ITunes library on network drive

I want to have all my mp3s reside on a network share, and have multiple computers manage the same library. I have set all iTunes to store their files in that location; however changes made on one computer don't show up in iTunes on the other computers.
Is there a way to do this well?

because iTunes is a Database manager that simply points to where the files are located. And only ONE computer can control that database. Each computer can only operate its own Database and as such cannot tell whats been added to the drive unless it did it itself.
Put all your music on one computer then use iTunes built-in SHaring to access the music on other computers.

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ITunes library on network drive problems

Library source folder (on my network drive) defaults to the original folder locaton on my iBook after an, as of yet, undetermined time. How do I define the library source folder for iTunes on my network drive and force it to keep that location?
Thanks.

On startup, iTunes checks the presence of the 'iTunes Music' folder as set in Preferences>Advanced>General.
If it doesn't find it, it will reset that location.
There is no way of forcing iTunes to keep the location.
iTunes must have a folder to store the next imports. That's the reason why it resets the location if it can't find the designated 'itunes Music' folder.
Always be sure your network drive is available before running iTunes.
Hope this helps.
M

Re-establish old itunes library on network drive

After an extended period of not using itunes, I installed it today on my current desktop (Win7-64). Immediately, I had all my prior purchases available which was nice to see. My old library (about 4gb) is on a secondary drive. What's the best way to re-establish access to the old library. I also want these files moved to a network drive which is connected to a different computer and which will not have itunes on it.
I do not wish to use home sharing, and I do not want to use icloud for the old music.
Thanks for any assistance.

You can press & hold down shift as you launch iTunes to open a library on any path, however performance may be poor with a large library that isn't located on a local drive. The library is easiest to move from one path or computer to another however if it is in a portable form, with the library folder containing the media folder. If needed once the library has been established on your chosen path the library files can be copied to a local (internal or external) drive for improved performance. They can be copied back to the network path and accessed there before moving the library again.
See make a split library portable for some more information.
tt2

ITunes library on network drive, no longer able to download from store

I have my iTunes library stored on a WD My Cloud drive. Suddenly today I have found that I cannot download anything from the iTunes store (movies or music).
I get an error saying "The required folder cannot be found. Please check that the connection to the network is active and try again."
I have the WD drive mapped to Drive M and my iTunes library points to the iTunes folder on that drive. I have confirmed the drive is up and the connection is good.
I can play music and movies in iTunes from that drive.
I have shut down iTunes and rebooted the computer multiple times.
I'm running Windows 8.1 x64
ITunes version 12.1.2.27
I'm looking for any help at all. I'm getting quite frustrated.
I do have iTunes set to Keep iTunes Media folder organized and also set to Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library

turingtest2 wrote:
Is the whole library on the network drive, or just the media folder? Is it a NAS or a shared folder on another Windows machine? A USB connected drive as your primary library with the network drive as backup may be a more robust solution. If you library files are on the system drive see Make a split library portable.
tt2
I had the entire library on the network drive. At one time I used it with just the movies on a drive that was plugged into my router but that was a hassle. So I bought the 4TB network drive hoping this would be an easier solution and I could store everything on it.
It had work fine for a while but I do not know what happened. Nothing I tried worked. I successfully moved my library to my USB 3.0 drive and it is working just fine. I am able to download from the iTunes store now.
Now, I did discover that some movies were missing but I can re-download them easily.
What I don't understand is that if I view my purchases in the iTunes store and tell it to show only movies that are not in my library it shows a whole lot of things that ARE in my library.

Best way to move iTunes library from network drive to NAS drive?

Hi all,
I need to move my iTunes library which currently lives on a Buffalo network drive to a new Synology NAS drive.
What is the best way to move the library?
Thanks,
Ed

iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.

ITunes library on network drive gives "!"

All of my music and videos are stored on dedicated shares on my home server. I created a folder on the server for iTunes to put it's files in when I create a new iTunes library. If I create the library on my mac the files all show up and play fine in iTunes. If I then point my PC to the same library files on the server iTunes sees all the files that I added to it from the Mac but I get the "!" for every file. Same thing happens if I initially create the library and add files to it from the PC. If I then go and open the library thats on the network on the Mac all the files show up but won't play because they show the "!". All I want to do is create one library and have it be stored on my server so all my computers can use the same library and any computer can add and update said library. Any ideas?

I did some more digging and it seems to be a problem with how Macs and PC's name the mounted drive. The Mac is calling the drive volume/music which is fine but the PC's can't find the file because it's looking at volume/music but the music drive for the PC is shown as servername/music. Any ideas how to change this so t hey both are the same? Can you change the Mac so it's mapped drive name is the same as on a PC?

