I need to consolidate two iTunes libraries from different countries.

I have been struggling for approximately 5 years now to resolve an issue which it seems is normal for those Apple users who move countries from time to time. Specifically, I have ended up (inadvertantly in the first instance) with two distinct iTunes accounts -- one in Australia (which cannot be changed to UK as I don't have an Australian credit card and the balance at $1.04 is non-zero) -- and another in the UK (which I use all the time).
I have tried again and again to get this straightened out with Apple, with iTunes support, with Genius Bar people, store managers and on and on -- however, for some reason which is beyond my humble comprehension -- and despite being a significant (£30k) personal Apple customer over recent years -- I cannot get anything other than "passing the buck" between the Apple Store and Geniuses to iTunes Customer Support online -- who, frankly, have demonstrated a complete lack of ability to 1) understand the problem in the first instance without a lot of going backwards and forwards, 2) fail to provide any suitable or acceptible answers that would help -- instead repeating (as if in a different conversation) the same words again and again (via text emails -- which I'll happily share further with all who are interested); 3) fail to demonstrate any capability of elevating this so that the issue is solved once and for all.
I have a large library of music and music video's purchased in the UK and Australia (and some which was purchased in the USA when I was there -- thankfully without this particular set of problems). The Australian account cannot be changed to UK as it has a non-zero balance of $1.04 -- and so I cannot hope to put a UK credit card on file in order to achieve my first goal of upgrading the music and music videos to non-DRM, high resolution, explicit etc. etc. and also sychronising with iMatch alongside my UK content.
Every single time I attempt to do something with iTunes or my MacBook Pro (either of them), my iPad, my iPhone 5, my AppleTV, my Mobileme account etc. etc. -- it does not work properly due to the "split nature" of the music catalogue -- and the different countries which each are registered to -- where-as I am based in the UK (although may move back to the USA in some time again).
I would appreciate a full refund of all of the content which was bought in Australia -- so that these purchases can be transferred or remade with my current account. I also want to know how I am to manage this situation the next time I move country. So far, it would be easier to steal the music via P2P than to continue paying over the odds for content which is not being "handed over" to me in a reasonable way.
I love my Apple experience so much other than this particular issue -- please can somebody help me fix this. It is central to my whole experience of the vast investment I have made with joinging the "Apple Adventure"..
Grant Warrell

if you're on iTunes 9, the easiest way would be to drag & drop the contents of the (external ?) hard drive into the *automatically add to iTunes* folder inside the iTunes folder of the target machine.
you will have duplicates, which can be deleted later on (or kept and filtered using smart playlists).
JGG

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Sharing & Managing iTunes libraries from different countries

Hi Everyone,
I would like some help on sharing and managing content from different iTunes libraries from two difference countries please.
I have:
1 x iPod and its library from the UK (and its UK Apple ID)
2 x iPhone 5's and their libraries from the US (and their US Apple ID's)
I appreciate there are restrictions due to each country's laws so what I want may not work, however, ideally I want it so I can have all three of our libraries in one iTunes library and then both my wife and I can choose which songs we want on our iPhones and iPods.
Does anyone know if this is possible?
Any help much appreciated - cheers!

Y2J wrote:
Thanks Guys.
What you said worked - cheers!
The only thing that didn't was transferring my UK music to USA iPhone. Unless you know otherwise, I assume because I paid for UK music in UK, trying to then play it on a USA iPhone won't work......or is there a workaround?
The fact I've paid for it legally in one country surely shouldn't be a problem playing it on a device?
Or should I create a brand new Apple ID and library - would that help?
Your help is much appreciated.
Thanks.
Y2J,
The problem is much more likely to be the multiple Apple IDs than the multiple countries. Do not start yet one more.
If all the music is in one library located on your computer, but certain songs won't sync, pls post details of the problem and maybe someone here can help troubleshoot.

Is there a simple way to merge two iTunes libraries from different drives?

I have an iTunes library or, more significantly, an iTunes music folder, on a hard drive I haven't used in a while. I'd like to merge it into the one I'm using now.
Is there an easy way to do this, and what about duplicates and, especially, variant encodings of the same title?

if you're on iTunes 9, the easiest way would be to drag & drop the contents of the (external ?) hard drive into the *automatically add to iTunes* folder inside the iTunes folder of the target machine.
you will have duplicates, which can be deleted later on (or kept and filtered using smart playlists).
JGG

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

How can I update the apps. with the new iTune, that's really silly especially I have two iTune account for different countries

I used 2 iPhones and a iPad, 2 Apple ID for different countries so that I can download apps. from different country. Its a pain and sometimes no possible to update the apps. on the ISO devices. Apple really needs to fix this aspect. Also the new iTunes is so difficult to use, please bring back the old one.

