Music moves me ... but how do I move the music?
May 15, 2007 6:32 PM Subscribe
I want to move my iTunes library from an old iBook to a new PC laptop. I don't have an external hard drive. The library isn't very large -- only about 3 gigs -- but I have nothing large enough to save it on to do the transfer. And because the iBook is so old, it doesn't have a CD/DVD burner. Is there hope? Or am I faced with reloading all of my CDs onto the new machine? I've checked previous AskMe questions as well as Lifehacker, and can't seem to find any situations that quite fit mine.
Perhaps purchase a monthly online storage space, you can usually find places with at least 20gigs of storage for a monthly fee. Just a quick google found http://www.flipdrive.com/ which even has 20gigs for a month for FREE!
posted by banannafish at 6:44 PM on May 15, 2007
posted by banannafish at 6:44 PM on May 15, 2007
Sounds like you could enable file sharing on one of the laptops and just copy the files over. It would take a while but with 3GB it wouldn't take too long. Using a wired connection instead of wireless would also be speed things up.
posted by Cog at 6:46 PM on May 15, 2007
posted by Cog at 6:46 PM on May 15, 2007
Buy a "crossover" network cable (usually black or red, not always) from your local electronics store, and plug it into the network port on your two computers. With OS X it should automatically manage to connect, the PC might be a little trouble to get working. Hopefully they should just connect.
The Apple website has some info on networking a PC and Mac together.
posted by jord at 6:47 PM on May 15, 2007
The Apple website has some info on networking a PC and Mac together.
posted by jord at 6:47 PM on May 15, 2007
I believe that there is some way to do what jord said and connect the two computers. Basically, have the PC recognize the Mac as an external hard drive and move files from the "external hard drive" to a different directory in the PC.
I don't really know details of how to do it with your Mac and PC but I know that when I was moving information from my old iBook to my new MacBook, my friend firewired the two together to make this sort of thing work.
I would definitely not use gmail or any other uploading/downloading type thing to do this; it would take forever.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 6:56 PM on May 15, 2007
I don't really know details of how to do it with your Mac and PC but I know that when I was moving information from my old iBook to my new MacBook, my friend firewired the two together to make this sort of thing work.
I would definitely not use gmail or any other uploading/downloading type thing to do this; it would take forever.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 6:56 PM on May 15, 2007
If both computers have firewire perhaps you could set up a firewire network?
posted by gergtreble at 7:19 PM on May 15, 2007
posted by gergtreble at 7:19 PM on May 15, 2007
Response by poster: Thanks, all, for the great suggestions. I think I'll hit Radio Shack in the morning to find a cord to connect the two laptops. Though if anyone else has any brainstorms, feel free to post 'em!
posted by shallowcenter at 7:29 PM on May 15, 2007
posted by shallowcenter at 7:29 PM on May 15, 2007
I had to do this with an old mac and a new pc, and vice versa... there are fancy ways to do it but my solution was:
If you can't do the direct connection thing, do an ftp thing.
1. get a free ftp server program (google)
2. set up a server with all the defaults, make sure your mp3 directory is available on the server
3. plug the two computers together directly or via a router
4. find the ip address of the server computer, join it on the new computer (ftp://xxx.xxx.xxx:21) in explorer or whatever
5. download! it should go fast, like ~ 500kb/s.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:39 PM on May 15, 2007
If you can't do the direct connection thing, do an ftp thing.
1. get a free ftp server program (google)
2. set up a server with all the defaults, make sure your mp3 directory is available on the server
3. plug the two computers together directly or via a router
4. find the ip address of the server computer, join it on the new computer (ftp://xxx.xxx.xxx:21) in explorer or whatever
5. download! it should go fast, like ~ 500kb/s.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:39 PM on May 15, 2007
If it has firewire, target disk mode is the way to go.
posted by MysticMCJ at 6:42 AM on May 16, 2007
posted by MysticMCJ at 6:42 AM on May 16, 2007
take the hard drive out of the ibook, stick it an a $10 USB enclosure and then plug it into the PC (you will need to download a program like MacDrive to access), your PC will recognize it as an external drive and you copy whatever you want off of it -- see this AskMe Q I asked.
posted by modernnomad at 6:54 AM on May 16, 2007
posted by modernnomad at 6:54 AM on May 16, 2007
Best answer: I think the easiest way to do this would be to get a 1GB or 512 meg USB stick and copy the library over in three to six installations.
That or wiring the computers together, as described above.
posted by sindark at 7:32 AM on May 16, 2007
That or wiring the computers together, as described above.
posted by sindark at 7:32 AM on May 16, 2007
Response by poster: You nailed it, sindark. Got a 2-gig stick at Radio Shack and transferred my tunes over in two installments. Thanks!
posted by shallowcenter at 1:59 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by shallowcenter at 1:59 PM on May 17, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
Do you have a router/switch with wired or wireless capability? Setup ftp or windows sharing. If no switch, buy a crossover cable to do the same or a thumb drive to move a chunk at a time.
posted by arruns at 6:43 PM on May 15, 2007