No artwork when new Pc 'pointed' at itunes library on network drive

I've got my itunes library stored on a network drive. I'm now setting up a new PC (Windows 8.1). I've installed the latest itunes and pointed it at the network drive. I can see all the music and play it but I don't see any album artwork? Any ideas what I need to do?

turingtest2 wrote:
Is the whole library on the network drive, or just the media folder? Is it a NAS or a shared folder on another Windows machine? A USB connected drive as your primary library with the network drive as backup may be a more robust solution. If you library files are on the system drive see Make a split library portable.
tt2
I had the entire library on the network drive. At one time I used it with just the movies on a drive that was plugged into my router but that was a hassle. So I bought the 4TB network drive hoping this would be an easier solution and I could store everything on it.
It had work fine for a while but I do not know what happened. Nothing I tried worked. I successfully moved my library to my USB 3.0 drive and it is working just fine. I am able to download from the iTunes store now.
Now, I did discover that some movies were missing but I can re-download them easily.
What I don't understand is that if I view my purchases in the iTunes store and tell it to show only movies that are not in my library it shows a whole lot of things that ARE in my library.

How can I put iTunes library on network drive?

I have my iTunes library on a network drive and it worked well with my laptop and Mountain Lion but I recently got an iMac with Yosemite and the same configuration that worked on the older system doesn't work on the new one.

In iTunes, are you able to select it in the Preferences/Advanced? Click the Change button.

2nd home computer can't see itunes library on network server drive

Ripped CD library and streaming Airplay successfully to home system. Moved itunes library to network drive which is a Seagate BackupPlus connected to ASUS ac-68u router with USB 3.0. Have Apple Media server turned on for the asus router. Used iTunes Edit/Preferences/Advanced to change library location, Checked both “keep itunes media folder organized” and “copy music to itunes media folder when adding to library”. Turned on home sharing, used same apple id on both computers. Original computer (Win8.1) I ripped to can see and use the library fine, but the other one (Win 7 hardwired to router) shows only the 4 sample songs. Probably not permissions because I can use Windows Explorer to look at the cd titles in the Music folder. Aloha, Mike

I may have misunderstood, but the iTunes folder will only be there if you have copied it from your old computer to the iPod first. If you no longer have the old computer see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device,
tt2

Can I install itunes on a network drive?

Can I install itunes on a network drive? How?

Your virtual drive still needs a physical drive to live on. You can move your iTunes library to any drive big enough to hold it, e.g. an additional internal drive, an external drive, a network share, it's up to you. What you can't do is put a quart into a pint pot.
tt2

Deleting a song from iTunes library and hard drive on Itunes 11.0

how do i delete a song from iTunes library and hard drive on Itunes 11.0 at the same time.

Hello CleveCo, Inc
And welcome to Apple Discussions!
At some point in time, you may have selected the option to prevent that dialog from appearing again when trying to delete tracks from your library. To reset all of iTunes warning dialogs, click the Edit drop down menu and choose Preferences from the list (on a Mac it is *iTunes -> Preferences* ). When the window pops up, head over to the Advanced tab and click the *Reset Warnings* button. Then quit iTunes and relaunch it. That do the trick for you?
B-rock

How do I restore iTunes library from flash drive backup?

How do I restore iTunes library from flash drive backup?

brigdool wrote:
How do I restore iTunes library from flash drive backup?
HI Brigdool,
It depends how you made the backup.
If you copied your entire iTunes folder onto the flash drive, just copy it back to the appropriate place on the computer.
If you copied individual folders or files, add them back to iTunes by inserting the flash drive in your computer, and then dragging the files into your "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder.
The first method recreates your library as it was, with all playcounts, playlists, etc. The second method builds a new library with the same content.

