Need help transferring data to new Air, please

[Jessica08]

I bought a new MacBook yesterday and it is replacing the iPad Pro I've had since 2016. I have all my songs in iTunes saved via iCloud, and I have been chatting with apple but they haven't been much help yet to get this figured out. I was told by someone on here months ago that my songs and playlists and pictures would automatically upload to a new MacBook via iCloud but only a select number of songs have been transferred to the Air. I still have a lot of songs and my playlists that didn't transfer while all my pictures on my iPad transferred to my new computer with no problem. How can I transfer all my songs and playlists to the MacBook?

Also, I have an old Mac mini that I want to transfer the pictures and certain documents over to the air. I tried migration assistant via the wifi route but it wouldn't work. I will try with an ethernet if needed, but I was curious if someone could tell me how best to get the pictures and documents over without having to use migration assistant, if that's an option. Maybe use a thumb drive to transfer them? Or any other suggestions.

Thank you all for the help!

 

[Shirasaki]

Since you have some sort of iCloud library or Apple Music thing going, I would say keep trying downloading is by far the easiest way. Syncing music like that from scratch could take insanely long from iCloud.

 

[Jessica08]

The MacBook isn't doing anything with the music. It's like the music isn't there available for download. I have more pictures than songs, which isn't a lot of either, and that only took an hour to download via the cloud.

 

[Shirasaki]

The MacBook isn't doing anything with the music. It's like the music isn't there available for download. I have more pictures than songs, which isn't a lot of either, and that only took an hour to download via the cloud.

Maybe there is something with “authorised computer”. Go check that out in iTunes. You can reset the authorisation yourself a few times a year.

 

[Jessica08]

Unfortunately that isn't it. I had authorized it and I just reauthorized it again. Still says nothing available for download. I thought this would be a simple process since I own all apple products, but it has been frustrating setting this up. Like I mentioned my pictures did great but not the music.

 

[Shirasaki]

Unfortunately that isn't it. I had authorized it and I just reauthorized it again. Still says nothing available for download. I thought this would be a simple process since I own all apple products, but it has been frustrating setting this up. Like I mentioned my pictures did great but not the music.

Another route would be trying to grab whatever music stored on your iPad to your Mac without using iTunes. But as far as I know those software are not free, one of which is called iMazing.

 

[Jessica08]

Okay thank you. I'll check it out. Apple told me my problem was that many of my songs were from old cd's I had that I uploaded to iTunes years ago instead of me buying them on iTunes. I don't see why when I get a new phone it downloads everything without a glitch but on the MacBook it's different. I guess I'm not used to using MacOS. I don't use my mini that much. It's something I'll have to get used too.

 

[VineRider]

Okay thank you. I'll check it out. Apple told me my problem was that many of my songs were from old cd's I had that I uploaded to iTunes years ago instead of me buying them on iTunes. I don't see why when I get a new phone it downloads everything without a glitch but on the MacBook it's different. I guess I'm not used to using MacOS. I don't use my mini that much. It's something I'll have to get used too.

Did you use itunes matching for the old cd music? I've done this with matching and haven't had any problems. If you didn't use matching not sure how to recover.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204146

 

[Jessica08]

I didn't. Sadly, I actually didn't know that existed until today.

I do have 3 months free access to apple music since I bought the air. Maybe I can use that for 3 months and then cancel then I could transfer all my stuff to my new laptop. Wonder if that would work?

I think my best bet is to use an external hard drive and transfer it that way. I don't want to transfer all the data and stuff from my old mini to my new air, so migration assistant is just about out since apple told me most of the data would be transferred. That will probably be the best way to get my pics stored on the mini to the new air as well.

 

[rworne]

iTunes Match works quite well going from my iMac to my iPhone. If the subscription has lapsed, I can see it not downloading, but I'm surprised the songs are still listed at all.

You can look at the songs in iTunes and look at the song info and click on the file tab. What does iCloud status day for the songs you downloaded? Does it say it was a purchased track, a match track, or an uploaded (plain MP3 or AAC) file?

There's also the iTunes account info to look at:
Your iTunes and iCloud account do not need to be the same - is it possible you used a different iTunes login/password than you used for iCloud? If you use the wrong one, it would explain why there are little to no songs in there.

 

[Jessica08]

I don't have iTunes Match. I knew nothing about it until yesterday when apple support mentioned it. My account is under the same account and email I've always used for iTunes and iCloud, so that isn't the problem. Apple told me it was because I used cd's instead of buying on iTunes. I'm sure all the songs I bought on iTunes is on there, but not the ones I transferred from a cd. I do have 3 months free use of Apple Music which comes with iTunes Match, so I may sign up and see if I can get them transferred that way. If not I will just use an external drive.

I'm just used to going from iPhone to iPad or iPhone to iPhone, which iCloud transitions everything smoothly between those devices. I didn't know it would be harder going from iOS to MacOS.

 

[rworne]

This cloud transfer only works if you have iTunes Match. What you may see is your library info copied across all your devices, but I'm hazarding a guess that Apple does not have any of your ripped music in the cloud.

It's hard for me to figure that out exactly, because I have had Match since it was in beta years ago. But my experience with match was devices would download the library info, then I could ask iTunes or the Phone to stream or download the song to the device (eligible songs show a cloud with a downward pointing arrow).

Where is the computer you originally used to rip the CDs? If it is still available, you can turn on home sharing and import all your music.

