I'd like to get it right the first time so I am looking for help. I have a new MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.6. I have not yet downloaded Limewire and I have not yet transfered my music files to the Mac. I have been a LW sub for about 3 years and I use iTunes (v8.1.1) exclusively. I am looking for suggestions on what order I should do things in and if there are any pitfalls that I should be aware of before I start.

For a start, no viruses that will affect your Mac system or programs. However that does not stop you transferring viruses.

If you are a strong iTunes user, I would still recommend some backup players. You are probably aware iTunes cannot play certain types of files. These include mp3pro, ogg vorbis, wma, real, flac, ape, & some others. So I'd recommend a backup player. Vox though small & simple will do a decent job at playing such files. Check this list: Alternate Audio Players & support plug-ins. Vox can also convert audio files into other formats.

It is possible to get a 3rd party plug-in for iTunes that allows you to import & play Ogg Vorbis files in iTunes, however such files would not be compatible with iPod.

For audio file id3 tagging, iTunes has limited abilities. I usually use Media Rage but it's not free. It will work in conjunction with iTunes by auto-updating its library.

For Video, I'd recommend VLC & Perian; http://www.gnutellaforums.com/292880-post4.html Though I also use MPlayer as a backup player. (I use Flip4Mac pro version also.)

Are you going to be using LW 5 or 4? LW 5 for OSX does not handle large quantities of shares very well at present. LW 4 seemed to handle 4-5 times as many shares much better. Not to mention LW 4 has more tools than the present version LW 5.

Thanks for the great tips Lord of the Rings!

It looks like I would be better off with LW4, so I will start there. Any suggestions on importing my current music files from my Windows XP machine onto my Mac? Should I download LW first or import my music files first?

I have a Belkin utility that instructs me to load all of my music files into "My Music" on my XP machine and when I run the utility, it will load everything into iTunes. I haven't done ANY of this yet, so I really can't tell you much more about how it will behave.

If there are any suggestions that you have found to simplify all of this, I would be appreciative.



PS - I consider myself somewhat proficient on the XP machine, but I am definitely struggling with this migration. I am having a hard time figuring out how the Mac handles basic things. I thought the OS and the Mac preloaded software would be easier and more intuitive, but I guess I have been a "PC'er" for too long and I am expecting the Mac to behave like the PC.

Copy the iTunes Music folder across into the Mac. The artist folders drop inside the iTunes Music folder. Open iTunes, it's my guess it will not see the songs at first, so ... go to Preferences which is under the iTunes word at top left of screen (next to the Apple icon.) Keyboard shortcut for 98% of mac programs to get to preferences is Command (Apple key) & Comma keys ⌘ ,. Go to Advanced -> disable Copy files to iTunes music folder, disable Keep Music folder organised. Close preferences. Now drag & drop your entire apple iTunes Music folder onto the Library icon at very top left of iTunes program. That will add them to iTunes. Now, go back to iTunes preferences & set it how you prefer .. such as Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding. One thing I do not like about iTunes 8 is the Keep Music Folder organised will add prefix numbers to each song each time you edit them for any reason. Sometimes I end up with files with 03 03 03 filename, lol. This used to be optional in preferences but iTunes decided everyone wanted this so made it a part of Keep Library Organised option.

Then grab LW 4.18 & see how it runs. If problems let us know.

A utility you may or may not like is called Butler. It gives a menu of items from the menu bar. You can add favorite programs & folders, etc. But I'd suggest disabling various things on it so it does not use up too many system resources on your MacBook. Such as low ram for folders, cache updating every couple hours, rid of the application folder, only list the ones you wish. You have the Dock for most popular. Butler can offer 2nd fav.

BTW I would look at getting a hold of Parallels, so you can install any other OS such as windows/linux on there & run it in a window of its own. That's 'if' you have plenty of hard disk space. I've had two XP & one Win 2000 running at same time on my mac. Parallels is far superior to Mac's Boot Utility, with that you have to reboot into windows to use it, and it does not accept 64-bit XP. I presume your MacBook will be powerful enough for this.