this please?
Many thanks!!

Xstyle
 
Do you still have the HDD from the old laptop, you could plug it into a dock then copy everything over to the new PC, install iTunes it will see the old library then authorize the new PC under via store menu, after that sync iPhone with the new PC.

Or setup iTunes on new PC then authorize it, connect the iPhone and before syncing you can right click on iPhone and select transfer purchases to move content on phone into library. You might be able to use something like Sharepod to transfer music off the phone without using iTunes.

You might want to sync all your stuff to iCloud first so contacts, photos, etc goes onto that and can be restored if anything goes wrong.
 
In the new iTunes, you can copy over any apps and purchased music/ringtones once you've logged in with the same iTunes account and authorised the new computer, by right clicking and clicking Transfer Purchases, as next010 says. You can also do it in iTunes without connecting the phone, by going to the iTunes Store, and clicking Purchased on the right side of the Store window;

ajm5pd.png


However, any other music you have on the phone that wasn't bought from iTunes you won't be able to copy over. This includes anything you've downloaded outside of iTunes and sync'd, and anything you've ripped from your own CD's and sync'd.

To save these, download SharePod.

Make sure iTunes is set so that it doesn't open when your iPhone is connected, and that the Prevent autosyncing is ticked, then quit iTunes. Plug iPhone in, open SharePod and let it scan your phone. Then you can highlight everything you want and save it to a folder on your desktop. Disconnect phone when done. Then open iTunes, and in Prefs, make sure the boxes for "Copy items to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library" and "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised" are both ticked, then drag that new folder full of music into the library interface. Let it all add in, and it will write new versions of all that music to your iTunes Media Folder and organise it. Once it's done, you can delete the folder and it's contents from the desktop (or copy it to a new location on an external disk if you want to keep a back up)

Then when you connect iPhone and tell it to sync all music, it will still wipe your iPhone's music library, but it will then put it back on again since you've copied all your music into the iTunes library. End result will be all your music on the iPhone and in iTunes.
 
Thanks guys!! :thumbsup:
Slight query...
To save these, download SharePod.

Make sure iTunes is set so that it doesn't open when your iPhone is connected, and that the Prevent autosyncing is ticked, then quit iTunes. Plug iPhone in, open SharePod and let it scan your phone. Then you can highlight everything you want and save it to a folder on your desktop. Disconnect phone when done.

As soon as I opened iTunes, all the music was showing in iTunes that I had just backed up from Sharepod to the PC.

Then open iTunes, and in Prefs, make sure the boxes for "Copy items to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library" and "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised" are both ticked, then drag that new folder full of music into the library interface. Let it all add in, and it will write new versions of all that music to your iTunes Media Folder and organise it. Once it's done, you can delete the folder and it's contents from the desktop (or copy it to a new location on an external disk if you want to keep a back up)

Then when you connect iPhone and tell it to sync all music, it will still wipe your iPhone's music library, but it will then put it back on again since you've copied all your music into the iTunes library. End result will be all your music on the iPhone and in iTunes.

I haven't needed to do the 2nd part of the instructions?
I have ticked both options of
- "Copy items to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library"
- "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised"
but I can't see that made any difference?

Also, my films have not been copied over into iTunes, but they are on the Sharepod and now my PC?

And compilation albums I have are now all split with the artists... i.e. all songs in "Kiss Mixtape " are now split as "Kiss Mixtape - Amerie" and "Kiss Mixtape - Alecia Keys". Prevously all songs under "Kiss Mixtape" were together as one album, which is easy and the way it should be, and was still filterable by tabbing the artist top menu arrow.

Appreciate the fine tuning advice now! Thanks
 
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As soon as I opened iTunes, all the music was showing in iTunes that I had just backed up from Sharepod to the PC.

I haven't needed to do the 2nd part of the instructions?
I have ticked both options of
- "Copy items to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library"
- "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised"
but I can't see that made any difference?

I looked at it again, in iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Devices = I hadn't checked "Prevent iPods, iPones, iPads from syncing automatically"

Shall I delete all the folders that had downloaded from Sharepod and start the whole process again? and would that then enable my iTunes to also have the films from the Sharepod, by following the second part of your instructions Matt_C?

:confused:
 
If the music you backed up with SharePod is showing in the iTunes library, then that's fine. For the movies, you need to find out where they backed up to on the computer (did you create a new folder on the desktop like I said?) and then add them to the iTunes library (you can just drag the folder of movies - or individual/multiple movies - into the iTunes interface) which is why I said have the two options (copy to itunes media folder when adding to library, and Keep itunes media organised) as it makes it a lot easier. You also need to make sure that the music showing in itunes now, that you backed up with SharePod is actually in your iTunes media folder and that iTunes is reading it from there, and not reading it from the desktop folder.

As for fine tuning, unfortuantely you'll need to do this manually. You can highlight multiple items in iTunes and chage their properties / ID3 tags. For the case of your mix tape, do a search in itunes for "Kiss Mixtape" to bring up all files for that album, highlight them all, right click and select Get Info, then click Options and select it as part of a compilation, which should group it back together for you.
 
If the music you backed up with SharePod is showing in the iTunes library, then that's fine. For the movies, you need to find out where they backed up to on the computer (did you create a new folder on the desktop like I said?) and then add them to the iTunes library (you can just drag the folder of movies - or individual/multiple movies - into the iTunes interface) which is why I said have the two options (copy to itunes media folder when adding to library, and Keep itunes media organised) as it makes it a lot easier. You also need to make sure that the music showing in itunes now, that you backed up with SharePod is actually in your iTunes media folder and that iTunes is reading it from there, and not reading it from the desktop folder.
The Sharepod content is saved under Desktop > Libraries > Music > = and then all the folders of the artists listed. Their is also a folder here for "iTunes". Within herre iTunes Media, has only the purchased items in, and a file called "iTunes Music Library" seems to have all the songs in. if I click on "iTunes Library" folder, it takes me straight through to iTunes app itself.