A solution to having media files in your iTunes library on multiple drives

After searching on the web for threads of people with this issue, I found this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1483694
I wanted to reply, but the thread has been archived and locked, so I figured I could make a new post offering my new solution.
The application I have written to allow users to easily move the media files in their iTunes library to multiple drives is called TuneSpan (http://www.tunespan.com).
TuneSpan is user friendly, freeware, native OS X app. It does the whole process of moving files and having iTunes know the new location for you, just as you would expect from a full featured app for OS X. Symbolic links are used to point iTunes to the new file locations, but in some cases, TuneSpan can actually get iTunes to learn a new location for the file, without the need of a symbolic link. Also, TuneSpan never removes any tracks from iTunes (preserving playlists, play counts, etc.) and there is no need to adjust any settings in iTunes such as the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" setting.
Lots of important information about TuneSpan and how it works can be found on http://www.tunespan.com/help.html
I do not mean to completely self-promote by posting this, but I realize that I am doing so. I am hoping to reach out to users who have had the desire to do this task but have been overwhelmed or hindered by past solutions technicality, inflexibility, etc. I am hoping that making this posting in the location that some may look for a solution will give TuneSpan more exposure, and help more people have their iTunes library the way they want it to be. TuneSpan is freeware, but donation are accepted though not forced nor nagged for. If you choose to donate through my site, I will, of course, be receiving compensation which I would be grateful for, but that is not the intention of this post. If this posting does not meet the guidelines of this forum, I apologize.

Very useful app, thanks! But i've noticed it is still a O.xx beta. Do you intend to go on with it?

ITunes Library on shared drive, option-open itunes

Just ordered my AX. Have Airport Express for AirTunes now.
I have an MBP intel 2.3 17" and a PB G4 12" 1gig. I'll put my iTunes library on a drive shared via AX. I've been reading iTunes sharing threads, but I haven't come across anything about simply option-opening iTunes. Doing so brings up "choose library..." of course.
Can I just share the library by option-opening iTunes each time, from either laptop, with all modifications made via one machine (playlists, purchases, etc.) showing up on the other? I'll never need to run iTunes on both at once.
...If I do try to use iTunes on both machines at the same time, would the second give me some kind of 'library in use' error message?
Thanks.
Cheers,
Otto

It's actually even easier than you describe. In a real way your iTunes "Library" is an index file in your Music folder. If you have 2 computers with iTunes then they each have their own indices in the Music folder of each users account on those computers. You can store the actual audio/video files that make up the music/audiobooks/videos really anywhere. Give the USB drive you attach to the Airport Extreme a name, mount that drive on each of your two computers. Copy the actual audio/video files from wherever you have them to that shared drive (I use a subdirectory called "library" to put them all in. Then go into the iTunes preferences on both computers. In the "Advanced" section change the directory that the library is stored at to the path of the mounted drive and whatever subdirectory you make it. In my house it's /public/library. "public" is the name of the shared USB drive, library is a directory I created on it and all the artists directories and such are under the "library" folder. That's all there is to it. Any other computer you want to use those files just update the preferences. The only other caveat is that since the "library" is really the index file on each computer you will need to authorize each computer separately to play any purchased files. That's about it.
Message was edited by: Compono

How do I reconnect to an iTunes Library onan external Drive?

I have a huge iTunes library comprised of 10,000's of songs and 1000's of videos. I keep this library on an 8TB Raid 5 network attached storage device. I reciently had a catestrophic hard drive crash on the computer running my iTunes application (the local HD on my computer, not the network drive which is reasonably imune to an HD failure). Everything is gone from that computer's drive except for the files in scope of my automatic backups. There are two locations on my external hard drive that are candidates for the location of the iTunes files:
M:\Music\iTunes and
M:\SharedFiles\Music\iTunes.
Location #1 looks to be an early version of my library prior to consolidation into the "SharedFiles" location. My delemma is that I have attempted to point my iTunes (on my replacement computer) to location #2 and I don't get any of my library files. I am running Windows 7 (the old computer was running Vista). Looking at the M:\SharedFiles\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.xml file (using a text edditor) In the first "<dict>" record I see: "<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/M:/SharedFiles/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music /</string>". So, thinking that was the "iTunes Media Folder" I pointed my iTunes application to that folder. I used Edit->Preferences->Advanced to change the location of my library. This resulted in an empty iTunes (no music,no movies,no devices).
One thing I noticed is that before changing the iTunes folder was pointing to a default location of "C:\Users\Bill\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media". However, I do not have an "iTunes Media" folder at either location #1 or #2. Under location #2 I see sub-folders for "Album Artwork", "Automatically Add to iTunes", "iTunes Music", and "Previous iTunes Libraries". Within the "iTunes Music" sub-folder I see a "Movies" folder with sub-folders for all of my movies, and a "Music" folder with sub-folders for all of my music.
After all of this, my question is: How do I connect my new iTunes application to my networked iTunes Library?

I figured it out!
After setting the iTunes Library to M:/SharedFiles/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music, I then used File->Library->Import Playlist and then navigated to M:/SharedFiles/Music/iTunes and added it. This then went to work for an hour or so reading my entire library. After that I connected to iCloud, Match, shared with home network, and connected to iTunes Store. I am now watching my movies on my big screen using Apple TV again.

ITunes library on network drive

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