I want to centralize my Itunes Media library to a Mybook Live drive.

I have bought a My Book Live drive as it said I coudl run an iTunes Server. I want to be able to have one central Itunes Media location for all my music and apps etc. So I have moved this to the My Book live. When I open Itunes I see all my music under the LIBRARY and under SHARED/MyBookLive. I don't see my apps or other items? Also if I add a new album to my music library it shows up in both on the PC I add the music from but not on any of the other PC I have in my house. So I want to have a simple solution with all mymusic and apps etc in a single place that looks the same on each of my PC's?
Any ideas

Thanks for the quick reply!
No, I simply went to Itunes, Library, Music. As you mention, I can't click and drag the folder, so I click and drag a section of songs at a time, but then they are all resorted to "by artist" instead of "by title".
All I am trying to do is create space on my internal hard drive by transferring ITunes to an external hard drive (so Time Machine is not an option). Any suggestions, or is what I am trying to do not possible?

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Is it possible to save an iTunes media library on an external hard drive that is connected to a wi-fi router?

The external hard drive is connected, through USB, to a wi-fi router. So, can I save my entire iTunes library on that external hard drive and access the files wirelessly and also use that library to sync my iPhone 4S? I have a limited hard disk space on my MacBook Air and don't want any itunes media on my computer, so would it be possible to have it all on the external hard drive while maintainig the ability to sync/play those files saved on the external hard drive without the original files being on the MacBook Air? Sorry for the long question I just want to make everything as clear as possible. Really thanks guys!

Unfortunately, I don't see a solution to your problem.

Cleaning up hidden files after deleting iTunes media library

Recently I have been struggling with an almost full hard drive. Daisy Disk Utility revealed that a major culprit was a bulging iTunes - 90 GB!
In order to free up space, I have just copied iTunes media library to an external hard drive, successfully changed my iTunes preferences to point to the hard drive...that all worked.
I then moved my iTunes media library to Trash.
Most of it has now been deleted (there are still a few recalcitrant items I am trying to work out how to get rid of).
I now have about 20 GB more free space on my hard drive....much less than I had hoped to gain.
Daisy Disk Utility tells me that I now have around 68 GB in hidden files.
What can I do to finish the process of creating more space on my hard disk?

Yes. The following files and folders are in the Mac iTunes folder:
Album Artwork
iTunes Music
Mobile Applications
iTunes Previous Libraries
iTunes 4 Music Library.itl,
iTunes Library Extras.itdb,
iTunes Library Genius.itdb,
iTunes Library.itl,
iTunes Music Library.xml
iTunes Library.xml **this file not in PC iTunes folder**
.DS_Store and sentinel (icon for both is a blank sheet) are in the PC iTunes folder, but did not copy to iTunes folder on hard drive.
The day before you responded to my question, I read a support document (in Home Sharing section) that had instructions to import the playlist by copying iTunes Library.xml to external drive and importing it to iTunes. I imported it by going to iTunes, File, Library, import playlist. It worked, but again, no playcounts ratings.
I thought iTunes Library.xml file was simultaneously removed when I removed the iTunes Folder in the Mac music folder, but somehow, I did something to get it back in or didn't properly remove it. The .xml that's on my PC and in the ITunes folder on my external hard drive is iTunes Music Library.xml. iTunes Library.xml is also on the external drive as a separate file but not in the iTunes folder that's on hard drive. I did nothing to alter file names.

Bought an iPod Classic. First iPod, had a Zen for years, I want to transfer my music library, approximately 15,000 songs without creating an iTunes Media library.

