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May 11, 2007

tips

Move playlists from computer to computer with the greatest of ease

Posted May. 11, ’07, 8:49 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Tips

Export Library...Worried about moving your music files from one computer to another because you might lose all your carefully constructed playlists? Fear not, Macworld’s resident iTunes Kung Fu Master, Chris Breen, has the answer for you in his latest iPod Blog:

Simply launch iTunes and choose File -> Export Library. The resulting dialog box offers to save an XML file called Library.xml. This file does not contain any media — no music or movies, for example — but rather data that lists the names of your smart and not-so-smart playlists as well as information about what those playlists contain (track titles, for instance).

Copy this file to your other computer, launch iTunes on that computer, and choose File -> Import. In the dialog box that appears, navigate to the .xml file you just copied, select it, and click Choose. In short order, all the playlists contained in that .xml file will appear in iTunes’ Source list.

Dear lord, it’s almost too easy. And don’t worry, if some of the tracks referenced in the playlists aren’t on the new computer, they simply won’t show up in the playlist. As far as I (and Arthur C. Clarke) am concerned, this is magic.


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