Creating multiple libraries on ITunes

My family has 3 different iPods and we each would like our own iTunes music libraries. Is there an easy way to create separate instances of iTunes or different libraries on the same computer?

Before the crash of iTunes 5, our family's various ipods each had their own playlist (named eg. Kiddos iPOD)and each particular iPod with its own name was set to only Automatically Update Selected Playlists Only via Preferences Thus: One big Library,and several pseudo libraries that were actually playlists. This worked out perfectly UNTIL the iPod 5 attempted install and subsequent diaspora of various elements of the Library and Playlists. Hopefully I'll be able to find all this stuff when it is safe to attempt the iPod 5 update ...just waiting for Appple to fix it.
-one of the "limited number"

Similar Messages

Multiple Libraries in iTunes.

Can someone explain me how to create multiple libraries in iTunes.
I've a huge load of 5000 songs of which 2000 is what I hear often.
I don't have album art on the other 3000 songs and don't want to clutter it with my main library.
Moreover, these 2000 songs are automatically synced with my iPhone. However, I sometimes need to move a couple of songs from the main list which I find it too tedious without a library.
Can someone teach me how to create a second library in iTunes without affecting my main library and switch seamlessly (and copy files) between the two?
Thanks,
Mugunth

One more thing, if you want a more efficient way to switch iTunes libraries without having to keep restarting iTunes, considering downloading free software http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ipoditunes/multitunesdavidcaldwell.html

How can I create multiple libraries on a windows 8 HP computer?

I just got the newest generation Ipod Touch, and the itunes is not supported on my iMac G5. My parents have a Windows 8 HP computer. My dad's itunes account is on that computer. So what I want to do is use my external hardrive to sync it to my Windows 8 computer. I am trying to find out how to create multiple libraries.
Please help me out.

These all have drm so i cannot read them without a i-Device.
Correct. If you do not have an iOS device or a Mac running Mavericks, do not buy Apple iBooks. They will be unreadable.

Multiple Libraries for iTunes

I am wondering if there is any way to create multiple libraries for my music? I use my iTunes for both work and personal music and would like to be able to move my work music into a separate library. I've seen this concept in accounting programs, where you create new companys in order to store and track separate information. Any suggestions? I am currently using iTunes 5.0

Cherrie:
Try iTunes Library Manager. It's not free, but it does work.
Lita

Multiple Libraries on iTunes

Is it possible to have multiple libraries on iTunes? How do I set them up.
I have a library with about 26,000 songs and want to add out holiday music.
I'd like to have a seperate library just for the holiday music and be able to switch between them.

Steve:
I must echo Matthew's recommendation of iTunes Library Manager. I am currently in the process of reencoding all of my CDs. I had ripped a substantial portion of them when iTunes first came out, and I did so without knowing what I was doing - some are ripped in low bitrate MP3, others were transcoded from AAC to MP3 and vice-versa. In some cases, there were problems with the rip and songs were truncated. I decided that rather than try to weed out the bad tracks, I'd just re-rip the entire physical library as Apple Lossless.
By doing so in a separate library - I don't worry about duplicate tracks or the Lossless files getting mixed up with the MP3 data files, and then whenever I need a "clean" copy for my main library - I can just browse, import and convert to the desired codec. I also don't want the Lossless in my main library because that is the Library I use to sync with my iPod, and I don't have enough space to keep all my music in Lossless format on the iPod.
The utility is very easy to use - when you first open it, you should save your current library under two different names, and then load the version you are going to edit. iTunes Library Manager will ask you if you want to quit and load, and then it will prompt you for relaunch. You can have as many libraries as you need. The current version doesn't have a way of creating an empty library - if you want to start from scratch for any reason, but all you'll need to do is delete the songs from the Library, but NOT - REPEAT NOT - FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE.
Definitely worth the $5 shareware fee.
Lita

Supposed support for Multiple Libraries in iTunes 7

Come on Apple, your website says iTunes 7 supports multiple libraries in multiple locations, yet there is no way to enable a second library or create additional libraries through iTunes. Is this just hype about the tedious manual workaround of not having iTunes copy everything to one location? When will we get true multiple libraries? This is sorely missing functionality for anyone with a harddrive smaller than 250GB.
Quoted from http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/
"Multiple Libraries
Build your collection over multiple libraries, and keep them on different hard drives to save space."

I think there are a large number of us who are in the "for some reason" category: we want to have our libraries split across multiple HD's.
Here's my exact scenario:
I have a small portion of my library stored locally on my PowerBook for when I am on the road (~30GB). I have the bulk of my music collection stored on an external drive at home (~160GB). I have another set of tracks that are works in progress that my band is in the process of writing/recording, stored on a 2nd external drive at our studio (~10GB). I want to be able to plug in any of the external drives, and have access to that content whenever I am at home or at the studio, without having to change the local library stored on my PowerBook.
Consolidating the library does not help at all in this scenario - not only does the complete library not fit on my PB's hard drive, but I also don't want the reverse, which is to consolidate to one external drive which I'd then have to carry around everywhere. iTunes should be smart enough to recognize different library files concurrently, and store the import/organize settings per library. I guess that's too much to ask...