Bought an iPod Classic. First iPod, had a Zen for years, I want to transfer my music library, approximately 15,000 songs without creating an iTunes Media library. All of the music is currently in WMA format. As you can imagine, 15,000 songs takes up a lot of space and I do not wnat it duplicated on my harddrive in an iTunes Media Library. What are my options?-Shawn

Change your mind, or change your device.
You can't put wma files on an iPod classic. You can't put files onto an iPod without adding them to a media library first.
tt2

How To: Change iTunes media library location/folder

*PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS PROCESS. IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, BUT IT IS FAIRLY INVOLVED AND ENTAILS SOME RISK. THERE ARE SOME WARNINGS AT THE END.*
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REQUIREMENT
Move iTunes media (music, videos, podcasts) to another folder and update the iTunes library to reference all the media from that new folder.
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Example cases: Move iTunes media from C:\ drive to D:\ drive; Change iTunes folder name from Music to Media.
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Note:
Special action is only necessary if the +Keep iTunes Media folder organized+ option is not selected. If this option is selected, iTunes will move media to the new location when the +iTunes Media folder location+ is changed. More info can be found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
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PROBLEM
When the location of iTunes media files changes (files are moved, folder name/drive letter changes), iTunes cannot automatically locate these files. iTunes entries can be updated to point to the new location one at a time or by deleting all entries and re-adding all files. Updating one at a time is time consuming, and deleting and re-adding causes a large amount of metadata (play count, date added, rating, etc) to be lost.
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SOLUTION
The iTunes library can be exported to an XML file, modified, and re-imported.
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Process:
- *Backup the iTunes library data:* Make sure iTunes is closed, and then backup the folder containing all the iTunes library data. This can normally be found in +<user-folder>\My Music\iTunes+ for Windows, or in /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes for Mac. The +iTunes Media+ and +Mobile Applications+ folders can be excluded from the backup since they will not be affected by this process. If this process does not work for some reason and you need to restore the previous state of your iTunes library, you’ll need to use this backup as the source for restoring.
- *Move iTunes media files to new location:* This may be changing which drive is used to store iTunes media files, renaming a folder, or whatever. This can be done for the whole library or for only part of it.
- *Export the iTunes library:* In iTunes, select File -> Library -> Export Library... and save the file somewhere for editing (Desktop is a good location).
- *Open Library.xml in a decent text editor:* Notepad is not recommended, since Library.xml can be very large. Some free options include PSPad, Notepad++, Smultron, and Text Wrangler.
- *Update Library.xml:* Locate the files that have changed location and update their path accordingly. The XML file has the metadata for each file labeled with XML tags. The file location is denoted by <key>Location</key>. If the whole library is being moved, a find/replace on the whole file is recommended. Once a file is located in Library.xml that needs to be updated, copy the part of the string that has changed starting with <key>Location</key>. Use that as the find parameter, and enter the replace parameter in the same format. Include as much of the string as possible to prevent unintentional replaces. Save and close the file when done.
- - - Example: Find: <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/C:/Data/iTunes/
Replace: <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/D:/Data/iTunes/
- - - Note 1: This step may require adjustment to match your situation. You may want to count how many files need to be updated and make sure that the find/replace only changes that many or edit them by hand if the location of all files have not been changed. It shouldn’t be difficult, but it may require some thought.
- - - Note 2: Music, TV Shows, Movies, and Podcasts are stored in this file, so make sure to account for all media types. If the location of all types didn’t change, the find/replace strings will need to take that into account.
- *Remove all modified media entries from iTunes:* For any of the files that are being moved, the associated metadata must be removed from iTunes to avoid having duplicates in iTunes. This can be done by selecting all entries in iTunes that will be modified, right-clicking the entries, and choosing “Delete”. After confirming that you want to remove the selected item from your iTunes library, make sure to choose to keep the file in the iTunes Media folder if prompted.
- *Import Library.xml:* Import the modified Library.xml by selecting File -> Library -> Import Playlist... and selecting the modified Library.xml in the file open dialog that appears. Depending on the size of the iTunes Library, this could take a while (10 minutes or more).
- *Test results:* Locate a file in iTunes that has been moved, right-click on the file, and choose “Get Info”. The “Location:” field should indicate the new location of the file. Close the Info dialog and try to play the file. If the file plays, the process was successful.
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_*DISCLAIMERS/ADDITIONAL NOTES*_
- I tried this out a couple of times, and it worked fine for me. I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone, but I thought I’d share since I couldn’t find instructions for this situation anywhere else.
- If the process fails, you SHOULD be able move the iTunes media files back to their old location and restore the backed up iTunes library data to the iTunes folder to restore your previous configuration.
- I wouldn’t recommend attempting this if you don’t feel comfortable with backing up your iTunes library data and editing the XML file.
- I don’t know if this process will preserve whether videos and podcasts have been played or if it will preserve the play position where items were last paused.
- If you are moving all of your iTunes media files, you’ll want to update the “iTunes Media folder location” under the “Advanced” tab in preferences. This appears to be the folder that iTunes will use for some of its basic operations, such as storing synced audio notes, Podcasts, and the “Automatically Add to iTunes” folder.
- This process duplicates playlists, probably because you are importing your entire library again. I just deleted the duplicates when I was done.

