I-Tunes/I-Pod question

[PrincessKsMom]

If I move all of my I-Tunes stuff to an external hard drive, will I then be able to plug that new external hard drive into a new computer and have all of my music? Everything I've heard tells me that if I get a new computer, I lose all of my I-Tunes. Also, I have 3 different I-Pods on my computer. Will it copy to the hard drive as three separate folders? Thanks.

 

[wenrob]

You won't lose your music etc but you will have to re-import everything back into itunes from the EHD. Just point itunes over to the folder you put on the EHD and select 'import folder."

As to three different ipods I'm not sure what you mean. All your music etc should be in the folders you move to the EHD, they aren't grouped by ipod. If you mean lose your playlists, yep, you will. You won't lose the content but you'll have to make new playlists.

A couple weeks ago I opened my itunes to find it empty. Re importing was not a big deal but because it's now a "new" library my play lists won't be there so I've been avoiding synching my phone. (it will erase the lists from my phone) I plan on getting some software to transfer my play lists but right now it's not a big deal to me. You can google "free my ipod" or "transferring from ipod" to find something that will help you transfer play lists to the new library. Or do what my DD did and just make new ones.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Thank you!

 

[wenrob]

You're welcome!

edited to add: If you have a lot of stuff purchased from itunes it might not be a bad idea to back it up to a CD/DVD just in case. You could also back up the whole library on CD/DVD and just import that but I find it more work then it's worth.

Just make sure when you move the folders to the EHD you move exactly what is on your computer and import the whole thing back into itunes. You may end up with double copies of some stuff but I'd rather go through and delete those then not get everything over there.

 

[elgerber]

If you back up to cd/dvd, you will mantain the playlists and everything will be organized as you have it now. That said it takes a TON of discs to do it. Last time I did it, it took 9 DVD's to back it up!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you don't mind reorganizing it in your Itunes just move the folders, but if you have a lot of playlists and album artwork that you have imported, then you would want to back it up and restore it.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Thanks. I don't even have a new computer, but mine is running so slow, I thought it might be best to purchase an EHD and get I-Tunes and all my songs off of it.

 

[elgerber]

Thanks. I don't even have a new computer, but mine is running so slow, I thought it might be best to purchase an EHD and get I-Tunes and all my songs off of it.

So you would not actually be removing the Itunes program, just moving the location of the music? That is a different story. Your music will all still look the same in the Itunes, but when you try to play a song, it won't be able to find it because the location has moved. I tunes will then ask you if you would like to locate the song. You can click yes and then search the hard drive until you find it. If you have a lot of music though this will be a VERY long process to do this for all songs.
So, you may still be better off deleting the Itunes and reinstalling fresh after backing up or moving the music to the ehd.

 

[HonnyDipp]

I am going through the exact problem! I have 1833 songs on my iTunes account. Its from iTunes purchases Amazon.com, limewire and other CD's. I just got a new laptop, and I'm looking at a BLANK iTunes account! Once I plug up my iPod it will automactly transfer all the purchased items. But I'm still out about 600 songs and videos. Now, I'm looking for a flash drive to load them, or buy over a 100 blank discs to backup my old iTunes account. Its a freakin' mess!

 

[PrincessKsMom]

So you would not actually be removing the Itunes program, just moving the location of the music? That is a different story. Your music will all still look the same in the Itunes, but when you try to play a song, it won't be able to find it because the location has moved. I tunes will then ask you if you would like to locate the song. You can click yes and then search the hard drive until you find it. If you have a lot of music though this will be a VERY long process to do this for all songs.
So, you may still be better off deleting the Itunes and reinstalling fresh after backing up or moving the music to the ehd.

If I could, I'd move the I-Tunes program and all my songs to the EHD. I also mentioned 3 I-Pods because I have mine, my daugther's and my mom's on my computer, each under a different log on/user. It's going to be a mess, I'm sure.