Migrating music library from MacOS Catalina (iMac) to MacOS Monterery (MacBook Pro)
Hi all, tried to search the forums for this but came up empty.
I was using two different machines. My music library was running on an external drive connected to an iMac running MacOS Catalina (was using iTunes on Mojave with no issues and then upgraded a few months ago). I managed the transition from iTunes to Music with no big issues and everything was fine.
I bought a new laptop (M1, MacBook Pro running MacOS Monterey) and wanted to consolidate onto one machine, getting rid of the iMac entirely. I connected the external drive to the MacBook and copied what I thought was the most recent Music Library (stored in my user folder -> Music -> Music -> Musiclibrary.musiclibrary) but when I open Music on the laptop, everything from 2017 and later (several thousand MP3 files) do not show up. Weird, since the music library has a date of 4.29.22 (which was the last date I used the machine).
I have tried resetting the location and then following the prompts to "keep my music library organized." That operation took about an hour but the end result was the same thing. I have confirmed the more recent music is all there but for some reason, it is not showing up.
I was able to access my old iMac (still have it) and did an export of the music library as it existed on my old machine. But I cannot figure out what to do with the resultant "Library.xml" file it generated. When I try to start music with the option key down, the .xml file is greyed out as a possible library.
I am clearly missing something, either the correct music library or whatever, but cannot get my new mac to see these files properly. Any and all advice you have would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Rob