Creating 2 libraries on Itunes

Hi,
I would like to know if it is possibile to create 2 Libraries on iTunes so I can use 2 ipods but with different music.
Cheers

To create or access a second library, hold down the option key when launching iTunes 7. In the dialogue box that appears you will get the option to create or navigate to the another Library. An alternative to this is use a single library and choose the update option "automatically update selected playlists only" (called Sync Music - Selected playlists in iTunes 7) for your iPods. This would allow you to create a playlist specifically for each one and drag the tracks you want into it. If you tire of the list and want to change it, you just add or remove the songs you don't want. The ones you take out out remain in the library to be used by the other iPod. Make your playlist a Smart playlist and limit the size to just below the advertised capacity of your iPod Mini or Nano (around 3700MB for a 4GB or 1800MB for a 2GB). You can read more about playlists at these links:
iTunes: Creating playlists of your favorite songs
How to create a Smart Playlist with iTunes
How To Use Multiple iPods with One Computer

Multiple Libraries in iTunes 7 (Windows)

Another whinge about iTunes 7!
The multiple libraries feature in the Windows version (I don't know about the Mac version) is very poorly implemented and, quite frankly, useless.
When changing libraries in iTunes 7, the preferences for the new library are not copied across; in effect, iTunes 7 retains the preferences for the previous library. This becomes very annoying if the user has libraries with different preference settings, as I do. I have two libraries, one of which is located on the hard drive of my PC and the other on a network drive. The two libraries have different preferences, ie music location and the encoder used when importing files (one lossless and the other AAC).
Whenever I switch libraries in iTunes 7, the preferences for the previous library are retained. Consequently, when I select a new library I have to change the preferences to match those required for that library. Otherwise, iTunes 7 updates the new library according to the preferences for the old library. Very frustrating, I can tell you!
I have now removed iTunes 7 and restored iTunes 6, along with a third party library manager until such time as Apple comes up with a decent way of managing multiple libraries.
Windows XP

No, it's the same Windows XP user account, but I have two separate music libraries - the music files in library are in a lossless format, while those in the other are in AAC. For convenience, I wish to keep the two libraries separate.
In iTunes 7 it is possible to have separate libraries - start iTunes and hold down the SHIFT key (Windows) while the program starts. A dialogue box then appears where the required library can be selected. However, as far as I can tell, it's not possible to have a different set of preferences for each library.
Say the preferences are set up for my lossless library, which is located on a separate network drive. If I then make the AAC library active and open iTunes, iTunes reindexes the library according to the settings for the lossless library and I end up with the AAC library full of lossless files. I've tried unchecking various things in the preferences box, but I've had no luck fixing the problem. Thanks for your suggestion - I have already reported the problem.
The whole thing is a rather inelegant way of managing multiple libraries in iTunes. Surely the Apple developers can come up with a way of doing it from within iTunes??

Creating multiple libraries and using an external drive for data

I'm a recent switcher and new to iphoto. On the windows platform, I used adobe album. I have a around 10k of images that I put on an external drive which is attached to my new imac. I deleted the iphoto folder and redirected it to my images on my external. All is working great. I'm looking for some advise on work flow of file/iphoto management. i.e. I'm assuming the more images I accumulate, the slower I photo is going to run? I hear you can create multiple iphoto libraries. Will that only load the photos that are associated with the library and I'm assuming optimize iphoto's performance versus always loading every photo you have taken every time you work in iphoto? If adding libraries is the way to go, can someone direct me to instruction on how to do this?
This may be beyond this threads scope but I plan to put all my data (iphoto, imovies, itunes) onto an external drive in order to keep the imac main drive as clean a possible. Is my thinking correct in doing so. Any negative repercussion in doing so?

Joe:
I'm assuming the more images I accumulate, the slower I photo is going to run?
You'll have to get quite a lot of photos into iPhoto before you start to see a real slowdown in performance. Users have reported libraries of 40K files and they perform just fine. However, do not keep all of rolls open as that will really do a job on the performance. Just open the rolls you need and close them all before quitting.
Yes, you can use multiple libraries and only load what's in each. I use iPhoto Library Manager to manage and move quickly between 10 libraries. With the paid version of iPLM you can move albums and/or rolls between libraries as needed and keep the keywords, ratings, and comments intact.
Using an external HD in order to maintain sufficient free space (10G minimum is what I recommend) on the boot drive to help optimize performance is a very good idea.
As far as any negative aspects, it would be a good idea to have a second external HD as a backup to the working external HD. You can't be too careful with those image files (and other important files) that can't be replaced.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Support for multiple libraries on iTunes server

Hi All
I need help to understand if the following is possible, and if so, how I can best go about getting this working.
I have all of my music on my server, which iTunes can see. Why I try and use Homeharing on my iPad it just takes too long to create the music library on the iPad (i waited about 3 minutes and gave up). Therefore I had an idea. Currently all of my music is in a library called My Music. What I was thinking was that if I could seperate the music out so that multiple libraries were available via Homesharing on the ipad i could choose a suitable library, and not have to wait to load the entire music library each time.
Therefore, I thought I'd start with an easy split - creat a library of music for my young daughter. That way she can have access to her music, and I never need to see it within my library. I 've gone into itunes to create a new library for her music, but the only way i can se to create a new library is to log on as a different usr in iTunes.
All i ultimately want is a solution whereby i can have multiple libraries available whenever we open up the Homesharing option in iPad / Ipod Music player app. Is this possible?

