How can I move iTunes library in macOS Mojave to Sequoia 15.3 on iMac?

Question

Level 4

3,304 points

How can I move iTunes library in macOS Mojave to Sequoia 15.3 on iMac?

pls re-title as u want

I have my iTunes library in Mojave

going blind here trying to figure out how to move it over to Sequoia 15.3 (a new start from scratch install after an Erase)

looks I am probably ______ to get it copied over intact

but asking the question anyway if I missed something

my library is over 100GB 10s-of-thousands of songs

no Apple music -- all ripped from my original CD collection

painstakingly organized with 99% of album covers in place

probably 70% of my album art was imported and assigned manually

I just want to get my collection into Sequoia and not have everything messed up, rearranged, including my album art

I want to avoid anything to do with Migration Assistant for any number of reasons

I simply want to point Sequoia Music to my Mojave iTunes folder

most promising was Music> Settings> Files > Change> New Location

but that looks like a false trail or I don't have it figured out

IS THIS SIMPLE TYPE OF TRANSFER EVEN POSSIBLE ANYMORE?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iMac 27″

Posted on Feb 5, 2025 11:20 AM

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Answer 1

-g Author

Level 4

3,304 points

Feb 6, 2025 11:47 AM in response to -g

no interest -- no surprise

I believe my instinct was correct there is no solution to my goal using Sequoia

I have two basic choices:

import my 10s of thousands of songs into Sequoia and start over reorganizing my collection and album covers, or
keep my iMac on Mojave and enjoy the 100s of hours I have already invested developing my iTunes library as it works great
the third option involving Migration isn't anything I want to invest time in (from past experiences)

this WAS my first try on a working machine using Sequoia -- all my other Macs run Mojave (except a 10.6.8 and a Catalina install I don't work from) -- I recall I previously tried my copy-over-iTunes-folder method into Big Sur or Catalina and it appeared to work on the surface except it stripped all my album art and started re-downloading new album art -- I can't remember if that try allowed me to control the unwanted reorganization my songs...)

ironically -- the 10.6.8 iTunes folder works just fine using my copy method to every OSX and macOS up to Mojave

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Answer 2

-g Author

Level 4

3,304 points

Mar 8, 2025 12:05 PM in response to -g

solution pending (what looks initially promising):

I copied my MOJAVE User> Music> iTunes folder over to

my SEQUOIA User> Music folder (all 170 GBs)

Restarted SEQUOIA Music app holding Option key> CHOOSE LIBRARY option

navigated to SEQUOIA User> Music folder> iTunes (the copied MOJAVE folder)> selected iTunes Library.itl

my 31,000 songs showed up -- about half missing their album covers art -- my Playlists seem to be intact

NOT SURE WHY IT DIDN'T WORK IN MY ORIGINAL POSTS above -- I did run a few Sequoia macOS updates since then -- but so happy to not have to start from scratch

will drop back in with an update after a few days of poking around in the transfer to see how complete the transfer is using this method...

again -- all my music (some 30,000 songs) were ripped from CDs -- no Apple Music purchases or subscription music -- some Album art was originally downloaded from Apple during the imports, but most Album art was manually added) in correct size and formats)

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Answer 3

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,482 points

Mar 8, 2025 12:29 PM in response to -g

Patience is a virtue. If you hang around a bit then TuringTest2 might come along to help. He was on the boards yesterday so he might be around and he'll give you the best advice.

Just to clarify your question - are you moving the library from an old Mac to a new Mac?

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Answer 4

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,482 points

Mar 8, 2025 12:30 PM in response to -g

-g wrote:

solution pending (what looks initially promising):

I copied my MOJAVE User> Music> iTunes folder over to

my SEQUOIA User> Music folder (all 170 GBs)

Restarted SEQUOIA Music app holding Option key> CHOOSE LIBRARY option

navigated to SEQUOIA User> Music folder> iTunes (the copied MOJAVE folder)> selected iTunes Library.itl

my 31,000 songs showed up -- about half missing their album covers art -- my Playlists seem to be intact

NOT SURE WHY IT DIDN'T WORK IN MY ORIGINAL POSTS above -- I did run a few Sequoia macOS updates since then -- but so happy to not have to start from scratch

will drop back in with an update after a few days of poking around in the transfer to see how complete the transfer is using this method...

again -- all my music (some 30,000 songs) were ripped from CDs -- no Apple Music purchases or subscription music -- some Album art was originally downloaded from Apple during the imports, but most Album art was manually added) in correct size and formats)

Sorry - didn't read your last post before posting my previous post.

Glad you've got it sorted. Album art is always a pain - I had similar problems when I moved mine a while ago.

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Answer 5

-g Author

Level 4

3,304 points

Mar 8, 2025 11:32 AM in response to -g

still trying to solve this ...

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How can I move iTunes library in macOS Mojave to Sequoia 15.3 on iMac?