Ok, moving your itunes from one computer to another without losing your ratings, play count, playlists etc is really really easy. All you require is;
- a external harddrive/USB that can transfer your music from one to the other
- a little bit of know how.

The quick version:

1) Copy all your music from one computer to the other INTO THE EXACT SAME FOLDER(s)!

2) Copy the iTunes folder from your “My Documents/Music/” folder (or equivilant) onto the new computer (replacing it).

3) Enjoy.

The detailed explanation if you got confused by the above:

1) copy all your music in the exactly same folder as you had it on your old computer.
I have all my music in C:\music, and it has many sub folders because thats how I add lots of songs at once, so copy the entire contents of C:\Music onto your storage device so that it looks exactly the same. Then you create the exact same folder on the new computer. What this does is trick itunes into thinking nothing has changed.

ie if you have a song located at C:\Music\Matchbox 20 Songs\Matchbox 20 – Bent.mp3
you make sure you have the “Matchbox 20 – Bent.mp3″ file in the
C:\Music\Matchbox 20 Songs\ folder on the new computer.

Seriously it was as easy as dragging and dropping C:\music onto a harddrive.

2) Copy the iTunes library files

By default, iTunes saves all of its files in C:\[USER NAME/COMPUTER NAME]\My Documents\Music\iTunes

Copy that entire file. It has all your ratings, play counts, and any music your copied off CDs via iTunes.

3) Install iTunes onto the new computer

Install and then locate the new iTunes system folder (usually the same as above). Just remember it will always be in the main My Documents\Music folder.

Then delete all of the iTunes folder and replace it with the old one.

Then load iTunes and DONE.

Enjoy.

If all of your songs come up as “cannot locate” error, make sure you have put the files into exactly the same location as they were on the old computer.

I was freaking out because I thought I’d have to manually go through all of my songs, when I realised that I didn’t have my old songs in:

c:\music\

but actually:

c:\music\music\

*phew*

I don’t know what kind of idiot actually signs up for those pathetic “love tester” “magic trick” or “ringtones” on your mobile. But if you ever read the fine print on those ad’s you see that they are really expensive and sign you up for some crazy and costly messages.

So basically, if you ever get stuck receiving SMS’s from those companies (which cost something like $2-5 per message received) you want to cancel it ASAP.

First, I would just reply with STOP as an SMS. That generally is the cancel subscription code.

But if that doesn’t work you can always try 19 SMS. It is a site that tracks the SMS you got and let you know who the company behind it is, and also the code to cancel the service.

Don’t purchase crappy games, or tricks from the TV. Thats just common sense.

You can make your own mobile phone ringtone’s easy enough using this little How To: guide I’ve written. Feel free to check out my other How To: posts

The sad thing about seeing those ad’s is that there must actually be people (kid’s probably) stupid enough to actually keep their dodgey business running.