ANYWAY TO COMBINE ITUNE LIBRARIES

I have two computers at home that over time I have connected all of the Apple products to. One computer has a small SSD 120 GB hard drive for the OS installation. I finally realized that over time ITunes was eating up all my space with backups. So, I changed and started connecting my devices to my other computer, which has a much larger C: drive hard drive. Now, the problem. Each time I connect a device to either computer it tells me this device is synced with another ITunes library...which is the other computer. This is growing very annoying, to say the least.
Is there not some way to sync or join the two libraries together?

Hi darkcyber,
You can only sync to one iTunes library at a time. Select one of the methods in this link to move the library from one of the computers to the one you want to sync with going forward:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Cheers,
GB

Similar Messages

How Do I Combine iTunes Libraries? - I just need the content (not playlists, etc.)

I have two very large iTunes libraries that I'd like to combine into one.
To complicate the issue, the "old" library is larger because I had more space on an external drive at the time. The "new" library (the one I want to add to) is essentially a subset of the old library and I'd like to keep it as my main library.
So, how can I bring over the music from my "old" library into my "new" library?
And, is it possible to prevent it from creating duplicate songs?
To help explain the issue further, I have about 29,000 songs in my "main" library. I have about 40,000 songs (including those 29,000 songs) in my "old" library. How can I get those 11,000 songs into my "main" library.
THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ALL THE HELP!!

Quick question: Will this result in creating duplicates?
Probably not. If the song is already in iTunes, it shouldn't add them again (but never say never).
If it doesn't add them again, it'll put them in a folder named Not added to iTunes (or something like this) in the Automatically add to iTunes folder. Does this with anythoing you put in there that is not added to iTunes.
You can try with a few dozen songs (that are already in iTunes) and see what happens.
Does't matter if iTunes is open or closed but nothing will happen with the songs inAutomatically add to iTunes folder until you open iTunes.

Combining iTunes Libraries from laptop and desktop--duplicates?

I have been through an iTunes search, but can't seem to find an answer to this question. I want to combine all of the music on my laptop, with my mac-mini iTunes music file (on an external drive). I know I can hook the two together and do an "add to library," but I am running 30 gigs or so on the laptop, and more than 70 on the main computer. Will doing this add two copies of duplicates (which would create a "clean-up" nightmare), or will iTunes recognize and skip the duplicates? There is simply too much time involved not to know in advance. Any help appreciated.
Also, I wrote a year or so ago that I have ITunes start up immediately every tme I reboot and want to know how to turn it off. Other folks said they had the same problem, but no solution was ever offered. Anything new on this?
Thanks--

