I don't really feel like rating over 2000 mp3s all over again, so help me not have to do so!

October 31, 2007 3:52 PM

I'm thinking of nuking my hard drive and reinstalling Windows XP. This means iTunes, which sits on my C Drive, will obviously be wiped and reinstalled. If I do this, will I lose all the star ratings and other individual settings I have for my mp3s (which are stored on another partition that I won't be wiping)? If so, is there some file in the iTunes directory or somwhere else that I could back up and add to my new iTunes installation so I don't have to individually rate every mp3 I have all over again?
posted by Effigy2000 to computers & internet (5 comments total)

On Mac, iTunes keeps that stuff in an "iTunes Library" file that lives in ~/Music/iTunes. On Windows, I imagine that it's much the same thing but in a directory like "C:\Documents and Settings\\My Music\iTunes" or something. If you back up your home directory that should cover it. Apple doesn't do much in the Windows registry. Hmmm... it's much like this but you're moving from Windows -> Windows.
posted by TeatimeGrommit at 3:58 PM on October 31, 2007

Yep, I did it while back.

This link might help, but you basically copy everything back to your new install before you start iTunes. If you keep the music in the same location, that is (like a D partition). If you don't you have to update the XML file with the new path to the music files. I did it a while back, but can't recall exactly what i did...
posted by cdmwebs at 4:56 PM on October 31, 2007

Oh, and don't forget to de-authorize your computer before you wipe it!
posted by cdmwebs at 4:57 PM on October 31, 2007

iTunes stores rating data within the library rather than within each file, since they may be shared between different users on a machine or network, who are likely to have different ratings.

Here is a tutorial that shows how to backup your iTunes library. I have never backed up iTunes, so I cannot say for sure that this works.

Was going to paste my Google Search and caught this previous ASMKMEFI.

Another mefi user just shared this with me in a different context, and I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like what you're asking about:

"Go to preferences (control - ,) and change the location of your library to the destination make sure it is set to keep your library organized.

"Go to the 'Advanced' drop down menu and hit 'Consolidate Library...'

"Takes a tad longer than copying the folder, but guaranteed to work as perfectly as possible. iTunes does not write metadata to the actual files every time you change something. This makes sure that that happens, and nsures that the database files are good."

posted by B(oYo)BIES at 5:03 PM on October 31, 2007

I'm not sure if this is an option you are thinking of, but this thread has a bit about repairing a windows installation. It's the first response.
posted by smcniven at 7:25 AM on November 1, 2007