Moving Media and your iTunes Library

In this lesson for iTunes on the Mac, we look at where the iTunes library is located and how we can move it to another computer.

iTunes Media Folder Location
The iTunes folder is located in the Music folder of your account on your computer by default. So if you open your Home folder, then open the enclosing Music folder, you’ll see iTunes. In this iTunes folder is where all your media and the iTunes files are stored by default. If you open this folder up, you’ll see iTunes Music as well as various files iTunes uses. In this iTunes Music folder is where you will find all your music, movies, podcasts, and audiobooks as long as iTunes is keeping your library organized.

Copying Media Files out of the iTunes Folder
I would highly recommend you not move anything out of the iTunes folder. If you do, iTunes will not know where to find what you moved. So if you moved an album out of the folder and then you went to play that album, iTunes wouldn’t be able to. If you want to move something out of the folder, I’d recommend that you copy it. To copy a file, just hold down the Option key then drag the file/folder out. Your Mac will then copy the file instead of moving it.

Moving the iTunes Folder
If you want to move your entire library to another computer, you’ll first want to consolidate your media files. This way iTunes will move any external files to the iTunes folder. Once you do that, you can copy the entire iTunes folder to another computer, place it in the Music folder, and iTunes on that other computer will show all the music and playlists.

See this Lesson in Action
If you want to see this lesson in action, take a look at the video above.

Lesson tags: Mac Tutorials
Back to: Tutor for iTunes for the Mac > Media Settings and Restrictions