I found your post because im doing the exact same thing..sort of. I had a mac pro that was ahem taken from me about a year ago. Since then ive been using my macbook laptop for my itunes and my iphone syncing. Now that I have my Mac Pro back, im in the process of merging both to my mac pro and using the mac pro as my "primary" itunes library.
Here is my solution..
1) Make sure both versions of itunes are the same on each computer! Start Itunes, click Itunes>Check for Updates.
2) In Itunes, click File>Display duplicates. Clean up anything that needs it.
3) In Itunes, click File>Library>Organize Library then check the box that says "Upgrade to Itunes media organization." If you have already done this previously, you will only see a grayed out box and a message stating that your media is already organized as a itunes media folder. DO NOT CHECK THE BOX THAT SAYS CONSOLIDATE FILES.
(step 4 is optional, I've been using Itunes for many years and it seems every version they change their folder structure (eg, Audiobooks is now books, etc. also, in the past, the folder was Itunes Music, now with version 9 its Itunes Media) I decided I would start clean with the latest Itunes 9 folder structure so I did exactly that!)
4) In Itunes, click Itunes>Preferences>Advanced. Under Itunes Media Folder Location, change to your new path. for example, mine originally said /users/Geoff/Music/Itunes/Itunes Music. I created a new folder called Itunes Media in the Itunes folder so now mine says: /users/Geoff/Music/Itunes/Itunes Media. Like I mentioned before , the main advantage to this is to have the latest folder structure in itunes 9 and not have a bunch of old folders from previous itunes versions.
5) In Itunes do a File>Library>Organize Library then click the checkbox next to "Consolidate Files". When you hit ok what this does is copies all your music, etc to your new folder that you made in step 4. If you didnt make a new folder in step 4, it will simply just reorganize to the latest itunes 9 folder structure and leave the older itunes folders on your computer. (Im a neat freak so thats why I went with step 4 and made a whole new folder for my Itunes Music) If you did create a new folder called Itunes Media (or whatever you chose to call it) make sure you DELETE the old folder (itunes music or whatever you had originally) or you will have 2 folders with the same things in them, wasting alot of hard drive space.
6) Now you have to make a decision which library you would like to keep. yes, we will be merging, but we need to use ONE of the libraries in itunes. In my case, 75% of my stuff was on my laptop, so I decided to keep its library and use it on my Mac Pro (also, my Iphone is synced to my laptop as well so that was another reason I used that one. If one of the itunes libraries your merging is also used to sync your iphone I recommend using that library. ((just how I did it, YMMV)) For simplicity, lets call the library your going to KEEP the source, and the other copy the destination. Once you have decided which library is going to be the source, create a folder on the OTHER computer's desktop (the destination) and call it "itunes backup".
7) Start up Itunes one last time on the Destination computer and export any playlists you want with the new library. To do this, click the playlist, then File>Library>Export Playlist. When you export, it will ask you what format you would like. I just picked Plain Text. I exported my playlists to my desktop, but you can export them wherever you like.
Also, you need to check the movies, tv shows, podcasts, books and ringtones on each computer and write down a list of things you will need to merge from the destination computer to the new library. (eg, i had a few audiobooks on my destination machine that I didnt have on my laptop. I also had a few tv shows and podcasts on my destination machine I didnt have on my laptop. Since i will be using the library from my laptop on the destination machine, I wrote them down so that I could import them later and not worry about duplicates. (If you dont care about duplicates then I guess you dont need to write anything down and you can sort the dupes later in itunes when your done.)
8) on the destination computer (the one we created the folder on the desktop in the previous step), make sure itunes is NOT running, then open finder and go to the music folder, and then go to the folder Itunes. In this folder you will see a file called iTunes Library. Drag it to the folder you created on the desktop called Itunes backup. Next you will see a file called iTunes Music Library.xml
Drag this file as well to the folder on the desktop called iTunes Backup.
9) Now while still looking in the iTunes folder, you will see either a folder called iTunes Music or a folder called iTunes Media. (depending if you did step 4 or not above). Whichever folder you have, drag it as well to the folder on the desktop called iTunes Backup.
10) now, on the SOURCE machine (the one your going to use the iTunes library from) open finder and go to the Music folder, and then to the iTunes folder. Copy the iTunes folder and everything in it to the destination computer. In my case, since both my computers are on a network, I just copied it to the public folder on the destination computer. You can do this, or use a external harddrive, etc. Just make sure when you copy it to the destination computer, you DONT copy it to the Music folder.
11) After the copy is done, You should now go to the destination computer and go to the iTunes folder you just copied from the Source computer. We now need to copy 2 things (one file and one folder). Inside the iTunes folder drag the file "iTunes Library" to the /music/iTunes folder on the destination machine.
12) Lastly, now drag the folder "iTunes Media" (or iTunes Music) to the /music/iTunes folder on the destination computer.
13) start up itunes and go to iTunes>Preferences>Advanced and make sure the proper path is displayed in the iTunes Folder Media Location (it should be the path we copied the 2 files to, (eg, /music/iTunes.)
At this point, you should have a working copy of iTunes from your SOURCE machine running on the destination machine. next we need to merge the last few things to finish.
14) In iTunes, click File>Add to Library and browse to the folder on your desktop called "iTunes Backup". Inside the iTunes Music folder (or iTunes Media folder) click the music folder and then click choose to import the music.
15) next, if needed, in Itunes, click File>Add to Library and pick any Movies, Tv Shows, Books, etc that you didnt have and import them into your itunes library. If everything was the same on both machines, you dont have to do anything and you can skip this step. But if your like me, and had some things in your destination iTunes library you didnt have in your source, you will need to import them. This is where the list in step 7 comes in handy.
16) lastly, in iTunes, click File>Library>Import Playlist and import any playlists you exported in step 7
17) re download your album art and then the last thing you have to do is delete your music dupes and then your finished. To see a list of dupes, in iTunes, click File>Display Duplicates. You can either manually delete the duplicates (make sure you pick KEEP FILES when it asks if you would like to keep the file or delete it from the hard drive.) or use a 3rd party program like tidy songs or something.
Hope this tutorial was helpful, I spent way too long making it..lol..
And the answer to your second question... to stop auto start of itunes. Try clicking the apple logo in the top left corner, then click System Preferences, then click Accounts, then you will see a "Login Items" tab that shows whats starting up at login. Hope this helps.
If you have any questions or comments let me know, ill follow this thread for awhile to help if you need it.
Message was edited by: What2be1
Message was edited by: What2be1
Message was edited by: What2be1

Combining itunes libraries????

