There are many reasons you may wish to transfer your iTunes library from one computer to another. For instance, you may want to share it with your friends/ family or just transfer it to a newly-purchased computer. This article lists the steps that will help you perform this task. 

The process of transferring the iTunes library is not difficult. Just go through the steps listed here to complete the task.

Step 1: Locate the iTunes library on your current computer

On a Mac computer, the library is located in the ~/Music folder.

On a Windows system, the default location for the library is C:UsersYourUserNameMy Music. In Windows 7, you can also find the Library on the sidebar of Windows Explorer. The name of the folder here is LibrariesMusic.

Step 2: Copy files to the second computer

There are two ways to copy the files—over network and by using an external hard drive. 

Steps to copy the files over network

• Click on the library of the source computer
• Drag the library from the source computer and drop it to the shared folder of the destination computer

If the computers are connected through gigabit Ethernet LAN, it should take around 20 minutes to transfer 100GB of music files. However, on a Wi-Fi network the transfer can take up to 3 hours or even more at times.

Steps to copy the files using external drive

You can still copy the files even when there is no network connectivity between the two systems. This is something you can do easily using an external hard disk. To do so, perform the following steps:

• Connect the external hard disk to the computer with the iTunes library you want to share
• Copy the library to the external hard disk
• Disconnect the external hard disk and connect it to the second computer
• Copy the iTunes library to this computer

This step is especially useful when the destination computer is not at the same location as the source computer.

Step 3: Import the iTunes library to iTunes on the new computer

• Open iTunes.
• Open File menu, and then select Add to Library
• Browse to the folder where you copied the iTunes library.

The iTunes library transfer is now complete.

On a Mac computer, it is recommended that you use a reliable Mac optimization tool after the transfer is complete. This will ensure that no spyware or other harmful programs were copied during the transaction. Such tools will also help you optimize your Mac computer for better performance.