How to locate all iTunes libraries and condense into one?

Last fall I did multiple backups of my iTunes library, along with random music folders. I reloaded my OS X and it seems didn't restore my iTunes folder correctly.
What is going to be the most efficient way for me to:
1: Locate all my libraries (two backups with one being Time Machine)
2: Place them all together in a Master iTunes library?
I'm frustrated wondering if I've lost a big file of music!
I see there's been other queries similar to my problem but the ones I read were dating back a number of years ago...
Thanks for any help.

06/2014 ChrisCA post: Restore iTunes library from Time Machine backup - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26104480#26104480 Useful tips where restoring to a new drive: http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html and https://discussions.apple.com/message/27599985#27599985
No, a library is a bunch of files working together:
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
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
In your case unless you want things to get very messy very quickly the best thing is to choose which library you want as your starting copy, then add any media files you think are not in that library from the media folder used by the other backup. If you want hugely messy you add all media files just to be safe and then spend a week or two sorting out the duplicates one by one. If you want immensely, hugely messy you do the former and import the other library file into the first one and sort out all the duplicate playlists created in doing so as well as all the duplicate media files. I mean for me I know yesterday's backup is last week's backup plus new media plus changes I have made, so I don't really need last week's backup unless yesterday's backup drive has fried. I only really need one or the other.

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Hi,
I have a very blonde question to ask. I have the ipad2 (now very old) and a Macbook Air - Currently I have one itunes library on my Macbook Air, and one on my itunes - not sure how I did that, but here we are.
I would like to combine both the libaries - as one seems to have my older apps, all my music and movies, and the other on my Macbook air seems to have all my newly downloaded apps.
How do I merge both of them so that all my info is in once place, and how do I get my itunes to run back off of the external device, as there is not enough space on my macbook air.

By "device" I presume you mean your iPad?
Computers running iTunes are intended to be the master source for your collection. i-devices are designed to be synced from a computer's collection. They are not intended to be the main repository of your collection. If you need that, consider buying an external hard drive for your media collection. You can transfer items purchased from Apple from a device to a computer, but depeneding upon your country and iCloud availability you should also be able to download them from the iTunes Store to your computer again too.
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - this is just purchased music, not all
Downloading (using iOS or computer) past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519 - enabled with iTunes 10.3 and newer; not all media formats are available in all countries (see: iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match Availability by Country - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5085 ); apps, books (not audiobooks), music, t.v. shows, and movies (some - not all studios have permitted this). Downloading previously purchased movies and TV shows requires iTunes 10.6 or later. Discontinued items not available. For items not included in the iCloud list (e.g., ringtones, audiobooks), or locations or computer systems where iCloud is not (yet?) available, you only get one download per fee paid. Apple recommends "you always back up your iTunes library in the event that a purchased item is no longer available on the iTunes Store."

How to pack all used in project samples into one folder?

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Go to Save as...
At the bottom of the window is the Include Assets box. Tick it.
Click on Advanced options. Here you choose to which assets to include within the project folder.
wth existing projects, open them go to File : Project : Consolidate project
JG
Message was edited by: JG99

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How can I open all my itunes libraries and merge them into one?

Some of my music can't be opened by itunes because it says it is in another library. As there are several of these and they won't open,I can't see where the songs I want are. Therefore I would like to open ALL the libraries and merge them into one. Thanks for any help.

Hmm, read that post of Dave Sawyer's and thought well, that's Ok I have it on my iPod, but no, it's not there either. Then resorted to Time Machine (not used for a few months (took it away with us when we evacuated to avoid Cyclone Yasi) only to find that is playing up also, and it doesn't appear to be anywhere there either!
One thing leads on to another - Time Machine has only backed up to 3 months back; then there is nothing beyond! yet there is tons of stuff on it. Maybe it backs up the whole system each time, and not just the changes made inbetween times. The prefs. won't appear and so I can't change the setup.
All this just because of one sone!

How can i remove shared libraries and itunes

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Iphone will sync with one and only one cpomptuer at a time. Syncing to another will erase the current content and replace with content from the new computer. This is the design of the iphone.
It will erase the content when you sync.
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How do you transfer iTunes music and movies from an old PC to a new PC. I have all data svaed on an external hard drive.

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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

How to Consolidate MULTIPLE iTunes Libraries?

I’ve found myself in a situation where my iTunes file organization has gotten out of hand. Originally this occurred because I had an iBook with only a 60GB HD, storage was tight, so I had to keep my music on both an external HD as well as the iBook’s internal HD … a real pain in the butt.
So now I have three separate locations that hold the triad of folders: iTunes Library/ iTunes Music Folder/ iTunes Music Library.xml. In addition, I have about another 20GB of music in Mp3 or MPEG-4 format, which are in folders arranged by artist but are not included in an iTunes Library. I’m spread all over the place!
I just bought a new G5 Dual-Core last week and thankfully, I now have sufficient hard drive space to consolidate everything, but I have no clue as to how to proceed to merge the several iTunes Libraries into ONE, and then to add my other 20GB of music files to it (I believe I can accomplish the latter by using the import command in iTunes, correct) … with the desired end result of having all my music in one iTunes Library and stored in one location?
As it stands, I now have two small iTune Libraries on the G5 (filed in the ‘Music’ folder … this mirrors how it was on my iBook). On one external HD I have another very large iTunes Library (25GB), and on a third HD I have large collection of music (20GB) that is not currently cataloged in any of my iTune Libraries. I could really use some advice on how to get my iTunes in unified working order.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks a bunch!
G5 Dual-Core Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Thanks.
OK. I did the Consolidate command.
However, I'm not exactly sure what it did?
It looks like iTunes just COPIED the second location of my music files and placed them into the main iTunes Library (ie. the library that is referenced when iTunes opens)?
So, I'm assuming it is now safe to trash the files that were copied over/
I still have a third mass of music files (20GB) that is already organized in folders by artists (this was copied from another itunes on a different computer); they were pulled from a different iTunes Music Folder and but there is no 'iTunes Music Library.xml' or 'iTunes Library' file extant that accompanies them. So although they have already been organized (segregated by artist) by iTunes, they have not been imported into my current iTunes library. What's the most expeditious manner of bringing them in en mass?