I own 2 iphones, each contains different libraries. is it possible to combine both libraries into one under the same itunes acct?

cmycek66 wrote:
Is there a simple way of doing this?
if you want all content on your external, go iTunes > preferences > advanced and point +*iTunes media folder location+* there.
on the same tab, ensure ticks are in the little boxes next to +*copy files to+* ... and +*keep ... organized+*.
next, file > library > organize library > consolidate files.
when done, you can delete the media files from your internal drive.
JGG

Combining iTunes libraries from separate iPads or PCs

My wife and I both use iPads almost exclusively and only keep our old Windows PCs to basically house our iTunes libraries and a large no. of photos. Can I combine both iTunes libraries onto a Macbook Pro either from our iPads or our old PCs? And if so how?

Hello Chet Black1,
Thank you for the question. The article below outlines several methods to transfer your music from your previous computer to your new computer.
Home Sharing is the easiest way to transfer your music from one computer to another, but I recommend reviewing the options available in the table to decide which method would work best for you:
The following table compares the methods to move music from your old computer to your new computer.
Method
Considerations
Home Sharing
The easiest option, as long as your new computer is already connected to the Internet.
External drive
Requires additional hardware but backs up your iTunes library.
Transferring purchases
Fastest, but only moves the content you purchased from the iTunes Store. Also requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod with the content on it.
Windows Migration Assistant
Works best for migrating from an old PC to a new Mac, and transfers more than iTunes.
You can find the steps for each of these methods in the article:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

Combining iTunes libraries from two users. Will this work...

My wife and I have use separate Macs in the past but have lately decided to combine into one iMac and keep our Macbook as a computer either can use. We use the same iTunes account, but she has her purchases, I have mine and we have the stuff we both like. I want to consolidate the two folders into one to get back the space from files that are duplicated. It seems like I could do the following:
1. Import the music from my wife's iTunes library to mine.
2. Delete the files that are duplicates in iTunes (i.e. "check for duplicates" then delete the ones with today's date.
3. Remove (not delete) any imported files with today's date.
At this point, I should have a folder with every song we have, but only the ones I want showing up in my library
4. Open my wife's account account and point her iTunes to the new folder.
Presumably, all the files will be in the same general path location, so her iTunes shouldn't care about whether they were actually the files I had on the iMac or she had on the Macbook (as long as they have the right name and the right location).
Would this then allow us both to maintain our own libraries, but work out of one folder, saving space?
PS It goes without saying that the folder permissions would be set such that we could both Read & Write.

Hi LaVonne;
Yes it will work. I just did the same thing moving my music from my PowerMac Quad to mt brand new MacBook Pro.
Allan

How can I combine itunes libraries for a shared music setup?

I wanted multiple users on my computer to share the same itunes music folder and library. I put an itunes folder (with an itunes music folder and library data file inside the itunes folder) into the computer's shared folder. I set each users preferences to use the new shared music folder and copy their music to the new folder.I also used the option key on startup of itunes to point each user's itunes to the new shared library.
I'm stumped on how to do one final thing: Is there a way for me to combine everyone's existing library data into the new shared library? In other words, I want all the folders that each user already created to be combined into the new library that everyone sees.

I tried that first, but then you are just replacing one library data file with another, you're not combining them. But I just figured it out myself so my apologies for posting prematurely -- There is an 'add to library' choice under the file menu. You navigate to your original itunes music folder, choose it, and the library information associated with those songs was added to the new shared itunes music folder that my itunes app is now set up to use. Fortunately, I hadn't trashed the original music folder yet.

How do i combine iTunes libraries ? from old Windows machine to my Mac?

Hi there...I have an expiring Windows machine where my kids first sync'd their iPods....That machine is dying and i want to bring those songs (hundreds!) to my Mac computer....But I already have lots of music on my Mac....every time my kids have tried connecting their iPods to the Mac it tells them that it will erase their music and install the music I have on the Mac....So...is there a way for me to add the music from the Windows machine to my Mac library? Or...since they each have an account on the Mac...can each account have its own iTunes where they could bring in their music? that way they could at least save the songs they have in their iPods. i know the music will not be transferred from the iPod to the Mac but I have backup diskettes I made on the windows machine. Can i use those? I am hoping I do not lose all that music ($$$)

Click here and follow the instructions.
(43015)

Is there any way to combine iTunes libraries that allows them to be played on two iphones?

My boyfriend and I live together and don't want to buy the same songs twice. I have an iPhone 4S and he has the 4. We both have windows based computers. Any help?

Put all of your music on one computer and sync the iphones to that computer.

Will iTunes 10 & iTunes 11 work together? If not, how do I combine 2 libraries with the same account?

