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[tangolovers]

For starters I downloaded a trial version of MC 22 on my MacBook Pro running Sierra 10.12.6.

I desperately need detailed instructions for migrating my library from my Windows PC to my new MAC such that my Playlists will continue to work...

I am fairly technical on Windows but totally new to MAC.   I manually moved my music files from my PC to the MAC, and of course the different directory structure complicates things.   Most importantly - I want preserve all my playlists and file organization.   

I tried following instructions by blgentry at:  https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=100749.msg700001#msg700001

It only partially worked....with the following issues:

1) I see two of every song.  One has a "-" next to it and the other one plays fine.  The one's that have "-" next to them still point to the Windows directory structure and they can all be easily deleted except when I try that my Playlists are totally empty.  The bigger issue is the Playlists...

2) My Playlists still have their structure but the path for the songs still points to my old Windows structure.  I tried going to Tools>Library Tools>Rename, Move & Copy but could not figure out what settings to select to get them to point to the correct location.

3) Prior to my "main" PC crash I did all my library editing on that machine and then transferred the library to a small Windows netbook to play/listen to music in our living room or other locations.  Once I have everything operation on my Mac, is there any way to "easily" transfer my Library updates from MAC to PC and keep my playlists intact on the Windows Machine?? 

Thank you,
Susie

[blgentry]

This process of transferring MC from Windows to Mac is apparently not done by many people.  I've done a few experiments, as you have found from one of my old posts.  Re-reading my post, I don't think I recommended the best way.

MC23 (and some earlier versions of MC) now have the "convert windows file paths to Mac" option in the Rename, Move, and Copy files tool.

If I were to try this, I'd transfer the Windows library over to the Mac.  Then turn OFF auto import on the Mac, and restore the Windows library into a fresh clean MC for Mac library.  From here, it's a matter of using RM&C with the correct options.  In particular, all you really want to do is to tell RM&C to update the database entries for the files, so that their paths are correct. 

I hope that your paths are very similar on your Windows installation and your Mac installation.  As long as the directory structure is the SAME and just the leading path has changed, it should be no problem.  But, if you have changed the underlying structure, by moving artists and albums around, it's going to be really difficult to get this information back into MC.

If you'll type up some specifics of your media paths from Windows and Mac, I can try to help you through the process with RM&C.  But again, note that this is not a very well known procedure, and you are probably going to run into some problems here and there.

Good luck.

Brian.

[tangolovers]

Hello Brian,

Thank you so much for your assistance and I did follow some of your technique which got me part way there, but my playlists were not working and I was seeing double - 2 of each song - one with a "-" (still had Windows path) and one that actually played.    First, I tried deleting all files with a "-" but that did not work. Then I tried several other logical things, but that didn't work either.  FINALLY SUCCESS!   Here is exactly what I did (the first part being your instructions with a couple of my comments "SM"):

******* TO MIGRATE MEDIA CENTER LIBRARY FROM PC TO MAC ******

1.  On PC:   Back up library:  File > Library > Backup Library .

2.  Transfer library backup ZIP file from PC to Mac.

3.  Make sure all songs that were imported on PC are on a drive that Mac can see.  I used the exact same drive and folders.  It just appears as a different path on PC versus Mac, and of course the PC uses backslashes ( \ ) while the Mac uses slashes ( / ).

4. (SM-modified) Tools>Options>File Location>Program Files>Library Backups> select path for Library

5.  Restore PC library into new Mac library:  File > Library > Restore Library > (choose backup file that you transfered in step 2).  When this is complete you'll see all of your songs, playlists, views, etc.  But the songs will all be "missing" and will have red minus signs ( - ) next to them.

     (SM-Comment) Now I see 2 versions of each song – one with Windows path (and “-“ next to them) and the other has a MAC path (these actually play).

Now, Go to Audio files and…(These are my own instructions that worked)

6.   Sort by “Filename (Path)”, this will separate the files with Windows vs Mac file path.-

7.   Highlight all files with a MAC Path   /Users/susiemelo/Music/    (or whatever your audio path is...)
These files are the playable ones and will NOT have “-“ next to them (doesn’t seem logical but it will work)

8.   Right click and select Delete>Remove from Media Library.  All remaining files should have “-“ and the original Windows Path D:\Music\...  (these files are not playable)

9.   Highlight all remaining files with “-“, which should all still have a Windows Path then…
       
        Tools>Library Tools>Rename, Move & Copy>
        “Update Database to point to new location”
        Uncheck all boxes except Find & Replace.  (Do not check Convert Windows file path to Mac/Linux)
        Find What:        D:\Music\                        (or whatever your Windows path shows in audio)
        Replace With:   /Users/susiemelo/Music/  (or whatever your MAC path is)

I repeated this process multiple times to make sure I had it right - clearing my library or breaking it and then starting over by importing the PC Library again.  It even carried over the Album Covers!  It turns out to be fairly easy but I sure pulled out a lot of hairs in the process.    Thank you for giving me the start I needed.



******* TO MIGRATE MEDIA CENTER LIBRARY FROM MAC TO PC ******

1.  On MAC:   Back up library:  File > Library > Backup Library .

2.  Transfer library backup ZIP file from MAC to PC.

3.  Make sure all songs that were imported on MAC are on a drive that PC can see.  I used the exact same drive and folders.  It just appears as a different path on MAC versus PC, and of course Mac uses slashes ( / ) while the PC uses backslashes ( \ ).

4. On PC go to Tools>Options>File Location>Program Files>Library Backups> select path for Library.

5.  Run a Restore Library on PC using transferred MAC Library Backup: 
File > Library > Restore Library > (choose backup file that you transferred in step 2).  When this is complete you'll see all of your songs, playlists, views, etc.  But the songs will all be "missing" and will have red minus signs ( - ) next to them.

VERY IMPORTANT!!    Now I see 2 versions of each song – one with MAC path (and “-“ next to them) and the other has a Windows path (these actually play).

Now, Go to Audio files and…

6.   Sort by “Filename (Path)”, this will separate the files with Windows vs Mac file path.

7.   Highlight all files with a PC Path C:\Users\susie\Music\My Music\   (or whatever your audio path is...) 
These files are the playable ones and will NOT have “-“ next to them (doesn’t seem logical but it will work)

8.   Right click and select Delete>Remove from Media Library.  All remaining files should have “-“ and the original MAC Path  /Users/susiemelo/Music/My Music/  (these files are not playable)

9.   Highlight all remaining files with “-", which should all still have a MAC Path then…
       
        Tools>Library Tools>Rename, Move & Copy>
        “Update Database to point to new location” (Do not use Rename)
           Uncheck all boxes except Find & Replace.  (Do not check Convert Windows file path to Mac/Linux)
       
Find What:   /Users/susiemelo/Music/My Music/
                                     (or whatever your MAC path is)
Replace With:   C:\Users\susie\Music\My Music\
                                (or whatever your Windows path shows in audio)
       
Again, I repeated this process multiple times to make sure I had it right - clearing my library or breaking it and then starting over by importing the PC Library again.  It even carried over the Album Covers!  It turns out to be fairly easy but I sure pulled out a lot of hairs in the process.    Thank you for giving me the start I needed.


Susie Melo

[blgentry]

Fantastic!  I'm glad you were able to get this done with just a little bit of extra information.

Congratulations. 

Brian.

[ssabripo]

good to know...going to need this