When Itunes opens
1) Click on drop dow list button top left under the player controls
2) Select Apps
3) At the bottom right there are two buttons, Check for updates and Get More Apps
An Alternative is when iTunes opens in the top menu Click on View, Show Sidebar. Then you will see your apps page as in itunes 10. Click on that option and as before you should have two buttons, Check for updates and Get More Apps.
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Best way to manage multiple iTunes accounts (from different countries)

Ok, wasn't sure if this was the best community to ask this question, but here goes.
My wife and I have two iTunes accounts, one originally from the United States, the other originally from Australia. Over the years content has been purchased using both accounts.
We currently reside in Australia and primarily view our content on Apple TV. So far we’ve had no problems logging into either account and accessing all our content.
Now, I have a fear (perhaps an irrational one) that if we choose to permanently reside in one country (Australia, the US, somewhere else) that at some point Apple may cancel/restrict one of these accounts. Since there is no way for me to merge all our purchased digital content into the one digital library, we’re now wondering the best way to manage this?
I see there is a new "family sharing" feature soon to be launched, so that may be half the solution (assuming it will work with family members in different continents). If so, the other half of the question is, will we be able to still purchase content on both accounts? While in Australia since April we have rented movies on both accounts, but have only purchased movies etc on the Australian account (we can still do this on the US account, but we haven't risked it in case it gets cancelled because Apple decides we're no longer in the US - in other words, we don't want to spend $$$ on movies we may not be able to access in future).
What do others think? What is the best way for us to manage our scenario? Or am I worried about nothing and we can continue purchasing content on either account without fear of “losing” it later?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I did try and ring Apple, but the guy refused to give me advice until I provided my details and I did't want to do that at this stage.
Thanks everyone for your help!
MM

You may lose the ability to purchase content from the USA, but any content you've already bought will remain accessible. Back everything up.
(112502)

Combining two iTunes libraries from two computers onto a third

Hi there -- I haven't seen anything in the archives that is this exact situation, but if you know where it is in there, please point me in the right direction!
I have two separate collections of iTunes music on two different older Macs. I want to merge these collections into one that will now live on a newer MacBook Pro with iTunes 11.1.5. I can figure out how to get one or the other imported onto the MacBook but not both together as one merged collection. I'm getting confused about how to get all the media and the library files transferred. Help!
Can anyone walk me through the steps of what I need to do this? It must be possible, right??
Many thanks in advance.

There isn't really a way to ideally merge them. Methods such as the one linked in an earlier post have you make sure your media are more or less in one or two locations by using the organize/consolidate step for each library, then adding media files from the secondary library to the primary one as new files. If you have a lot of content overlap you will end up with duplicates.
So, use consolidate/organize to make sure you have each iTunes library's content intact in one place on each computer. You don't need or want to consolidate to another drive or computer, just make each one internally complete. Choose a library to export intact. Copy the entire iTunes folder to the other computer. If the third/new computer has no iTunes content simply overwrite the iTunes folder there. If it has content then you'll have to do additional steps but I won't bother with those yet. Start iTunes in the new home and make sure the primary library is working (it should look identical to the original one). Now you can copy the media folder alone from the other computer. Copy it onto the Automatically Add To itunes folder on the new computer. It will add the files as new tracks. If you want to do some hand-weeding of particular duplicate albums you can also be more selective in what you add to the second library.
It is possible to export playlists from the secondary library and then import them into the new library. note that a playlist is simply a text listing of which files are in the list and the files will have to be on the new computer in the identical locations (the point of consolidating).

How can I consolidate two iTunes libraries onto one disc?

OK... here's the deal...
I am permanently in a nursing home and was only available to bring my MacBook Pro to my new "home"... however, I had a back-up of my Intel iMac's iTunes library on a small 250GB portable drive so what I would like to do is:
1) re-direct my iTunes folder to my 'old' large 'main' iTunes library, and;
2) somehow consolidate the 'new' library on my MBP to that library (about 12 gigs) without having to open each track to add it to the 'newest' library.
I don't think that this is what "Consolidate Library,,," does, is it? I'm afraid to try as that "This cannot be undone." is rather daunting.
Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated. Fortunately, this won't affect my iPod as there's no way (yet) to put 120GB on a 60GB iPod!
MacBook Pro Intel Core Duo, 1 2.16GHz (Early 2006) Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hey,
I've been doing a similar thing recently. Have you tried importing either through home sharing on itunes or just transferring what you need by accessing the other MacBook if you mount it in your shared places? Takes a while wirelessly but should get it done..... I think!

How do I merge two iTunes libraries under different profiles on the same MacBook Pro?

