Itunes library on a shared drive

I would like to share an itunes library wirelessly between the Macs in my house. I have put the library on an external drive connected by usb to my wireless router.
On my iMac I can select the itunes folder on the drive in itunes advanced preferences and my music shows up in the itunes window an I can play it. But on my MacbookPro although I can select the folder, nothing shows up in the itunes window.
There maybe a setting I have to change somewhere, or an order in which I have to connect or open things....
Any suggestions?

sceptomaniac wrote:
I have put the library on an external drive connected by usb to my wireless router.
what exactly have you put on the external ? the entire iTunes folder or just the iTunes music (or media) folder ?
On my iMac I can select the itunes folder on the drive in itunes advanced preferences and my music shows up in the itunes window an I can play it. But on my MacbookPro although I can select the folder, nothing shows up in the itunes window.
this leads me to believe that you consolidated the iMac's library to the external but kept the library files local. pointing iTunes media folder location to a new spot tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, but not where the current content is.
what you need to do is to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external, then (on each Mac) launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
note only one Mac at a time can access the library !

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Can't access iTunes Library on a shared drive

Here is my problem: I want to access my iTunes library from a shared drive.
Here is my equipment:
1. Imac running iTunes 10.6
2. 1 week old Macbook Air running iTunes 10.6
3. 1 Timecapsule that is 1 day old, bought with the express purpose of putting my extensive iTunes library on it, and was assure I would be able to stream it.
4. An Airport express hooked to my stereo.
The concept was that the Air doesn't really have the capability to hold all my music, but I want to use it as a "remote" to select songs through iTunes and play them on my stereo.
I did NOT want to leave my iMac on at all times and do homes haring that way.
Therefore, I followed intructions fonund else where and moved my iTunes library from my iMac to the newly installed shared drive on the Time Capsule.
I went into iTunes on the Air selected preferences, advanced, and changed the location of the Air's iTunes library to that of the one on the Time Capsule. It sees all the music. I close preferences.
What happens? Nothing. None of the music is listed on the Air
I've gone over this again and again, and this SHOULD work. What am I missing here? Should I take the Air and the Timecapsule back to the store?

Uh, I fear you followed some wrong directions. This is what you should have done:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
It sounds as if in part at least this is what you did, at least when you say you are going to preferences and changing things.
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library. Do this with both computers if the shared library file is on the external drive.
Note, the file can only be in use by one computer at a time. You will have to quit iTunes on one computer before opening it on another.

Can I have a common itunes library on a shared drive?

All of my music library is stored on my Power PC G5 iMac. Itunes no longer supports PowerPC iMacs and so I can no longer sync my iPhone to my PC. Since I cannot upgrade iTunes I can't use features such as Home Sharing or iTunes match. Whjat I want to do is to move my music library to an external hard drive and then connect to that iTunes library from my macbook and other computers. All I want to do is store my music on a network drive and have iTunes access the common library across multiple computers. Is that possible? Can I store my music in a central place and have iTunes map to it?

A correction:
Itunes no longer supports PowerPC iMacs and so I can no longer sync my iPhone to my PC.
Your iPhone4 can still sync with iTunes 10.6.3 which will run on your PPC.
You may need to take a crash course on how iTunes works before you embark on this. For example, an iTunes library created by a newer version of iTunes cannot be read by an older version. What you will essentially need to do is set up two independent libraries, one on each computer, but sharing the same media. You will have to ensure your actions with one won't conflict with the other. iTunes normally doesn't look at the files until you actually need to use them, so updating track information on a file with one won't automatically appear on the other until you try playing the file. You will have to stay on top of keeping playlists up to date on both if that's your desire.

I store my itunes library on an external drive shared between 2 computers and itunes on computer A isn't seeing or showing the songs I added using itunes on computer B.

I store my itunes library on an external drive shared between 2 computers and itunes on computer A isn't seeing or showing the songs I added using itunes on computer B. How to fix this?

I don't know if this is me adding files to iTunes when the external wasn't connected
it is.
is it OK to just keep deleting that library on the Air?
i wouldn't - at least not until i
mount the external
point iTunes media folder location back to the external via preferences > advanced
consolidate my library via file > library > organize library
The ntfs hasn't seem to be causing any problems, but I've always wanted to know.
in order for your Mac to write to NTFS drives, it needs some help by installing e.g. the NTFS 3G driver. apparently that or something similar is installed on your Mac already. preferably, it would be formatted for Mac but then windows machines would need to have e.g. MacDrive installed to recognize the drive.

Can two computers use same iTunes library on a network drive?

Can two computers use directly (rather than share) the same iTunes library on a network drive?
My media library is on a network drive attached to my Airport Extreme. Right now I share the library with my desktop Mac. I can share fine, but I would like to be able to add, delete, and make other changes in the media library from both computers. The two computers would not be accessing the library at the same time as I am the sole user of both.

