iTunes library export when the media is on an external HDD Back when I was using my MBP as a desktop pc I had moved my music archive to an external disk and changed the "iTunes Media Location" within iTunes Preferences. Now that worked without any complications for a long while. A couple of months back I got an iMac to replace my old and worn-out laptop, and I figured it wouldnt be more complicated than to change the media location on the iMac to point to where the media is. Oh, how terribly mistaken I was... 

After a long wait of importing I realized that all my playlists and an overwhelming majority of my ID tag information has been lost during the importing. I have been reading about the subject, and I understand that iTunes makes use of an XML file as well as a "library" file that is located under ~/Music/iTunes. 

My question is as follows; am I royally screwed or can I save my library by using the xml and library files from my laptop? I would hate to go over tens of thousands of songs, which I have collected and nurtured like small audio babies through out my college years...

Any idea would be appreciated! 
CHeers,
Restore he ~/Music/iTunes directory or just the files in that directory - it contains all the metadata.

Then change the iTunes Media Location and all should be OK.

Note for others - when starting with a new machine it is easier to use Migration Assistant to copy from the old machine connected as a firewire target disk then all preferences etc are copied over.