In the Music app on your Mac, choose Music Preferences, click General, then select the Sync Library checkbox. To turn on your music library on another device, do any of the following. Use Copy or Backup Software. The easiest way to transfer an iTunes library is to use software to.

You could just move the ~/Music/iTunes to the ~/Music/iTunes folder on the other machine - it works. Don't forget to authorize that machine afterwards.

...And de-authorize the old one! (if you whish) ;)...
I did that a few months ago and I forgot to de-authorize the old machine. I was wandering who else installed my songs on their computer... :/ ;)

Apple will let you clear out your authorized machines list once a year. After that just reauthorize the machines you own. Just log into your iTunes account. Under account information, if you've deauthorized your whole list in the last 12 months you wont see the button. If you've never deauthorized then you should be able to see a button.
Hope this helps.

Actually, u can clear authorizations as many times as u want... the trick is when u get to the max of 5 machines, then you can goto your account settings in the iTunes Store and it will then let u reset all authorizations. This works every time. Try it. I can't tell you how many times I've had to do this.

If you want to preserve play counts, last added date and last played date, you need to make sure the name of the hard drive is the same on both machines. eg: Macintosh HD. You also need to make sure that the name of the User folder is the same (including capitalization).
Then just copy the library from one Mac to the other. Afterwards start iTunes, and you should have an exact duplicate of your old Library on your new Mac.

I apologize for the 'dumb' question but I am a new user and do not understand your solution. I have just purchased a imac and wish to transfer my itunes files from my pc to the imac. Your solution suggested that once you have consolidated your itune library to a folder on your desktop, you move the folder to the vacted itunes?. I assume that in my case, I create a consolidated folder on my pc desktop. But how do I get the folder from my pc to the imac? Your assistance is appreciated.

Go onto your PC and go into your My Music folder. There should be an iTunes folder there - you need to get that to your iMac. I would suggest initiating a network connection if you are on a high speed connection and just dragging and dropping. Otherwise, if it is small enough, you could always just burn that folder to a DVD.

Just finished transferring 45 GB from my crusty old Dell to my spankin' new 20' iMac 2.66 C2D. I rely heavily on ratings to populate dozens of smart playlists and they transferred perfectly, even coming from the XP ghetto to the OSX promised land! My playcounts are still there as well, and I figured they'd be gone for sure. Thanks!!

I know this makes me sound like a luddite troll, but you would not have to 'authorize' or deal with any other hassles if you just bought good ole fashioned CDs. Then you could do what you like with the stuff YOU BOUGHT, rather than kowtow to your corporate lords and masters. There's no incomprehensible 6-page EULA and you won't have to buy the white album again once Apple and iTunes have gone the way of Commodore.
CDs will probably still work in '18. I have my doubts about proprietary, DRM-laden audio codecs.

I went to the Advanced menu but found no option called 'Consolidate'. Now what? I'm running mac OS 10.4.11, on a pre-Intel G5. Thanks!

It's probably under a different menu - I believe Apple moves around all the menu items every so often to ensure that no one ever gets too comfortable using their software. You can easily locate this (or any) menu item by opening the help menu and typing consolidate.

Move Itunes Library Windows 10

'I believe Apple moves around all the menu items every so often to ensure that no one ever gets too comfortable using their software.'
Seriously?
What you have stated is the complete opposite of Apple's philosophy and practice.

LOL The part about not wanting users to get too comfortable was a joke, (well, kinda, lately I'm not so sure) but I have seen several different menu items in several different [Apple] Apps move around over the years. In particular, the Consolidate item which seems to only be accessible by right clicking on a song. (I see there is File > Library > Organize that will let you consolidate your entire library though.)

Hi, I spent whole a day trying to get my pcs itunes library to my new mac, but it just didn't work out. That's why I started searching for a software solution and found a little app promising to transfer entire itunes libraries from pc to any other computer. Finally this app did the trick and maybe its helpful for others as well. Its called Tune swift and you'll find a free activation code on the following page: http://www.copytrans.net/copytranstuneswift.php Note: It doesn't seem to be the fastest app. I transferred about 70GB and it took me about 2 or 3 hours to backup and transfer everything, but therefore it was easy to use and it worked.

When moving from mac to windows:
1) copy the iTunes folder across
2) find the file called 'iTunes Library' that has no extension. Its in the same folder as a file called 'iTunes Library.xml'.
3) Copy this file in the same folder.
4) name the copy 'iTunes Library.itl' in other words give it a file extension of 'itl'
5) Find your iTunes icon on your desktop
6) hold the shift key down, do not release it
7) double click on the icon using your mouse
8) iTunes will ask you to use a different library
9) browse to the folder containing your itl file created earlier and select the file
10) voila - your mac library is now working in windows.

When transferring from PC to MAC do the above procedure I gave in an earlier post in reverse - ie you just remove the '.itl' extension from the 'iTunes Library' file.
Also in order to get the MAC to ask you for a new iTunes Library you must Hold down the option(alt) key when starting iTunes (sometimes to get this right you first select the icon, hold option, then click to start it).

Tried this
http://www.transfer-itunes-library.com
Worked great for me

Itunes My Library

Hello,
I am always curious about how to transfer a full iTunes library between my iPod and iPad 2. Thanks for your guide!