I appreciate your input and I think you're right about this being impossible. But just to clarify, you say I can't "have multiple machines accessing the same music files from a shared location." I can have multiple machines accessing the same music files from a shared location--I just can't have them accessing the same music files simultaneously--which may have been what you meant. For my situation, I think it will be less work to just quit iTunes on my server when I want to run it on my client (using Chicken of the VNC). It's not ideal, but it's less time-consuming than periodically syncing three computers.
Again, thanks for the input.

Can the aTV read files from an iTunes library on my nas drive without my computer being on

I have my itunes library on a My Book Live nas drive that contains all of my digital movies and TV shows. I want to be able to watch my movies from the library without a computer running. I understand that Apple has chosen to chain you to the computer and your itunes account through Home Sharing but I can not see why they couldn't allow you to access a nas drive without a computer running because your aTV is tied to your itunes account also so why do they force you to run a computer 24/7 365 in order to access the files you have bought and paid for.
I have a love/hate for Apple because I love the quality of the products they make but I hate how they make all of the digital files you purchase only accessible through a computer running Home Sharing even though the files are not stored on the computer.
I have tried several things to get this to work without a computer but no luck. The only way I have found to be able to do this is to Jailbreak your aTV and install 3rd party software (which I don't want to do) that will allow you to by pass the computer and Home Sharing (which is dumber than ****) because that is all I want to do is eliminate the need of a computer running wasting electricity (I thought Apple was supposed to be an enviro friendly company, guess not). I am not trying to steal or give someone else my purchased movies and using the aTV and an internet connection they could still be able to tie your media to your itunes account so I just don't get there thinking, or lack of thinking I should say.
Is their a way to do this without Jailbreaking or modifying your aTV?
If not is Apple ever going to wake up and allow there customers to actually USE the media they purchase from them without Home Sharing and a computer running?

_Skull wrote:
Can the aTV read files from an iTunes library on my nas drive without my computer being on
no it can't. you need itunes open and running

Updating itunes library occurs with sharing an iTunes Library

Hi,
I have two macs, one of the macs has the iTunes library on a hard drive connected to it, lets called it "Mac1". I have another mac called "Mac2" which I mount the hard drive from "Mac1".
So I go about and make sure iTunes is not running on "Mac1", then go ahead and start iTunes on "Mac2". After I'm done and shutdown iTunes, if I restart iTunes on "Mac1" I get the message "updating itunes library" which takes a while since I have a large iTunes library.
Any ideas? I'm very careful to shutdown on iTunes on one computer before starting it up on another.
Thanks for any input, this is driving me crazy

iamjedi wrote:
I think I may take your suggestion and just have separate libraries.
you can use _*Home Sharing*_ to keep them in sync.
also, there are 3rd party tools such as
PowerTunes
TuneRanger
Syncopation
however, a "one-iTunes-library-with-multiple-computers" approach is doable. click here for information.
JGG

I have a new Windows tablet computer with limited hard drive space, and cannot transfer my itunes library to the hard drive. Can I run t media from an external hard drive? If so, how do I transfer my files?

I have a new Windows tablet computer with limited hard drive space (32 GB), and cannot transfer my itunes library to the hard drive. Can I run itunes from an external hard drive? I have tried to follow some of the directions on this site, but am having no success. Thanks.

iTunes will run fine with the media on an external drive.
However, I suggest that a tablet computer with a tiny hard drive is not ideal as the primary computer for managing an iTunes library, even a small one. If you have another machine, perhaps a big, boxy, inexpensive old desktop with a decent amount of storage, that might be a better choice.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

How do I move an iTunes library from one external drive to another?

I need to move my iTunes library from one external disk to another, because the original disk is about to fail. So, I went into iTunes Perferences --> Advanced, and set the library to a new, empty folder on the new drive.
Nothing changed. I expected all my music to vanish from iTunes, so that I would have to re-import it. However, all the music remained, still on the old disk. At this point, if I were to recreate the library on the new disk, I would have all of my music twice.
Is it possible to move an iTunes library from one external drive to another, or am I stuck with my original choice until I buy a new machine? If I can move it, can one of you clever folks explain how it could be done?

Paul Seymour1 wrote:
However, those are all dealing with old versions of iTunes that still contained the Advanced --> Consolidate Library command which is no longer part of the app. (I'm on iTunes 10.6.1.)
Consolidate is still part of iTunes.
It is in iTunes menu File > Library > Manage library > Consolidate.
The article you linked to is old and it is (and was) a hacky way of doing it.
Just copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to new location, hold Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) when launching iTunes.

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

Hi Niel. Can you be move specific for those of us not tech savy? 1 - Can you provide steps to back up the library? 2 - How do you organize the library? 3 - When you move the entire iTunes folder, does it include iTunes paid for music along with downloaded music from CDs? Thanks

HT1373 How do I backup my itunes library to an external drive

My iTunes library is unstable. I have two questions:
1) How do I backup my iTunes library to an external drive?
2) Why am I constatntly prompted to add my computer to iCloud when I have done so multiple times?
When opening iTunes, I receive he error message: "Please Sign In Again, iTunes Match has encountered an error. Please choose Sign Out and he Sign In from the iTunes Store menu and try again."
I tried downloading and installing/repairing the latest iTunes. That did not correct the problem.
Also, I have sync'd to iCloud. Every time I select iMatch from iTunes, I am prompted to Add This Computer to iCloud. I have already done this multiple times.