If all the media is on one drive and you're not letting iTunes manage it then you can achieve the "portable" status simply by moving the library files high enough up the tree, i.e. the root of the drive if necessary, letting iTunes know where the nominal iTunes media folder is and then moving the library to the new drive keeping the relative paths from the library files to each distinct set of media folders unchanged. Personally I don't like iTunes cutting my file & folder names short, but the advantages of a portable library mean that I'm quite happy to organise my media inside the iTunes Media folder, albeit largly on my own terms. Indeed all my non-iTunes multimedia is now also organised in the same folders. The only media files iTunes organises, temporarlily, are rips & downloads apart from active Podcasts whose folder names I leave unchanged. Everything else gets sorted just the way I want it - full length filenames, different character replacements, folder art etc. I used to do it by hand, deleting, tweaking & reimporting, but these days I use a custom script which does it all automatically - renaming files just as I want and reconnecting iTunes to the newly moved file so that no iTunes-only metadata is lost.
There are similar XML-editing how-tos elsewhere on the web, I just wanted to make the point that there may still sometimes be a way to achieve the desired result which isn't quite as complicated but nevertheless leaves the user fully in control of their file structure.
Anyway, at least you took the trouble to find a method that works for you first. There are sadly too many tales of woe on these boards from people who've moved all their files around first only to discover that they've broken their libraries and can't work out how to undo the damage.
tt2

If I move my iTunes media folder to an external hard drive, will Time Machine still back up that externally-located iTunes library?

To be precise, I've moved my iTunes Media Library to the same external hard drive where my TM backups are stored, although there's plenty of free space on that drive for both.
As I write that, however, it strikes me that if that external drive fails, I've lost my entire iTunes media directory AND my TM backup. So I suppose I should use a separate external HD for each, right?
But my main question is whether or not TM will still back up that iTunes media folder even if it's no longer located on the same boot drive as my main machine, which is a Mac Mini.
The whole reason I'm doing this is because my MM has a 250GB solid-state drive that is rapidly filling up because my iTunes library is 150+GB.

mende1 says:
I recommend you to store the library on another partition on the external disk and keep the first volume only for Time Machine backups.
and you say:
As I write that, however, it strikes me that if that external drive fails, I've lost my entire iTunes media directory AND my TM backup. So I suppose I should use a separate external HD for each, right?
From what people report here I'd say more people lose collections through whole drives failing and not just individual volumes becoming corrupt. A drive failing will take out all volumes on that drive.
Whatever the scenario, you will need multiple external drives. For convenience you could do as mende1 suggests and partition the TM drive. Keep TM on one part and your library on the other. This would be convenient because then you would only have one external connected to your Mac most of the time. However, then you should do as you observe and back up the partition used for iTunes to another external drive as often as you deem necessary. Basically you always want two copies of everything on two different drives, but they don't all have to be on the same two drives. Your TM drive acts as the backup for your computer and the primary for iTunes. Your computer acts as the primary for what's on TM and the second external acts as the backup for iTunes.

Transferring iTunes Media Library

Not sure id this is a dilema or not but here what I want to do.
I have my iTunes media library backed up by Time Machine for my MBP Pro 2010 and I want to transfer the Library from the TM backup to my MBP Pro 2007.
Is this possible?