Consolidating all iTunes libraries back to iTunes folder

I need some advice/confirmation on what is the approach to consolidate all iTunes libraries / files back under the one default iTunes folder location. Some time ago I ran out of disk space on the c: drive so I used the iTunes option and started directing all the iTunes Music to my D: drive [ location being D:\iTunes\iTunes Music. It appears that the Album Covers folder also gets saved to this D: drive location - is that correct? Anyway I now have a bigger hard drive and would like to consolidate all libraries back to C: under the default iTunes folder location, as a precursor toward migrating to an Apple Mac environment. If I use the iTunes advanced/consolidate command will all this be brought back under the C:iTunes folder? Do I have to change the point back to C: iTunes or specify default location some how? Will the Album Covers folder also get merged back under c:iTunes? How do I confirm it is all sweet before I delete duplicate iTunes files off of d: drive? Apologies for being rather verbose, but I really want to get this right the first time! .. future Apple'r.

*If I use the iTunes advanced/consolidate command will all this be brought back under the C:iTunes folder?*
No it won't. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Copying all your iTunes files to one location - Windows
However once you've consolidated everything in the current location you can then copy the iTunes Music folder back to the C Drive yourself and point iTunes to the new location. The album artwork folder should be in your iTunes folder (not the iTunes Music Folder). The default location for iTunes if you are using the C Drive is \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes. Inside the iTunes folder are the iTunes Music folder, the iTunes Library files and the artwork folder. You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
If you are moving to a Mac sometime in the future these pages may be of some help:
How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)
Networking with a Windows PC
Don't forget by the way if you have purchased any tracks from the iTunes Music Store to deauthorise your old PC if you are disposing of it so you don't use up your 5 allowances: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

Want to erase and install & reinstall iTunes libraries and some documents

My iMac G4 Flat Panel is 9gb shy of being totally full and performance really suffers as a result. I want to erase the drive and install Leopard (I just bought a new disk).
What is the best way(s)/procedures to backup my iTunes libraries and some documents so that I can reinstall them on the newly formatted drive?
After paying for the Leopard disk, I don't want to buy any other programs to do the backup. I have been backing up the drive to an external using Backup.

Steven,
Backup is a fine application, but it typically targets specific items to be backed up. Meaning, that it is not necessarily entirely comprehensive. At least not in the context of migrating from one installation to another.
One of the concepts present in OS X is the idea that everything that makes your account "yours," all of your data, settings, history, etc., is entirely contained within your HOME folder. By moving that HOME folder into any new installation, you essentially transplant your entire experience as a user into the new location. In many cases, this works so well that, if someone did it behind your back while "swapping" computers with you, you would never know the difference. That's how it works, in theory.
In practice, there are usually some minor things that pop up in such a transfer, but these are all minor in the extreme. One might end up with a "question mark" or two in one's Dock, resulting from the absence of a linked application in the new installation. The question mark can be removed, or the application in question can be installed, so these things are easy enough to fix.
Your situation is complicated somewhat by the fact that you want to "whittle down" what you restore to the new installation. The assumption I make, based on your posts, is that you have only the one account, and your single HOME folder contains enough data to consume most of your disk space. OK, you can handle this several ways...
You could cover all bases by making one complete backup of your HOME folder as it is now, then begin "whittling down" what you have now before wiping your drive and reinstalling. This would give you the opportunity to reduce your disk space consumption while still working within your HOME folder; testing what you do, as it were, and with the knowledge that your deletions are not irreversible. When you find the right balance between what you can delete and what you must keep, you can make an additional backup of your reduced HOME folder (provided you have enough space on your external drive).
Or, you could make a complete backup of your HOME folder, as it exists now, then go ahead and format/reinstall. You would then have to decide what you will move from the backup into your new account. Part of this process is knowing just where to place transferred items for everything to work properly. As far as simple files are concerned, it wouldn't make any difference where you place them. Items contained in libraries, however, might be quite complicated to move, unless you simply moved the entire libraries in question. In these cases, the libraries themselves must be transferred to the correct locations. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it does complicate matters a bit.
Finally, you could backup and restore the HOME folder as it currently exists. Typically, the process of formatting and reinstalling, then restoring user data, results in a more compact installation. Over time, any installation accrues some fragmented free space, and this effectively reduces the storage capacity of a volume. As much as or more than 10% of the size of the volume can be recovered this way. In any case, your new installation will be smaller than the old to some degree, even with all of your user data restored. Once you get to this point, you could begin reducing the amount of data you have stored, just as in option #1 above, and again safe in the knowledge that nothing you delete is irrecoverable.
rsync is powerful. While it is easy to use, it has many options and is therefore complex to learn. Its "man pages" might be considered daunting. I could provide a copy and paste command for you to run which would make a complete backup of your HOME folder, provided I knew the path to a destination. The exact name of your external drive, along with any nested folders therein you might want to use as a destination, would suffice.
If you want to read more about rsync yourself, open Terminal and type "man rsync," then press <RETURN>. The "man" application will scroll line by line by using the arrow keys, and page by page by pressing the spacebar. Press "q" to quit the man application.
Scott

HT1449 how do you move all music from two computers into one itunes account?

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http://www.macworld.com/article/146958/2010/03/move_itunes_windows_mac.html
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How to locate all iTunes libraries and condense into one?

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