So this means iTunes is currently reading from the desktop, rather than the iTunes folder?
Do I need to make another folder and copy everything into there, or can I just move the other folders in Music into the iTunes Media folder? :facepalm:

A movie in the Desktop Music folder (I should save it under Movies) from where Sharepod had transferred it, I dragged it into the iTunes interface and it played. It is stored inm the iTunes Media Library now under a Movies folder. However, it is not in iTunes interface under "Films"?
 
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You can't just move the music folders from the new desktop folder to the iTunes media folder as it will break all the filepaths to the songs in your library. Here's what you do.

Go to the iTunes preferences and check those two boxes I mentioned - Copy items to iTunes Media Folder and Keep iTunes Media Folder organised. Now, go to FILE > LIBRARY > ORGANIZE LIBRARY and check the CONSOLIDATE LIBRARY entry. Then click OK. iTunes will now move all the music from the desktop folder into the iTunes Media folder. Now you have it all in one place.

After that, drag all the movies in from the desktop sharepod folder into the iTunes player interface and it will write copies of them to the iTunes Media Folder.

Once all that is done, you can delete the desktop sharepod folder
 
Now, go to FILE > LIBRARY > ORGANIZE LIBRARY and check the CONSOLIDATE LIBRARY entry. Then click OK. iTunes will now move all the music from the desktop folder into the iTunes Media folder. Now you have it all in one place.
Thanks, I had done the other bits, but not this one...
doing this also moved the movies into the iTunes Media folder too!

After that, drag all the movies in from the desktop sharepod folder into the iTunes player interface and it will write copies of them to the iTunes Media Folder.

Once all that is done, you can delete the desktop sharepod folder

But they still dont show up in "Films" in iTunes interface, but are listed in the "movies folder" automatically of iTunes Media folder? Any clues please?
 
Right so everything is now in the iTunes Media folder, so thats good.

I'm not too sure why your movie files aren't showing up in the iTunes player interface. They should show up like this;

mv6joy.png
 
my iTunes says "FILMS" not "MOVIES"? Still all blank... the movies are in the iTunes Library 100% confirmed.
I have yet to update to the new IOS 5... I was waiting to get all the content sorted first. Shall I update now, for all of my devices, or does that not make a difference?

All "GET INFO" all sorted too, took a while! :)
 
Can you post a screen shot like I have please. It's not making sense
 
Never seen it say Films - must be a Windows thing. Now, you don't have any video content in the iTunes Library, so when you said in post #11, what did you mean? Did you just mean they are listed in the iTunes Media Folder? Because they aren't showing in the iTunes Library (the player interface you just posted a pic of)
 
Now, you don't have any video content in the iTunes Library, so when you said in post #11, what did you mean? Did you just mean they are listed in the iTunes Media Folder? Because they aren't showing in the iTunes Library (the player interface you just posted a pic of)

Yes, its listed in the iTunes Media Folder...

itunesmediamovies.jpg

:confused:
 
Right, so if you go into iTunes player, go to File > Add To Library and select that Movies Folder, does it add those video files to the iTunes Library under Films?
 
Right, so if you go into iTunes player, go to File > Add To Library and select that Movies Folder, does it add those video files to the iTunes Library under Films?

nope! :(
 
:clap: FIXED!!!!!!! :clap:
The movies were in the Music folder in my C drive. So just by placing them into the "Video" folder on desktop, it fixed the problem!! Wierd, as they were already previously in the iTunes Media Movie folder.

THANKS FOR YOUR ALL HELP MATT !!!
:arty:
 
Hmm, that sounds like they are being read from that location, which you don't want. If you now delete that desktop folder, the movies won't play in iTunes. Might be worth trying the consolidate proceedure again, see if it moves the files from the desktop folder into the iTunes Media Folder again, and still show them in the iTunes library (interface)
 
Hmm, that sounds like they are being read from that location, which you don't want. If you now delete that desktop folder, the movies won't play in iTunes. Might be worth trying the consolidate proceedure again, see if it moves the files from the desktop folder into the iTunes Media Folder again, and still show them in the iTunes library (interface)

Consilodated, nothing happened or was shown to transfer over.
Do you want me to delete the "Movies" folder in my desktop?

EDIT: I created another folder on the desktop, and moved all the movies to that.
Went back to iTunes, closed and reopened, and consolidated library again, and the movies are still in there. Does that mean its all ok? And I can now put the movies back into the C:/Libraries>Movies, were they were?

Thanks again
 
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Right click on one of the movies in the iTunes library and select Get Info, and see what the filepath says under summary (there will be a bit telling where the file it's reading is located)

2vt9mhk.png


If it's showing as the desktop folder, and none of the movies are showing in the iTunes Media folder, then deleting the desktop folder will a) delete the movies and b) break the ties in iTunes
 
Yep that all looks right - when you go into Explorer and look at the iTunes Media Folder > Movies do they show up in there also?

Also, try right clicking on one of the movie files in iTunes interface and selecting "Show in Explorer" and see where the folder is
 
Yep that all looks right - when you go into Explorer and look at the iTunes Media Folder > Movies do they show up in there also?

Also, try right clicking on one of the movie files in iTunes interface and selecting "Show in Explorer" and see where the folder is

:D All confirmed boss :thumbsup:
 
Awesome, sounds like you're up and rolling then :smashin:
 

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