Importing an old Itunes library without affecting my current playlists?

June 19, 2010 11:52 PM

Yet another Itunes Library question! I started a new Itunes library on a new Macbook Pro because my old Mac died. I finally got around to moving all the old Mac's mp3s into the new library, and I would now like to import the old library file (leaving my current playlists intact) to recreate the old Mac's playlists. I did this once before, so I know it can be done, but I can't remember how or find the instructions I used. Thanks!
posted by Spacelegoman to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451 ?
posted by oxit at 12:22 AM on June 20, 2010

Response by poster: That looks like it might erase my current library... especially with the deleting the old library part.
posted by Spacelegoman at 7:46 AM on June 20, 2010

Export all your current playlists individually before changing your library. You can then import the individual playlists to the new library. That's the hard way to do it, but if you want to preserve both sets of playlists, it's the way to be sure.

How to export a playlist (use the instructions for individual playlists). This is for 9.1 but it hasn't changed for 9.2.

How to import individual playlists.
posted by immlass at 7:59 AM on June 20, 2010

I would just take the iTunes folder from the old Mac and merge it with the iTunes folder in the new Mac. It would be in the Music folder? This should keep everything intact on both parts, as long as you make sure you're not just replacing the new iTunes folder with the old one. Might be kind of time-consuming, but this should solve the problem.
posted by LokiBear at 9:35 AM on June 20, 2010