Moving iTunes 9 Media Library (MP3 Music) Files

WARNING: This article is now out of date.

I now accomplish this using an NTFS Junction point rather than the complicated process below.

So I wanted to move all my MP3 music off my C:\ drive because it was accumulating quite a lot of space. But I need to keep all that music available in iTunes so that I can sync with my iPhone and keep my playlists functioning correctly. I needed a method to do this.

After searching all around the net, I found several articles about this, these being the best:

• HOWTO: Move your iTunes music while preserving library data (when you don’t let iTunes manage your music library) [hifiblog.com]
• How To Move the iTunes Library to a Home Server while Keeping its Underlying Media Structure Intact [daleisphere.com]
• Move your iTunes library to an external hard drive [cnet.com]

BUT, the common problems with these methods are that:

• Some of them require you to to tick "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised" in your preferences, which sorts your files into specific folders (which might not be how you like them!)
• The better tutorials (such as those above) avoid this setting, but require you to edit the Library XML, delete your Library ITL file and reimport your new XML file. The problem with this is it can wipe other settings:
  • iPhone apps
  • Podcast subscriptions
  • Other things you might not realise...

So I decided to follow their method, but without deleting the Library file. So here are my steps in brief (if you want a longer description, the links above might help you out).

• With iTunes closed, I moved my main music folder C:\Multimedia\MP3 into G:\Multimedia\MP3
• When I open iTunes now, it cannot find most of my music, and little warning icons appear next to most songs - the music does still remain on my iPhone and syncs OK, but ratings and play-counts probably won't sync, and any new music I add to my MP3 folder won't be included, SO....
• In iTunes I choose File > Library > Export Library... Saving the file as an XML file.
• I open the XML file in a good text editor. Warning: Windows Notepad will probably struggle with the filesize, try Wordpad, or Notepad++ or Programmer's Notepad (what I used)
• You'll notice that there are entries for every song in your library along with the location of each file - this location is what we need to change. Do a Search and Replace throughout the whole file, replacing C:/Multimedia with G:/Multimedia (or whatever your folders are named). Save the file.
• Back in iTunes, choose File > Library > Import Playlist. Choose the XML file that you just saved.
• iTunes will import all your new entries into your Library AND all your old playlists with the songs in the right location

Tidying Up.

You will now have a duplicates of every song in your library AND every playlist.

• You can safely delete the playlists that have all the warning icons, and leave the new, updated ones
• You can easily delete the duplicate songs in your Library
  • Choose File > Display Duplicates
  • Ensure you are using the List View
  • Right-click a column heading and ensure "Date Added" is ticked
  • Sort the list of duplicates by "Date Added" by clicking that column
  • Select and delete all the items with the warning symbol - this should leave all the new files in place

Now to ensure syncing occurs correctly, you will need to ensure that your new playlists will be synced to your iPod/iPhone correctly. Go to Devices > iPod/iPhone > Music Tab and ensure all the playlists and/or artists are selected as you would like.

Unfortunately, all the music will need to be copied back onto your iPod/iPhone, I haven't found a way around this yet, without reverting to the "Keep Library Organised" setting. But at least Podcasts and Apps should stay the same on your device.

Hope this short (and rushed) article helps someone.

Simon. :-)