Trying to import iTunes Library to Apple Music on new computer

I also wanted to import the contents of an old iTunes Library to an external drive.

Rough outline:

• Got a large external drive, and created folders on it in which to store my Music library.
• Copied my iTunes Library to another folder on that drive.
• Held down the Option key while launching Music, and created a new Music Library file on the external drive. I don't know that you need to put the Library file itself on the external drive, but I did.
• Went into Music > Settings… (Files tab), and changed the Music Media folder location to a place on that drive (leaving [X] Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library checked).

In Music, I did a File > Import…, pointing it at a directory near the top of the copied iTunes Library. (I don't recall having any success with selecting .itl files and the like.).

Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support

Import music from a computer to Music on Mac - Apple Support

Import songs from CDs into Music on Mac - Apple Support

There were problems:

• There was a fair amount of artwork missing. I asked Music to get artwork and that brought back some of it.
• Upon inspection, it was evident that the imported library was missing a lot of music. It looked like any particular album was copied completely, or not at all. Since I still had the iTunes Library, I did imports of individual albums, or small groups of albums, to pull in the stuff that was missing. (Doing a methodical comparison to find out what had to be imported was "fun"; but the small imports, themselves, proceeded without problems.)

See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community for general advice. Based on a number of threads here is seems Music on Monterey fails to convert iTunes libraries as intended, and Music may fail to convert any iTunes library generated prior to Mojave. Feel free to email your library to me and I will convert it to a Sonoma compatible library for you. Email in profile.

tt2