How to copy itunes music between networked computers

Summary

This document is for Windows users. If you use a Mac, see iTunes for Mac: How to copy purchases between computers.

Learn how you can copy items you purchase from the iTunes Store to a different computer.

Note: If you will no longer be using the computer you originally downloaded your purchases to, make sure to deauthorize your computer.

Products Affected

iTunes Store,iTunes 9 for Windows

You can download items once when you purchase them from the iTunes Store (except for iPhone/iPod touch Apps which you can re-download). To use purchased items on a different computer, just copy the items and authorize that computer. You can authorize up to five computers to use your purchased items.

Once you’ve found the files for your purchased items, use any of the following methods to copy them to another computer.  For information on where iTunes for Windows stores your audio files see this article.

Home Sharing

Transfer your iTunes content between authorized computers on your local network using the Home Sharing feature in iTunes 9. See iTunes: Understanding Home Sharing for more information. With Home Sharing in iTunes 9, you can stream and transfer music, videos, and more with up to five other computers on your local network.

Note: Movie rentals cannot be streamed or transferred using Home Sharing.

Home Sharing requires:

• iTunes 9 or later
• iTunes or App Store Account
• Local Network connection (Ethernet or Wi-Fi)

This article discusses enabling and using Home Sharing. For troubleshooting assistance see iTunes: Troubleshooting Home Sharing

Products Affected

iTunes 9

Enabling Home Sharing

1. Open iTunes.
2. Select the Home Sharing icon on the left-hand side of iTunes:
   
   If the Home Sharing icon is not visible, choose Advanced > Enable Home Sharing from the menu bar. (You can disable or enable Home Sharing for your computer using the Advanced menu.)

   Note: After enabling Home Sharing, the Home icon representing your computer is no longer visible.

3. When prompted, enter your iTunes or App Store account name and password:
   
   Note: Be sure to use the same iTunes / App Store account name when enabling Home Sharing on all computers you intend to share with.
4. Click Create Home Share.
5. Use the above steps to enable Home Sharing on additional computers on your local network.
6. Locate and click the Home Share you want to connect to under Shared on the left-hand side of iTunes:
   
7. View the contents of that Home Share.
8. While viewing that Home Share you can:
   • Stream Music and Video to your computer: Double-click a file to listen to music or view video content in the iTunes library
   • Manually Transfer iTunes Content to your iTunes library: Select the content in the Home Share that you want to transfer to your iTunes library, then drag the content to your iTunes library. You can also select the content in the Home Share that you want to transfer to your iTunes library, then click the Import button in the bottom-right corner of iTunes:
     

Automatically transfer iTunes Store content between your Home Shares

1. Select the Home Share for the computer that you want to transfer content from.
2. Click Settings in the bottom-right of iTunes, and specify what type of iTunes Store content you want to transfer.
   
3. The next time you download iTunes Store content on that Home Share computer, iTunes automatically transfers the content to your iTunes library.

Note: Home Sharing does not automatically transfer iTunes Store content that was purchased before you turned on Home Sharing. You can still manually transfer iTunes Store and other content between Home Shares.

Original Article located: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3819