I used Migration Assistant to import my music library from an old dell to my new MacBook Pro, however 2 profiles were created and now half my music is on one profile and the rest on the other and neither profile can access the music on the other. Please Help

This is indeed an excellent question. I am looking for what seems to be the exact same solution. I have two libraries, where the ratings, checks, and play counts are included in the itunes xml library files. I have found that using synchronization software only compares documents and replaces one with the other. If I modify one computer (in terms of collections, ratings, or play counts), and then don't synchronize before modifying the other computer, then my libraries do not match.
If there were a quick solution to compare and merge libraries, then I would not have to re-synchronize libraries each time I switch computers (assuming I'm not adding/changing mp3 file structure).
I suppose there could be a very long-winded applescript to do this, but I'm not familiar with scripting, nor interested. Any help?
Have any solutions been found?
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Sharing two iTunes Libraries for different user accounts on one Mac

How can I upload or share my wife's iTunes library? She is listed as a different end user on the same Mac as I use but we have different libraries. If I sync my iphone to her account, will it erase my existing applications and downloaded songs? Also, she only uses the iTouch. And yes, I have a mobile me account if that matters. (The $99 package)

See if this support article provides what you need: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203

ITunes Stores from different countries

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I live in Italy. My banking is entirely in the US. Our iTunes store is US. We have been given 3 or 4 gift cards and we have a valid Italian address. On a different discussion string, someone said that:
In order to buy from any given country's iTunes Music Store, you must have either:
a) a credit card with a billing address in that country, or
b) a mailing address in that country and a gift certificate or a prepaid card that was bought in that country.
Well, we have all of b) but even creating a new account seems to require a credit card. Please help prevent me from bad mouthing the next person who gives me a iTunes card.

How do I merge two iTunes libraries?

I have two iTunes libraries on different hard drives on one computer. I choose the appropriate library when starting iTunes.
I now want to merge these libraries but retain the files on their separate hard drives (the files are too large to combine).
How do I do this?

This is indeed an excellent question. I am looking for what seems to be the exact same solution. I have two libraries, where the ratings, checks, and play counts are included in the itunes xml library files. I have found that using synchronization software only compares documents and replaces one with the other. If I modify one computer (in terms of collections, ratings, or play counts), and then don't synchronize before modifying the other computer, then my libraries do not match.
If there were a quick solution to compare and merge libraries, then I would not have to re-synchronize libraries each time I switch computers (assuming I'm not adding/changing mp3 file structure).
I suppose there could be a very long-winded applescript to do this, but I'm not familiar with scripting, nor interested. Any help?
Have any solutions been found?
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I have two iTunes libraries I need to merge. Both contain over 34,000 songs, so I cannot do this manually. Is there an easy way to do this?

I have two iTunes libraries I need to merge. Both contain over 34,000 songs, so I cannot do it manually. Is there an easy way to do this?

Drag the media folder from one over to an open iTunes window. Go away and have a long lunch. Of course if you have a lot of common content you will be spending your next vacation sorting out the duplicates. Oh, you can search the Internet because I am sure somebody has some wonder tool that purportedly prevents duplicates, not that I would trust any automated method. I always deal with duplicates one by one.
Consolidating Multiple iTunes Libraries - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/consolidating-multiple-itunes -libraries-api1/ - Basically using consolidate/organize to make sure all your media are in one place, then copying media from a second library to the main one by simply adding the media as new files.
Commercial software that purportedly helps merge libraries (not a complete list, nor have I tried any of them):
http://supersync.com/
PowerTunes - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powertunes/ (commercial software)

HT1660 I have two iTunes libraries on two different pc's (one windows and one Mac). Can I consolidate these on an external hard drive?

I have two iTunes libraries on two different pc's (one windows and one Mac). Can I consolidate these on an external hard drive?

I'm sorry I just saw the last post. I had two users on my hard drive, one for me and one for my daughter, but I am not sure what you mean by partioning my external????? I have heard the term before, but don't know how to do it. I am having serious crashing issues with this computer and believe I really need to do a clean install. I just want to make sure everything for both ipods is safe (is???? I think so, everything is......I hate when the English language does this to me!)

Consolidating two different iTunes libraries from two different accounts

My boyfriend and I have been living together for a while and we need to consolidate our music libraries. We have a new iMac, which we wish to use to house all of our songs. We would like to be able to play any song from either library anywhere in the apt. using our Airplay speakers. How is it possible to condolidate our iTunes library, given that we have different iTunes accounts?
Thanks!

These links should help:
Natalie Beresford: Multiple iPods/iTunes Installations
How to use multiple iPods with one computer
How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

I need to consolidate two iTunes libraries from different countries.

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