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Transfer iTunes' song ratings from Windows to Mac
Authored by: eldino on Feb 14, '07 09:47:13AM

*** Transfer iTunes' song ratings from Windows to Mac via XML editing ***

I read this post and i decided to share my solution, that is simplest and fastest, but it needs a bit of XML editing.

iTunes libraries are just .XML files: you can open them with a plain text editor (like Textedit on Mac or Wordpad/Notepad on Windows) and edit them as you like. The only difference between an iTunes library for Windows and an iTunes library for Mac is the path of the audio/video file.

So open your "iTunes Library.xml" with the text editor of your choice (I use Textedit) and look at the content.
Every audio/video file in your library for Mac owns a file path that looks like the following:

<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Users/eldino/Music/mp3dvd_51/aerotone.net/AER005/01%20Winterpark%20-%20Nunns%20rd..mp3</string>

If you have all the mp3s in the same folder (in my case: "mp3dvd_51"), you have just to search for "file://localhost/Users/eldino/Music/mp3dvd_51/" and replace it with a more Windows-friendly file path, something like:

"file://localhost/E:/Music/mp3dvd_51/".

Then save the new .XML as "iTunes Library (Windows).xml" or whatever else and import it in your iTunes for Windows: you will magically get back all your ratings :-)

You can also buy MacDrive (a really nice software that permit you to read/write on HFS partitions on Windows) and share the same audio/video files (for example, placed on an external USB hard disk) between iTunes for Mac and iTunes for Windows XP.

If you are interested into this, proceed as follow:
1) Import all songs on iTunes for Mac;
2) edit the final XML as described;
3) save it on "Music/iTunes" folder on Windows;
4) install MacDrive;
5) plug your HFS-formatted external drive on Windows: it may be recognized without problems;
6) start iTunes for Windows;
7) enjoy :)

If your external drive is not big like mine (400 GB) and it's like 80 GB, you can format it as FAT32 (using Disk Utility on Mac or thirdy-party software for Windows), so you will not need to buy the handy MacDrive.

-eldino



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iTunes from external drive on Windows to local drive on Mac
Authored by: LizQuincy on Feb 19, '07 10:50:13AM

In Windows iTunes, I kept my music on an external drive, and my iTunes folder in the default location on the c-drive.

My mac has a lot more space, so I don't need to use the external drive for my music. I transferred all the music to the Mac desktop, as well as the iTunes folder from Windows.

The problem is that the iTunes library file thinks my music is on the external drive. (I'm just assuming this. If all of the information is in the .xml file, I could examine that, although I don't know anything about xml.)

Of course the easiest thing would be for me to have consolidated my library before switching, so that everything would be contained within the iTunes folder. But my music library is much too big.

I would like to know how to edit the iTunes library file (which I assume is the .xml). I don't really understand the previous post which tries to explain this. But I think with some clearing up I could figure it out.

Thanks.

Also: I have a bunch of non-music files in my music folder (from the external). Things such as desktop.ini, Thumbs.db, AlbumArt~.jpg, etc. I would like to know which of these is a Windows thing (i.e. the crazy files that windows inserts in folders), and which is an iTunes thing. Anybody know?



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