How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer Got a new computer and want to move your entire iTunes library? Starting with iTunes 7 there is a new backup feature that will archive your entire library to CD or DVD, including ratings and playcounts, which can be moved to another computer. If you are interested in moving your library using this method click,
here.
If you do not have access to a CD or DVD burner then there is another option if you own an iPod. Because your iPod contains a high-capacity hard drive, you can use it to move all your music from your old computer to the new one.
Note: While you can use the
Transfer Purchases from iPod option under the
File menu to copy iTunes Store purchases from the iPod to another computer, you can't transfer songs from other sources from the iPod library to iTunes, so you'll need to follow the steps below to use iPod as a hard disk to transfer music files from one computer to another. This process will require the use of iTunes 7 on all computers. Any computers running iTunes 6 or earlier will need to be updated to follow these steps. Download the latest version of iTunes
here. Once you have the files transferred, you'll need to
authorize any iTunes Store content. If you won't be using your old computer, you'll want to
deauthorize it.
Important: Windows operating systems don't recognize Mac OS-formatted disks (HFS or HFS Plus formats), so you can't use a Mac-formatted iPod to move your music to a Windows PC. See "
iPod: How to determine iPod's hard disk format" if you're not sure what format your iPod is.
Switch the iPod to manual update and enable disk use
The first thing you need to do is make sure have configured your iPod to enable disk use. To do this:
- Open iTunes on your old computer.
- Connect your iPod to your old computer and wait for it to appear in iTunes.
- Select your iPod in the Source pane under the Devices section to display your iPod preferences in the main library window.
- Click the Summary tab in the main iTunes window.
- Click the Manually manage music button. Changing from automatic updating to manual puts a check mark by Enable disk use. A message says
"Disabling automatic update requires manually unmounting the iPod before each disconnect."

- Click OK in the message window.
- Click Apply in the iPod preferences section of the iTunes window.
Is all the music together?
To make the move as easy as possible, be sure your music is all in one place.
- Open iTunes Preferences:
Mac: From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences.
Windows: From the Edit menu, choose Preferences.
- Click Advanced and then click General.
- Look to see if the checkbox for "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" is selected. If it is, skip ahead to Is there enough room on the iPod. If it is not, continue to step 4.

- Select the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" checkbox.
- Click OK. Note: Clicking OK will cause iTunes to copy all of your music files to another location on your computer. You will need to manually remove the files from their previous locations if you are concerned about space. If your computer does not have enough hard-drive space this process will not work correctly. Please speak to your computer manufacturer or Microsoft for more information on how to obtain more space to perform this action.
- From the Advanced menu, choose Consolidate Library. A window appears reading: "Consolidating your library will copy all of your music into the iTunes music folder. This cannot be undone."
- Click Consolidate.
Is there enough room on the iPod?
iPod shares its hard disk space between the songs that iTunes puts on it and any files you've added when using its disk mode. To transfer music with your iPod, you need enough free space to hold a copy of all your music files in addition to any copies that may already have been placed by iTunes (this is because non-purchased songs placed on the iPod by iTunes cannot be copied off the iPod while in disk mode). To figure out how much space you have on your iPod:
- Open iTunes on your old computer.
- Click on Music in the Source pane. The size of your library appears at the bottom of the iTunes window:

- Connect your iPod to your old computer and wait for it to appear in iTunes.
- Click the iPod under the Devices section of the Source pane.
- The amount of free space on the iPod appears near the bottom of the iTunes window:

- If the amount of free space left on your iPod is larger than your library, skip to Copy iTunes folder to iPod.