Page last modified 21:21, 14 Aug 2009 by mpurses
User:mpurses > Importing your iTunes Library from Windows or Mac into Songbird on Linux

Importing your iTunes Library from Windows or Mac into Songbird on Linux

    The symlink way...

    1. Open up a terminal window.
    2. Navigate to your root directory:  
    cd /

    1. Create a symbolic link to your drive on Windows or Mac:
    ln -sf {/path/to/target} {link-name}
    Ex:     
    sudo ln -sf /media/Windows/ C:
    Note: if your drive name has a space in it, include an apostrophe ( ' )
    sudo ln -sf '/media/FreeAgent Drive/' 'E:'
    1. Import your iTunes Library into Songbird via Tools > Options... > Media Importer tab.

    The 'permanent' way...

    If you want Songbird to display your "true" music file locations a.k.a. more of a permanent move to your Linux distro "for good".

    The file system on Linux is different from Windows and Mac. So you have to adjust your iTunesMusicLibrary.xml file to compensate for that.. For example, If you keep your iTunes Library in the default location on Windows Vista it would be "C:/Users/Username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/" or similar.. In Linux the location of your music would probably be "media/Windows/Users/Username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/" ('Windows' might be different depending on what yours is called.. So in other words, your importing on Ubuntu will not find a "C:/" file system...

    1. Make a copy of your iTunesMusicLibrary.xml file from Windows or Mac, onto your Ubuntu partition (i.e. ~/Music/ ).

    1. Open the copied iTunesMusicLibrary.xml file with gedit.  Notice your drive letter or folder naming scheme, and see what the equivalent would be on Linux file system. If your music is still located on your Windows partition, Mac partition, or on an External Harddrive, you will find those eqivalent drive names located in the /media/folder.
    media.pnggedit.png
    in my case I am going to change /E:/


    1. Replace all the the drive letters with the folder names that are used in the Linux filesystem.  In my case, I have my music on an External harddrive, so I am going to change the   /E:/   to   /media/FreeAgent Drive/ 
    find_replace.png

    1. Now double check and make sure everything looks good and has the correct paths linking to your music, Save the .xml file, and Import your iTunes Library into Songbird via Tools > Options... > Media Importer tab.import.png


    Notes:
    -If you moved your music to your Linux partition, change the .xml file to point correctly to the location of the new Music location.
    -Some tracks might not import because of Capitalization issues, as iTunes may not have changed the case of some letters when editing metadata, and the Linux filesystem is Case Sensitive..
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    Viewing 3 of 3 comments: view all
    #1
    gruppler says:
    In my opinion, there is a much cleaner solution. I just made a symbolic link in my root folder called F: that points to my external hard drive. That way, the library is imported perfectly without any modification, and i can also export the library back.

    Specifically, in Windows, my "My Documents" folder is located at /gruppler on my external hard drive, so my music is at F:/gruppler/My Music/ but in Linux, my music is at /home/gruppler/Music (which is a symbolic link to /media/netdisk/gruppler/My Music/). So i just made a symbolic link in the root directory called F: to point to /media/netdisk/. Importing the library worked perfectly and i didn't need to change a thing.

    So to be really specific, i did this using the following command:
    ln -sf F: /media/netdisk edited 21:28, 23 Jun 2009
    Posted 20:50, 23 Jun 2009
    #2
    nekoloco says:
    Nice! I just tried this after hours of tearing out my hair, and it seems to be working. Just one thing though... You have switched the arguments around, it should read:

    "ln -sf /media/netdisk/ F:"

    (If you have first navigated to your root directory)
    Thanks!
    Posted 07:37, 26 Jun 2009
    #3
    mpurses says:
    Your right gruppler (and nekoloco on the correction), it is a lot easier! I used that way once before, but I liked the fact that Songbird had the "correct" Linux Locations, it made it more finally for people moving over to Linux for good(i stopped using iTunes since then so I didnt really need to keep it updated each time i started Songbird)... It's a better solution when i think of it now(kinda stupid of me).. I'm definitely gonna add that above right now!! Thanks!
    Posted 10:26, 26 Jun 2009
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