Upgrade order for new computer and new iPod?

Question

I have a six year old Dell Inspiron 5150 running Windows XP and a 20G iPod Photo (model MA079LL). I am running iTunes 8.0.1.11 and have mostly podcasts and music ripped from CD (but some purchased music). Soon, I am buying both a new PC (probaly a ThinkPad W500 running Vista 64) and a new iPod Touch.

What makes the most sense for upgrade order? Do I get the new PC working with the old iPod and then upgrade iPods or doesn't it really matter? In the end, I want all my music on the new iPod, synching with the new PC?

I found How do I transfer my IPhone and ITunes application to another computer?, but I thought the new iPod might throw a twist into the problem.

Answer 1

I found these links as well:

• HOWTO: Move your iTunes music while preserving library data (when you don’t let iTunes manage your music library)
• How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer
• Transferring your iTunes Library.

All my music was already on an external hard drive, so I just did exported the library XML to the hard drive as well. I attached the drive to my new computer, copied the files, edited the library XML file to update the paths and then imported it. When I plugged in my iPod, I let it erase and sync.

Answer 2

The best order would be to transfer all your music to your new PC, including the iTunes music library (usually this is located in a subfolder of the "My music"-folder included with windows, just copying the content of this folder and adding it to the new computer before installing iTunes usually does the trick).

Then you plug your new iPod to your computer. From here, just select the music you want transferred (I guess you have made some playlists if you have more music than there is space for at the iPod, if you have less, then you obviously can sync everything)

Good luck :)

Answer 3

If @Nifle's advice doesn't do the job - check out SharePod for general iPod management goodness. From my experience, doesn't need an install as long as you have at least Microsoft .NET 2 Framework installed.