My 2005 iMac (which can't be updated to Snow Leopard or Mountain Lion and so is stuck with iTunes 10) has thousands of my songs, over 80GB of music mostly from CDs and other uploads/downloads. In 2008 we got an iMac for the family room; somehow although we have the same iTunes account for that computer, we started fresh with no tracks, and built up its own library for family use. Now we've bought two iPhones which aren't recognized by the '08 iTunes/Mac OS, so I want to upgrade the '08 iMac (the only one I can) and I have the Snow Leopard software to do so.
But I'm concerned that once the two computers have different versions of iTunes, I will lose the ability to home-share the music library from the '05 iMac on the '08 iMac, and because of that I won't be able to store any of my older Mac's tracks on the iCloud or access them on my iPhone. (Of course I don't want to have to pay for 80GB+ on the cloud!)
Has anyone got two versions of iTunes on two computers with the same account and are you able to home-share together and access tracks on your iPhones from an older version?
What do Apple users recommend? I'm thinking my best bet might be to combine the two libraries, which as I said are on the same account, but I don't know how to go about doing this. How much time would it take with 80GB? (I could probably do without 15% or 20% of those tracks, but it's still a lot, I don't know if it's instantaneous or if it uploads each track one at a time, I can imagine that taking two days.)
The older Mac's tracks, the 80GB, are the ones I really want, it took years to collect and upload all that, finding photos for some of the more esoteric albums/songs, etc. The newer Mac only has 2.5GB in its iTunes and I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing if I had to reload those, if the 80GB library had to wipe out the 2.5GB one.
Thanks so much to anyone who can help me! If I can start this tonight and have it run overnight (if necessary) that'd be great, otherwise I'm hoping I can get this done Sunday. By the way, technologically, I have the '05 iMac hooked up to a 1st Gen Time Capsule and the '08 iMac getting WiFi from that.

Thank you for replying. Both of the accounts are Admin accounts. The Libraries are kept in the user/music/itunes/itunes media folder on each account. However, I do use multiple iTunes Libraries on my Account1. One of the Libraries I use in Account1 is on a separate internal HD. However, the other Libraries I use in Account1 are stored in user/music/itunes/itunes media folder on the main HD (which hosts both Account1 and Account2). It doesn't seem to matter whether I am using an iTunes Library on an external drive or the main drive in Account1, I still get the same problem: only account1 library will load. AppleTV sees that the Account2 Library is there, but it won't load it.

How do you combine 3 different itunes libraries from 3 different computers to one computer?

How do you combine 3 different itunes libraries from 3 different computers to 1 computer?
Can you keep it from creating duplicates? These libraries have some duplicates.
How do you deal with duplicates?
I'm talking 50GB.
All computers are authorized.
THANKS for any suggestions.

You can't.
If accounts could be merged, then everybody could merge their accounts with everybody and there would be no need for anyone to buy anything.

Finding and combining multiple itunes libraries

I believe I have set up multiple itunes libraries that are located on different drives (the internal and an external). I'd like to find them and combine them into one place. Any help would be appreciated..
macbook running OS X 10.9.4

The .itl is simply a listing of what tracks you have selected for that library. It does not include the music itself. I have never imported another library so I don't know if the methods Niel outlines will actually move your music files into the same library folder or simply use them where they are. You can easily check by seeing if they have moved to the folder, or by get info on a track in iTunes and look at the information on where the actual file it uses is located.
Read the links below on what actually makes up a complete library and why combining them involves merging multiple items.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

Combining multiple itunes libraries

Help- cabn anyone tell me how to combine multiple itunes libraries in mac osx so that I have one library on a large external drive? Thanks
Michael
[email protected]

Did you ever figure this out or get help on this issue? I am looking to do the same thing.

Combining two itunes libraries.

I have two different computers with two different itunes libraries. i want to combine these libraries without getting duplicate songs. is there a software i can use to combine these libraries.

I don't know of any programs that will do that... though my only suggestion would be to burn a DVD with all of the MP3s from one library and then go to the other library and put them in, and it will ask you if you want to replace the duplicates, or not.. and if you don't want duplicates, you click on replace...
hope this helps..

I How do I combine two ITune libraries from my laptop and home computers so I can download the songs to my IPhone?

I have two Itune libraries one on my home computer and one on my laptop. I have been able to download one library to my IPhone (home computer) but not the other. How can I merge these two so I can use both computers or can I???? Help! I called my Apple store for an appointment to figure this out and they aren't even answering the phone!!

Home Sharing:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3819

ANYWAY TO COMBINE ITUNE LIBRARIES

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