I've lost control of my iTunes library.

My original setup was a Macbook Air with my iTunes library stored on an external hard drive connected to an Airport Extreme. I thought everything was great. I bought an iMac and attempted to direct it to the same iTunes library only to find out that only some of my apps, music, etc. are contained on the external drive. The rest are on my Macbook's drive. The further I dig into it, the more iTunes libraries I find scattered around my not very complicated network.
How can clean up this situation? Obviously I want everything to be contained in one central library that is accessed by all of the machines on my system. Additionally, how can I prevent this shifting of my library location in the future? Thanks for your help.

See this post.
tt2

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Can 2 iPhones control the same iTunes Library with Remote?

Hi,
Does anyone know if you can authorize 2 iPhones to control the same iTunes library using the iPhone Remote app? Or can only one iPhone be authorized at any one time?
Thanks!
- John

Hey John,
Yes, you can have multiple iPhones remote controlling iTunes.
Jason

I lost songs on my itunes library n i have same songs kn my iphone. So how can i get them back to itunes library?

I lost songs on my itunes library n i have same songs kn my iphone. So how can i get them back to itunes library?

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

I was importing photos to iphoto and somehow lost access to my iTunes library. when i open iPhoto, it asks me to select a library, but there are no photo libraries for me to select. I cant find my pictures and have no access to my iPhoto..

I was importing photos to iphoto and somehow lost access to my iTunes library. when i open iPhoto, it asks me to select a library, but there are no photo libraries present for me to select. I cant find my pictures and have no access to my iPhoto.

somehow lost access to my iTunes library.
What does iTunes have to do with this? Also more specific information might be helpful.
What system and iPhoto versions are you running?
Where are you being asked to select a library? What kind of library, iPhoto or iTunes?
What do you see when you first launch iPhoto?
OT

HELP I LOST ALL OF MY ITUNES LIBRARY !

i lost all of my itunes library last night.
first thing i did was try to delete all the data on my girlfriends ipod and sync her ipod touch to my library. i tried that and assumed it worked, then i upgraded to the new itunes when it was all dont i checked my itunes and found that all of my itunes data was gone hundreds of songs and movies and apps that i have bought. all of it gone and i cant get it to search my pc for the data like it would normaly. Help me please im freaking out over loosing all of this.

I have the same issue but mine is different I lost all my data but that was after re-installing my operating system
Did you ever find out how to get all your music and stuff back??

After the last iTunes update, I lost EVERYTHING in my iTunes library (music, videos and podcasts). How do I get them back?

iTunes was just updated on my Windows 7 and now I lost EVERYTHING in my music library. All of my music that I added and purchased, all my videos (TV shows) and all of my podcasts (some of them are older podcasts that I was saving to listen to for later and I can't ever get them back because I don't subscribe to them now). How do I get all my files back? I'm so upset! I had a similar issue a earlier this year with an iTunes update. I wish I can keep everything the way it is without ever having to update the program. I either lose ALL my files or the program doesn't work right.
Please help me.
Thanks,
Jenny

See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.
tt2

Lost content in my iTunes library

3/4 of my content in my iTunes library has miraculously disappeared, can someone plz help me retrieve it?

Hi there,
You may find the information in the article below helpful.
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1408
-Griff W.

I seem to have lost most of my itunes library and cannot locate it

I recently backed up my ipad and iphone but seem to have lost most of my itunes music. Any ideas

*Most of the library now has the little !*
That just means that iTunes can't locate the files. Have you perhaps moved, deleted or renamed a folder that contained the music you had in your library?
*however some songs are still on one of the iPods*
There are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content only from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer

I have lost most of my iTunes Library,

I have lost the entire contents of my iTunes Library, with the exception of music bought and downloaded from the iTunes Store. Any ideas please?

See this post.
tt2

Finding lost songs in my iTunes library

I have an external hard drive that I share between work and home PCs; however, I store all my music files on such drive and synch my iPod on the home computer.
After upgrading my iTunes library on the work computer, I experienced some technical issues and had to choose to synch with a library. By accident, I chose the home library on the external hard drive. I then noticed that the number of songs on the home library were less than those that are on my iPod, which was last synched to the same library but using the home computer. I want the number of songs on my iPod currently to match up to the home library but I'm unsure how to do so. Help!!!

It sounds like your home PC might have some files on its internal C: hard drive, that are not on your work PC or the exHD.
If you go back home and sync your ipod, does it all show up again?

