iTunes--Copying playlists to new version?

[Francesca R]

I bought a new laptop PC to replace a four year old one. I re-downloaded iTunes, and read in my music library which is on an external HDD. However I had spent ages on the old version building playlists, which are saved (I guess . . . ) as metadata in the c\program files\iTunes folder of my old PC. The playlists do not appear in the new version of iTunes I just downloaded. I would like to find out how to copy the info over since it would take a long time to rebuild the playlists (which have set start/stop times for many tunes and not just a list order).

The previous version of iTunes was configured for WindowsXP home, and the latest is Vista.

If anyone has done this and/or has any suggestions I would be very appreciative :) So far I can't find any relevent help on Apple's site.

[Mongrel]

From the iTunes help file ;)

Here are ways to archive or use playlists on another computer:
To archive a single playlist or use it in iTunes on another computer, select the playlist (below Playlists), choose File > Export, and then choose XML from the Format pop-up menu.

To save a copy of all your playlists, choose File > Export Library. The exported information is saved in XML format.

To import an iTunes playlist, choose File > Import. The imported playlist includes only songs and videos already in your iTunes library. Unavailable items are removed from the list.

[Francesca R]

Thanks in advance :) I will try at home.

[Francesca R]

It worked for importing the lists, but not the extra settings like start/stop times, so I will have to cross-reference and do those again. Thanks though!