So you’re all excited because you’ve just gotten your new PC and can’t wait to start using your new iPod with it. Yes, it will be exciting! But first, you’ll need to get all your music from your old computer onto your new one. There are really lots of ways you can do this. With the latest iTunes you can use any number of the backup options they offer, or you can burn your entire library onto discs, and upload them all onto your computer. But who has the weeks of time it would take to do that? One of the most popular ways of doing this is using the iPod as an external hard drive. This way you can just get all of the music onto the iPod from the old computer, hook it up to the new computer, and voila! There’s your library! But, just how do you do Transferring iTunes to New PCs exactly?
First, plug your iPod into your old computer. iTunes should open automatically. Look along the left-hand side under “Devices” and choose your iPod. From the tabs along the top, choose Summary. Check the box that says, “Manually manage music and videos.” This will also check “Enable disc use” by default.
A dialogue box will appear that will say, “Disabling automatic update requires manually unmounting the iPod before each disconnect.” Click OK. In the bottom right-hand side of the window, click Apply. Next, you’ll need to locate where your iTunes music folder is. Open iTunes preferences by choosing Edit and then Preferences. Click on the Advanced tab up top and find where your iTunes Music Folder is. Click OK. Choose File, then Library, then Organize Library, then Consolidate Library. You may then see a warning box that warns you that consolidating will copy all of the music in your iTunes library and that the action cannot be undone. Still click OK.
Next on this Transferring iTunes to New PCs method, you will need to copy your iTunes folder to your iPod. First, close out of iTunes. Then in “My Computer”, find your iPod. Then locate your iTunes folder and drag it until it’s centered over the icon for your iPod. Release the mouse. This will place your iTunes folder onto your iPod and can take a minute or two if you have a large library to transfer.
Now when you plug your iPod into your new computer your entire itunes library is already on there. All you’ll have to worry about is finding the spot where you want it on your computer and dragging it over. Then make sure that you download the newest version of iTunes onto your computer, and you’ll have all of your songs in just a few minutes…rather than a few weeks!