How To Sync Itunes Libraries Between Macs

Now there's an app for every media type

Nov 17, 2010 My complete walkthrough of MediaRover for Mac/PC. Fantastic solution for users who would like to sync and maintain the same music and iTunes content on multiple computers. Does it offer what you. That could be via iCloud — Apple’s own apps use iCloud to sync between Macs and iOS devices logged into the same Apple ID — or, say, Dropbox. By saving files to your online cloud account rather than your local Mac, you’ll always be working on the most recent version of a document.

With macOS Catalina, your music, videos, podcasts, and audiobooks are organized in to their own dedicated apps — the Apple Music app, Apple TV app, Apple Podcasts app, and Apple Books app. You can also access your iTunes Store purchases in these apps.

If you have a PC, you can continue to use iTunes for Windows to manage your media library, make purchases, and manually sync and manage your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Use Finder to sync and manage your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Finder is the new place to back up, update, or restore your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Just connect your device to your Mac and it appears in the Finder sidebar. And you can easily drag and drop files to your device.

Use Finder to manage your devices.

Upgrade your iTunes library

After you update to macOS Catalina, just open the Apple Music app or Apple TV app to use your iTunes library in the new apps. Have multiple iTunes libraries? Learn how to switch between them in macOS Catalina.

If you open the Apple Podcasts app or Apple Books app first, you won't see any of your media until you open the Apple Music app or Apple TV app.

Here are some things to know

The Apple Music app and Apple TV app read the contents of your iTunes library — so don't delete your iTunes library.
If you open the Apple Music app and don't see all of your album artwork, leave the Apple Music app open so your album artwork can finish downloading.
If you previously used multiple iTunes libraries, your audiobooks are imported in to the Apple Books library and podcasts are imported in to the Apple Podcasts library on your computer.

Sync Itunes Library Between Macs

Where's my media?

Here's where you can find your entire media collection, access your iTunes Store purchases, and synced libraries.

All of your music is now in the Apple Music app

The Apple Music app is where you can find all of your music, including music that you imported in to iTunes, purchased from the iTunes Store, and playlists and smart playlists that you created in iTunes. And if you subscribe to Apple Music, you can stream and download millions of songs, and access your entire music library across all of your devices.

Explore the Apple Music app.

Looking for the iTunes Store?

If you don't see the iTunes Store in the sidebar, here's how to find it:

Open the Apple Music app.
In the menu bar, choose Music > Preferences.
Go to the General tab and select iTunes Store.
Click OK.

Everything you watch is now in the Apple TV app

Multiple Itunes Libraries

The Apple TV app is the new home for all of your movies, TV shows, and home videos — including your purchases from iTunes. Browse movies and TV shows that you can buy, rent movies, and subscribe to just the channels that you want to watch. And soon you can discover new favorites with Apple TV+.

Discover the Apple TV app.

Find podcasts in the Apple Podcasts app

Find all of the shows that you’ve subscribed to or added to iTunes in the Apple Podcasts app. Continue listening to your favorite podcast episodes. And discover new shows that you might like based on the ones that you’re already listening to.

Listen with the Apple Podcasts app.

Listen to audiobooks in the Apple Books app

How To Sync Itunes Libraries Between Macs Windows 10

Find your audiobooks, including the ones that you purchased from iTunes, in the Apple Books app. Discover new books to read in the Book Store. Or buy audiobooks from the new Audiobook Store so you can listen on the go.

Check out the Apple Books app.

The Apple Music app, Apple TV app, Apple Podcast app, and Apple Books app aren’t available in all countries and regions. Learn what’s available in your country or region.

How To Sync Itunes Library To Phone

This isn't really a hint so much as it is an undocumented but terribly useful feature for my lifestyle.
I have an iMac at home with a 250GB hard drive that stores my iTunes library and syncs the music to my 60GB iPod. But I spend most of my time using my MacBook Pro on the road, and tend to download lots of podcasts. I would like to keep my iPod's podcasts up to date from the MBP, but not store all my music on its smallish hard drive.
It turns out that with the latest version of iTunes, I can sync parts of my MBP library to my iPod (i.e., just the podcasts) without overwriting the music on the iPod from the iMac's library. So now I sync my podcasts and contacts from my MBP's library, and music, movies and TV shows from my iMac's library just by selecting the sync checkboxes on the relevant tabs in iTunes under DEVICES.
[robg adds: My friend and occasional hints editor Kirk notes that you'll want to hold down Command and Option when you first connect the iPod to mount it in manual mode. Change the settings and then set it back to automatic sync.]