Lost music files in iTunes library

When I installed iCloud on my PC and iPhone, all the music I had in my iTunes library that was from CDs disappeared. I have now uninstalled iCloud on both. Can I recover those music files using some sort of restore process? Thanks.

Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer was planned with you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself independently backed up against loss. To use a device with a new computer you transfer the content from the old computer (or its backup) directly to the new computer, not the device to the new computer. Media syncing is one way, computer to device, updating the device content to the content on the computer, not updating or restoring content on a computer. The exception is iTunes Store purchases which can be transferred to a computer.
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only purchases from iTunes Store
For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will have to use third party commercial software. See this document by turingtest2: Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

3 iPods, one library and seem to have lost most of my iTunes library

Here's the deal - 3 separate iPods, uneducated users, and (we think) one library. Most of the library now has the little ! beside each song however some songs are still on one of the iPods but can't be found in the library. I seriously need help. Any thoughts appreciated.

*Most of the library now has the little !*
That just means that iTunes can't locate the files. Have you perhaps moved, deleted or renamed a folder that contained the music you had in your library?
*however some songs are still on one of the iPods*
There are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content only from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer

Sub-accounts on new computer for parental control, access to itunes library

I have established sub-accounts on my new iMac in order to activate parental controls. Does anyone know how I can grant the sub-accounts access to the libraries in the itunes account in the administrative account?

Tried hooking up my external drive to my Mini. This morning my Mini had all my info listed, but I couldn't play any songs, for obvious reasons. Now, my Mini is hooked up to the external, iTunes prefs are set on the path to the external - but there is no music in iTunes. No lists, no songs, nada. Just a virgin iTunes window. ***?

HT1711 I lost all of my iTunes library on my external HDD. All of my music is up on the cloud, how do I get it to my new external HDD?

My partner and I travel a lot in our motor home and don't always have access to the cloud, otherwise I wouldn't really care. However, we have over 200 movies purchased, as well as television shows that we watch while on the road. A note: I do have all of my music on my iPod Classic, is there a way to transfer it from her to my external HDD?
I don't know if it was coincidence, but it all happened when I did the iTunes Match...
Any help would be much appreciated.
Fred

Download previous purchases from the iTunes Store - Support - Apple

10.4.7 Lost all preferences, emails, iTunes Library etc

After a restart I appear to have lost all preferences in every programme (including system prefs) everything is behaving as if it's a first run.
Whilst not a major nightmare this is pretty far from convienient, all mail has vanished.
Anyone know why this has happened?
I am using an 2Ghz Intel Core Duo iMac, the only usual factor may be that I'm using FileVault - but should this really cause this?

1. You wrote: "I didn't think even Admin could access other peoples user folders?
Anyway 0 in my case there is definately a red "no-go" sign on my other accounts user folder - I can't open it and I get the "insufficient priviliges" message if I try."If you check the Ownership & Permissions of the Users folder, you should find that the Group admin has Access of "Read & Write." So, an Admin user (administrator account) can open the Users folder. All Admin accounts should be part of the admin Group.
With an Admin account, you should also be able to open the Home folder of another account with Read Only access. It is the folders therein — Documents, Pictures, etc. that are retstricted.
It may be that the permissions on the affected account's Home folder are set incorrectly. Perform a Get Info on the affected account's Home folder (the one bearing that account's short name) and assure that the permissions for Others are "Read Only" in the Ownership & Permissions > Details panel of the Get Info window. If not, change them to Read Only and you should then be able to pick up the the instructions in "Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: FileVault - How to verify or repair a home directory image" at step 8.
2. You wrote: "This is seeming more and more random - I'd quite like to know why it happened and where all my stuff has gone."If the directory of your FileVault-encrypted home folder (the .sparseimage file) is corrupted, then it can't be mounted properly and hence none of your files can be found.
3. You wrote: "I had just installed 10.4.7 - is that a an issue? "I've not had any problems with 10.4.7, but I don't use FileVault. However, your post is the first I've seen involving FileVault and 10.4.7. I don't think it's a Mac OS X bug, but rather an issue with the directory of your encrypted account's .sparseimage.
Before installing software updates in the future, you may wish to consider the advice in my "Installing Software Updates" FAQ. Taking the steps therein before installing an update often helps avert problems and gives you a fallback position in case trouble arises.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

I've lost control of my iTunes library.

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