Connect your Mac's with a FireWire cable. Hold the T key while booting the 2010 MBP (Target Disk Mode). On the 2007 MBP you will see the 2010 MBP as a Disk on the Desktop. Open and navigater to Users->Your Name->Music

How can I transfer my iTunes Media Library from one PC to another without losing files and making a mess of the file and album structure?

I have imported a number of Café del Mar CD's to iTunes, and iTunes keeps scattering the tunes into several different folders in iTunes Media. It also has trouble finding album information, unless it has been downloaded from iTunes Store. Previous versions of iTunes I have tried didn't have this problem.
I've tried to tidy the files manually in iTunes Media, but that usually results in duplicates, so I stopped messing with it. I actually wouldn't mind iTunes blowing up my albums into a nightmare file structure of hyper categorization in iTunes Media (Album, Album Artist, Artist, etc.) if only it recognised its own mess when I transfer the library from one iTunes library into another.
An example: I downloaded Cafe del Mar - Essential Elements featuring 13 tunes, two of these can be found in the files Cafe del Mar/Cafe del Mar Essential Elements, iTunes also created the folder Cafe del Mar/Cafe del_Mar Essential Elements containing 0 tunes!?! and the rest of the tunes are found under Rue de Soleil in the root folder, indicating ONE of the artists as the criteria for creating a folder of tunes!?!
I am trying with every fiber NOT to hate this program, and would appreciate it if someone could explain to me how I can move an iTunes Media library of aprox 54 gb from my desktop via an external harddisk onto my laptop. I have tried 4 times, and everytime the result varies. Sometime I transfer 3000 files, other times 4000. Which files follow and don't is random. I lose files tranferring to the external harddisk and lose even more files from the external disk to the new library on my Lap. Do I have to transfer song for song or can this genius program actually transfer a larger amount of files without losing half the files and duplicating the rest?
Is there a limit of size or amount of files?

Backup with this User Tip, restore the library to the new computer using the same tool, keep the backup up-to-date in future. Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer need to access protected content on it.
As to your issues with compilations albums select all the tracks, set the Album Artist to Various Artists and on the options tab set Part of a compilation to Yes. See Grouping tracks into albums for details.
tt2

I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". How do I incorporate this folder back into the itunes library?

I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". I previously cut and pasted itunes TV shows to this folder to free up some space. How do I incorporate this folder (TV shows) back into the itunes library?

assuming the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked in preferences > advanced, drag the folder into an open iTunes window while holding option (⌥).

I need help transferring my itunes content from an old exteranl hard drive to a new one. The itunes media folder is on the external drive, the itunes library file (.itl) resides on my mac in the music folder.

I have already copied over from the old hard drive to the new hard drive the iTunes media folder (423 GB). But this does not contain the iTunes Library .itl file which for good or bad reason has been working from the mac itself from inside the user music folder. In iTunes Preferences, Adanced Preferences window the iTunes media fold location is currently set to the ITunes Media folder on the old hard drive. How and why i set it up like this all that time ago is forgotten! Do i simply browse for a new location for the newly created duplicaye file? My worry is that i will end up with every song listed twice in iTunes, or worse manage to wipe the content like a mate did!

Okay, solved. Simple really, just moved the media folder location and there was no duplication. Phew!

I moved my itunes media library to an external drive to free up 40gigs. How do I recoup my 40gigs?

I moved my iTunes media library to an external drive to free up 40gigs on my hard drive. When I checked in about this Mac to see if the space was gained it now seems to be replaced by a category "backups". How do I recoup my 40gigs?

When you moved the iTunes data to the external HDD, I assume you deleted it from your MBP. Backup are not to worry about. Read this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14329
They will be deleted when disk space is required.
Ciao.
In addition, read this Apple support article:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4878

Hi.Have organized all my songs in itunes ,deleted unwanted songs and anupdated the album artwork but it has not changed them in my itunes media folder location in the C drive.How do i change this and back them up now i have everything the way i want it ?