As of this morning I can't get Home Sharing to work on either of my iPhones. It gets stuck at 3/4ths the way through and I can watch my battery percentage drop in front of me. My phones get warm trying

Cannot Use Multiple Libraries in ITunes 8.0

I'm trying to set up multiple libraries, one of lossless that runs of an external drive, one of compressed that runs off a portable drive. I'm in XP.
I have set up Itunes with the lossless files, and am now trying to startup Itunes with the shift key in order to have the option to create a new library. No dice. I hold shift then I double click on the Itunes icon on the desktop. I've also tried it from the programs menu and the start menu. On two different computers. Every time, it just loads the account already set up.
HELP!

To create or access a second (or more) library on a Mac, hold down the Option key when launching iTunes 7. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to the other Library.
Note: You can only have one Library open at a time and iTunes will default to the last library opened if you don't use the keyboard command to choose one: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Mac

Using Multiple Libraries With iTunes 7.5

I recently updated to 7.5, using multiple libraries does not work anymore. The dialog to choose library if holding the option key while opening itunes will not appear anymore. anyone having a similar problem? Multiple libraries are a necessity for me.

I am also having this problem. I tried to create a separate library, but when I followed the directions (hitting shift when I open iTunes) I did not get the option to do so. My regular account just opens. Have you resolved your problem yet?
Message was edited by: phaedracat

Multiple Libraries in iTunes 7

Me and my partner use the same pc at home and up to now have been using the same library.
I now understand that we can set up multiple libraries on the same pc which we have done. However, is there a simple way to transfer all my partners music out of the main library into her library?

This article may be of interst, you did not say which method you used for creating different libraries.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300432
The library files are just databases containing information about your music. There is no reason to copy the actual music files, as long as both users have access to the files. You add your music to your to your library and your partner does the same.
If you are using separate accounts, you can put the music files in the shared music folder, but as you didn't say what you did, I can't be specific about what to do. If you do want to copy music files into another account, you can also do it via a shared folder.
Message was edited by: polydorus

Help with Creating 2 Libraries with iTunes

Hi - I'm looking to create and use 2 separate libraries with iTunes on the same computer. Background: I have a large collection now of lossless files (AIFF), both CD rips (16bit/44.1kHz) and higher resolution audio (24bit/96kHz), which are very large files I use for streaming to an audiophile system (via a Logitech Transporter to DAC/processor, etc.). I also have several iPods and an AppleTV I use that have music, applications, video, etc. I want to primarily use what I'll call the "high resolution" library that only needs the music files, but from time to time switch over to a 2nd library I'll call "other" (which would contain smaller compressed music files more suitable for ipod, as well as ipod app's, video content for AppleTV). I would periodically load up the "Other" library to sync up ipods and AppleTV, but the vast majority of the time have the "high res" library open (as the Logitech Squeezecenter music server requires iTunes to be open at the same time with the appropriate library).
So that's the background. Effectively just want to make a copy of the current library (to be "other"), downconvert all the music from the high res versions, make sure I keep all the apps and video, and clean up the original library. Couple questions - when running iTunes on the same computer with 2 different libraries (both can be on my iMac as I have a 1TB drive with adequate space for now), can I delete all the app's, AppleTV link, etc. from the "high res" library once copied? Also, what's the best method for copying the library (i.e., just create a new one and copy everything in with the appropriate preferences checked - "copy files to library"/"keep itunes folder organized"?)
Thanks for any thoughts

don't worry glad to help
this could help you actually http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051119134344700
but its very complicated and as i'm no expert in computer code i would wait to try it out before and expert in computer code has a look and see if its oky to use (you have to be VERY careful). By the way it comes from a trustworthy site so i'm sure its fine
just be careful though (look at the comments below
or this http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050215130254540
this is different but might help http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7689
Alex

I have a new iMac and i created two libraries on iTunes. how do i copy songs from one library to the other?

I have a new imac. I created two libraries, one for me, one for my kids. how do I copy songs from one library to the other library?

Not easy unless you're just content with adding some files to the other as new files but lose playlists for those files, and playcount, and ratings, etc. If you're okay with that, you can drag the media folder from one library to the other. If you use default settings and want to duplicate the media, just drag it. If you want to add the media but leave it where it is currently located, hold down the option key while dragging to the library window.
Otherwise:
PowerTunes - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powertunes/ (commercial software)
syncOtunes - http://homepage.mac.com/oligrob/syncOtunes/syncOtunes.html

Creating multiple libraries on ITunes

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