Otherwise, I concur with the iMazing software. I have this and it has other great uses than just getting music and other data off your iOS device. It's possible they have a free trial that will let you do what you want, but typically they hobble it in some way.

If you do choose to get this software, check retailmenot or other sites for a coupon code. A quick check showed 30% off for students.

 

[mikzn]

I still have a lot of songs and my playlists that didn't transfer while all my pictures on my iPad transferred to my new computer with no problem. How can I transfer all my songs and playlists to the MacBook?

How did you get the songs onto the iPad in the first place? My guess is that they were transferred from your mini if they were ripped from old CD's as mentioned above?

If so, can you find the music files in the "iTunes Media Folder" ?- on your mac Mini? if you so you can move those files to the Mac Book Air ( you can even move the "library file" if you want to preserve the playlists and play counts etc.)

that is assuming the music on the iPad was originally from the mac mini ?

 

[Jessica08]

I always just connected my iPad directly to my mini and everything downloaded onto it. I don’t know. I never really payed much attention to it because iCloud always downloaded my stuff onto a new phone or iPad. I’m not well versed in all this, and it’s one reason I hate changing computers. The headache of having to get my info transferred to a new computer isn’t fun for me since I don’t know what I’m doing.
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How did you get the songs onto the iPad in the first place? My guess is that they were transferred from your mini if they were ripped from old CD's as mentioned above?

If so, can you find the music files in the "iTunes Media Folder" ?- on your mac Mini? if you so you can move those files to the Mac Book Air ( you can even move the "library file" if you want to preserve the playlists and play counts etc.)

that is assuming the music on the iPad was originally from the mac mini ?

I’ll have to check about the iTunes media folder, but what would I need to move those files to the air?

 

[mikzn]

Migration Assitant would have been the easiest and quickest - but if you have set up your mac with a new user - that is not an option anymore.

Since the Macbook Air is still new - you could copy / replace the music folder from the Mini to the Macbook Air - that should copy all the music files, library and database over - and make if it the same as it was on the mini.

Make sure iTunes is not open when you do this - also FYI - it will wipe out anything done on the MacBook Air for iTunes since you installed / started

You make have to open iTunes with Alt + iTunes and select the folder and choose the library

 

[Jessica08]

Migration Assitant would have been the easiest and quickest - but if you have set up your mac with a new user - that is not an option anymore.

Since the Macbook Air is still new - you could copy / replace the music folder from the Mini to the Macbook Air - that should copy all the music files, library and database over - and make if it the same as it was on the mini.

Make sure iTunes is not open when you do this - also FYI - it will wipe out anything done on the MacBook Air for iTunes since you installed / started

You make have to open iTunes with Alt + iTunes and select the folder and choose the library

How do I copy and replace from the mini to the air? Sorry I don’t know how to do it.

 

[mikzn]

Do you have a Back up Drive?

Spare Drive / large flash drive?

 

[Jessica08]

Yeah I have a flash drive and a my passport for Mac. I thought you were meaning doing it another way. Sorry about that. Thanks for the help!

 

[rworne]

If you have the old computer with iTunes, it will be easy to transfer songs over.

Since you are migrating to the Air, be aware that it'll be chewing up drive space. So only copy what you want.

In my case, I have a massive collection. If you just have a few GB of songs, no problem.

 

[rworne]

iTunes should be set up something like this on your drive (under Music, IIRC):
iTunes->iTunes Media->Music

In here you will find all your music sorted in folders by artist name, then albums in subfolders.

Now you have two ways to do this:
1. Copy everything over or
2. Copy only the music you want

You can copy the iTunes directory over following these instructions:
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201625

Or you can just copy the artist folders to a thumb drive or via network. This method allows you to clean out a lot of stuff by only copying what you need, BUT - you may not have embedded data in your music files and you could have a mess on your hands.
So to do the folder by folder method, do an album at a time to at least get the artist and album straightened out. This is not the way to go if you have more than a few dozen albums... or you could be lucky and whatever software you used to rip the CDs added all the metadata and they'll come over without issue.

 

[Jessica08]

I had my hard drive replaced in my old mini, and everything that I remember transferred over without a hitch except sometimes there are certain songs that will stop playing once it nears the end. Like it will keep counting down but no music will play. Or some songs will just decide to skip to the next song mid song. I don't recall if this was happening before the hard drive was replaced. I'm not a big music listener, so my collection is small. I'm hoping for a smooth transition to the new air with my music and my photos. I have an adapter on order, so I will work on it next week when that comes in.

 

[rworne]

If you can get the old mini up and running on the network, you can turn on Home Sharing on both the Mini and the Air.

Then look at the shared library on the Air and import the music you want. It won't help with truncated songs, but you'll get what you want over without having to buy anything.

Songs abruptly cutting off are a bit strange. Some types of music, like classical pieces, have gapless tracks. So listening from track (example) 5 to 6 results in a seamless transition, but going from 5 to any other track causes the music to abruptly cut off (and cut in if the next track is also gapless).

 

[Jessica08]

So apparently I'm not doing something correctly. I started first working on transferring my photos from my mini to my air. I got all the photos onto a flash drive. Plugged the drive into the air, moved the files to my desktop. Went to the photos app clicked on import but the file on the desktop is grayed out so won't let me transfer them that way. When I click on the photo library I just downloaded they show up in the app, but my iCloud pictures disappear. I tried dragging and dropping, but again the pictures I have on the air won't show up. I had to delete the photos from the flash drive download to be able to see my iCloud pictures again. So how can I fix this? I don't know what I am doing