2. pc-audio
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Moving music from PC to Mac

I've ripped a bunch of CDs, using iTunes on a Windows-based PC. The music (in Apple Lossless) lives on an external drive. I'm about to buy a Mac Mini. Is there an easy way to get iTunes on the Mac to recognize the music that's on the external drive? (I'm worried about the differing file structures on PCs vs. Macs -- and other stuff I don't understand.) I don't have a single playlist, star rating, etc., so I'm not worried about any of that. Just want to be able to play the tunes I've ripped without any great hassles, if that's possible. Thanks for any help you can give me on this.

-- Howard
hodu
8 responses Add your response
Post removed 
hodu OP
312 posts
 
Wow. It's that easy? I thought I was going to have to edit an xml file or something.
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hodu OP
312 posts
 
Thanks so much for your help!
sidssp
1,077 posts
 
Howard,

Ericjcabrera's suggestion certainly works but please be aware that if you have "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" preference checked on the Mac Mini side (it is checked by default), all music files will be copied from your external drive onto the Mac Mini's internal drive, which may not be big enough if you have a lot of files.
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crna39's avatar
crna39
145 posts
 
If your external HD is formatted in NTFS, then you might have a problem with your Mac even recognizing the drive. If it's in FAT32, then no problem.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
What about a backup I made of some music files onto a CD? Will my new Mac read them and add to the 'tunes library?
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