Hi
-I have organized all my songs in iTunes ,deleted unwanted songs and updated the album artwork but it has not changed them in my iTunes media folder location in my C Drive.
How do I update it there so it is the same as my iTunes now so i can back it all up?
Thankyou.

I solved my problem. Here's how:
1. Right click iTunes and click properties from the "Windows 8 Desktop" (or if you want to call it the 7 desktop thats fine too)
2. Select the compatibility tab.
3. Set compatibility mode to Windows 7 and click apply.
4. Open iTunes, sign into iTunes store, Turn on iTunes Match, Add your computer.
5. Close Program
6. Restart Computer

Import iTunes Media Library, some files were not found problem

Hi guys,
I am trying to restore my music library info via importing from iTunes Media Library xml file I backed up. During import, iTunes gave me error message box saying that some files were not found and therefore won't get imported. After it's done, I checked the iTune and I noticed many of the music files did not get imported at all, even their locations are correct. Is it because iTunes stopped importing at the first entry that it found its location not existed and therefore skipped the rest all along? Even later ones might be valid. Is this the case?
Is there an easy way to find out what those entries are? So perhaps I could go and edit them directly in the xml file. The message box did not give much information
Any help would be really appreciated,
Thanks alot
Windows XP Pro
Windows XP Pro

Hi Chris
I have now experimented a little more and discovered that although Time Capsule (TC) is showing in Finder as a Shared Drive at laptop startup (and showing a status of a connected user, me) it is not actually 'mounted' in the true sense of the word i.e. the unmount/eject symbol is not showing next to it nor either of the drives connected to the TC. By clicking on either of the 2 drives (i.e. the TC 'Data' disk or the TC USB-connected drive) the status changes to show the dismount symbol on both the selected drive and the TC in the Finder side bar. Launching iTunes after this intervention works every time as per your advice. Not the Apple 'it just works' that I have come to expect and appreciate but at least I now understand how to make it work reliably..........many thanks and I hope Apple just makes it work sometine in the future

HT1364 My iTunes media library...

My iTunes media library resides on a WD "My eBook", I connected it to a new PC running Windows 7 and iTunes 10 and I need to get my iTunes library here instead, how do I do this? Thanks!!!

Do you also have the iTunes Library.itl file that normally resides at <User's Music>\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl?
If you do then having installed iTunes on the new computer, close iTunes, then click the icon to lauch it and immediately press and hold down the shift key. Keep holding until asked to choose or create a library. Click choose and browse to the library file.
Otherwise use the same shift-start iTunes process to create a new library at X:\iTunes where X: is the letter of your drive. Once the library has been created merge your current media folder with X:\iTunes\iTunes Media then use File > Add folder to Library to import the folder X:\iTunes\iTunes Media.
If you have any Apple devices see also Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive. Not deleted...just missing?

I store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

When you change the location in preferences it tells iTunes to start, from this point on, storing new media files in the new location. It then presents you with the option to move any old files in their current locations to the new location. It doesn't move the library files which are not media files. Read the links below to understand how iTunes works because you are the one with the computer in front of you and are in the better position to understand how it stands as regards to iTunes files.
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
Now, did you keep the whole library on the external drive, or did you keep just media? From your description of the situation it sounds as if you kept the whole library there and when the external was not attached it returned to default location on the internal drive. What you should have done then was plug in the external drive, hold down the option key, and guide iTunes to the library file on the external. At this stage you could have dealt with the mislocated new files on an individual basis.
I guess the key question is, did your trying to move the couple of new media files to the external drive overwrite the iTunes folder there, which because you then canceled may have also just resulted in it being deleted. I am not going to test the theory on my system.
How big was your library on the external? If it was 40GB do you now suddenly have 40 GB free?
Look for any iTunes folders on the external drive. In view options turn on "calculate all folders sizes" and see if there are any big ones.

I want to centralize my Itunes Media library to a Mybook Live drive.

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