Hello cijackson,
You posted your question in the iTunes for Mac Forum. You may get better results on the iTunes for Windows forum. Best of luck > https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/itunes_for_windows?view=overview

Can users have one iTunes library deriving from two drives?

Hi everyone,
I keep my 4 & 5 star songs on my C drive and the rest (all stars, 1,2 3, etc.) on my exhternal hard drive.
Whenever I want to listen to my music, all I can readily play are the tunes on my C drive.
I'm guessing the issues having one library for tunes stored on separate drives is insurmountable?
I say that because I'm guessing that my iPod (4th gen) is only capable of importing from one library?
I think the biggest issue is either I don't know how to (or maybe users can't) list a second drive so that iTunes can load all songs from both drives whenever I do have the second drive up and running.
Adding to the second drive library issue, I can't figure out how to permanently tag my external HD's (I've got 6) so that their drive letter is not automatically defaulting to their order of prescence.
I can deal with that issue by simply not opening iTunes while I the second drive has been assigned a drive letter other than what iTunes (hopefully) is set to (i.e.; hopefully C and F drives).
But can users have one iTunes library deriving from two drives?

Seems I've over come what is something I'd hoped/expected iTunes would be capable of (ie; reinitiating the pathway for external HD music files when their drive letter is the only thing that changed).
I tried the obvious by going to iTunes's Edit>Preferences>Advanced and clicking the change button for "iTunes Music folder location", then entered the current drive and pathway (as the drive is currently assigned, F as opposed to the original G) and of course iTunes still couldn;t find the missing tunes.
Giving up on the hope that iTunes was designed smarter than it is (ie; each and every single missing tune req's manual redirection of pathway, as opposed to a preferable tick box for something like 'use the last redirected pathway').
And I finally figured out how to properly changed drive letter assignments, but still uncertasin if that means permanently tags my EHD's with that drive letter.
For that to be permanent, maybe I need to name each drive regardless that Windows already has unique inforamtion on each HD. Suppose I'll soon find out if the drive at this point has fianlly stored its drive name and whether or not Windows will contiue to change the EHD drive letters simply by the order which I am introducing them to the os.
No real luck with rats nest USB hubs as they crash my os alot, so I'm left to trying to find an easy way of managing the EHD drive assignments. THe following is the closest I've yet to come to doing that:
Click Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management, and then in the left pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.
Right-click the drive, partition, logical drive, or volume for which you want to assign a drive letter, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
Click Change.
Click Assign the following drive letter (if it is not already selected), click the drive letter that you want to use, and then click OK.
Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the drive letter change.
Again, too bad iTunes doesn't afford a 'find' feature for 'missing' files such that one might be afforded a tick box for 'do not prompt again, instead use the last indicated location for "iTunes Music" folder as the base storage location'.
This drive renaming thing is a real hassle. Not like somebody couldn't have guessed it and Windows and/or iTunes can't afford some script, etc. to better manage 'tagging' EHD's and/or re-locating 'missing' tunes.
But then what would we have to complain about, not that they listen anyway.

How do you connect ipad 2 to itunes library using home sharing

How do you connect the ipad 2 to the itunes library using home sharing so you can listen on your ipad 2? I've seen directions for the ipad which tell you how to setup home sharing then open ipod and touch library in the left column, but when I hit library, nothing happens. I'm assuming the ipad 2 has something different about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
PS, the OS is 4.3.3 (just got it but it's not on the os list)

See iTunes 9- Understanding Home Sharing and iTunes- Troubleshooting Home Sharing. Also, open iTunes, select iTunes Help from the Help menu and search for "home shar."

Can I move my itunes library from my C Drive to another external Media?

I currently have my itunes library on my c drive but it is quickly filing up with all my itunes video. I was wondering If i could transfer my library to an external media drive without screwing up my ipod sync and all my files???

Welcome to AD!
Yes, someone else just posted ths exact question...to save time I will link to it instead of typing it all up again
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1956779&tstart=0
Post back if you have questions about your particular setup!

How do I transfer itunes library to new hard drive running lion os

I have a Mac Pro with 2 hard drives in it.
Hard drive #1 has Leopard OS and my iTunes library on it
Hard drive #2 has Lion 10.7.4 OS and this is where I want to move my iTunes library to from hard drive #1.
How can I due this insuring that all playlists, etc. transfer seamlessly. I will then only be using the new Lion OS
to run iTunes (and this will also communicate with Apple TV, etc.)
Thanks!

Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from old hard drive to /Music/ on new hard drive.
Start iTunes.
That is all.
You can also leave it where it it, hold Option, launch iTunes.
Slect Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the Leopard drive.
This will be your iTunes for both OS, whichever you boot into.

Itunes library on a shared drive

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