Itunes library path x 2

I have two iTunes libraries on the same laptop. One path is:
C:\Users\Users 1\My Music\iTunes and the new library is:
C:\Users\User 1\Documents\Empty Rip Folder do not delete\new user\iTunes Media
I created the empty rip folder because of all of the confusion between Media Player and iTunes, but that is a long story. Anyway I would like to change the path of the second library because it just is not something I remember. Does anyone have a suggestion of how I can put it into My Music without causing problems?
Do you think I could have something like:
My Music\King\iTunes and My Music\Queen\iTunes

See my user tips Make a split library portable and Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely.
If you want to be able to switch between two libraries easily both should be in a portable layout and each should really be using iTunes Media as the media folder name. The folder above can vary, so you could have ..\My Music\King and ..\My Music\Queen, with independent library files in each of those folders, and each containing an iTunes Media folder for its own media files. The first tip should help with manipulating the libraries into the right shape for moving around without breaking the internal links between the library and the media.
Note also that certain settings such Keep iTunes Media folder organized & Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to the library act on a per user basis rather than per library, so changing settings while one library is active may affect when happens when you switch to the other one.
tt2

Similar Messages

After moving itunes library paths are still set to old drive

I have moved my itunes library from my hard drive to a network connected NAS drive. The problem I'm finding is that itunes now can't find the songs in the library as they still show (when looking at 'Get info') the path to the old location).
I have done the following:
1 copied all song files in the 'itunes music' folder as well as the files in the folder above (including 'itunes library.itl' and 'itunes library.xml') to the new location
2 Checked the boxes in Edit > Preferences > Advanced that read 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized' and 'Copy Files to ITunes Media folder when adding to library'.
3 Changed the iTunes Media Folder location to the new location (the same folder as the 'itunes library.itl' file is held.
4 Re-started iTunes while holding the shift button so that I can 'choose' the library, then browsed to the new location and selected the 'itunes library.itl' file in the new location.
None of this has any effect. This is what I've noticed:
a - The individual files cannot be found and when I right click and choose 'get info' it shows that the path is still set to the old location
b - The 'itunes library.xml' file still shows links to the old path for each of the individual songs.
c - I can manually 'point' the songs individually to the new location so that they can be found - although this is not an option for the whole library which is several thousand. I do this when I get the error message 'The song 'xxxx' cound not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?'.
d - I import a new CD or buy a new song from iTunes, the songs are correctly located on the new drive and play with no problems.
Can anyone tell me if I've missed a step? If I was to guess, I'd say that the 'itunes library.itl' still has all the old paths for the individual songs, but I don't know how to get iTunes to re-create or update that file and can't edit it myself.
Regards, Steve.

Thanks for that R. I'd seen a few of those posts but none of them seemed to match my query exactly.
However, I seem to have found a solution to my own problem. Whether it will help with yours I don't know (looks like you're a Mac user) but here's what I've found:
* The basic problem was with the file itunes music.itl' which was still pointing iTunes to the old location of the music files. I don't know why it didn't update this file when all the 'consolidating files' was done but there you go. This is not in a format editable by ordinary mortals, but you can re-create it if it gets corrupted by editing another file called 'itunes music.xml', which is in an editable format.
* It seems the .xml file basically contains all the .itl file information and is used essentially as a backup (my guess, don't know if it's correct). So deleting the .itl file and then re-creating it by telling the system to import the information from the .xml file is the thing to do. Here's how I did it:
* Go to the new drive and path where you've copied your itunes library to. I copied both the two files above first just in case to my desktop (doesn't really matter where). They're in the 'Music' folder above the folder where all your music files are kept (music files are kept in 'iTunes Music' in my setup).
* Edit the 'itunes music.xml' file. You'll need a good text editor with search and replace functions to do this as you'll have to do the same number of replacements as you have song files - in my case a number of thousand. Even better than a standard text editor would be an XML editor as that will make the text file easier to read (I used Dreamweaver just because I already have it on my system).
* If you look through your xml file you'll see all your songs listed with lots of other information such as track id. At the end you'll see a line that says something like:
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost//EDNET01/Users/Steve/My%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20 Music/Bob%20Dylan/Modern%20Times/01%20Thunder%20On%20the%20Mountain.m4p</string>
If you're in the same position as me you'll notice that the path name is wrong (it's still showing the old path and drive). So the job is basically to edit and replace each of the paths to show the new drive and path.
*To do this with a single search and replace you don't need to change the album and file name, nor should you need to change the folder containing all the song files. This is the search and replace change I made then:
Search (all instances, hopefully if your text editor will allow it):
//localhost//EDNET01/Users/Steve/My%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/
Replace with:
//localhost/X:/FamilyMusic/
which is the drive and path where I've moved my itunes music to. The song folders are in the folder below that called 'itunes music'.
* Once you've saved this file (and having a backup copy of the old .itl and .xml files saved somewhere just in case) delete the two old files from the new folder where you've copied your music
* Open iTunes. Go to File > Library > Import playlist.
* Navigate to your newly edited version of 'itunes music.xml'. Select it and you should find that itunes begins rebuilding your library with the new paths and creates a new 'itunes music.itl' file in the process.
Once that's done you should have your music, podcasts and playlists back.
** Disclaimer ** I'm no iTunes expert so I don't know if this is the 'proper' way to do things. If it doesn't work you should be ok to replace the copied files back into your music folder and no damage done, but in any event I'm not responsible for any problems. Make sure you've got backups is my advice!

Unable to change my iTunes library path

Just upgraded to itunes 11 this afternoon, wanted to change my library path to my Time Capsule, but when I select it; itunes crashes.
Thank you and I hope there is fix for this SOON!

Happens to me as well on Windows 8, but even earlier. When the pop-up dialog to select a new library location appears, iTunes crashes immediately.

Changing iTunes library path

Weird things happened when I upgraded to Lion. The main problem is that my user name changed from an old to a new user name. I vaguely remember Lion asking me if I wanted to keep a user name or use both or something like that - well - I didn't make the right choice. The old is in a password protected directory or something like that. The unfortunate part of this is that my iTunes library and all the songs are now password protected. To fix this I need to put the library in the main directory and then tell iTunes to choose this library. Does this sound correct? Or do I need to do something else?
Lou

I'm glad if iTunes is happy, but of course I care more about my happiness!
Indeed.
The problem is that although you can move the iTunes Music folder wheresoever you desire as described in my previous link, the iTunes folder has to be in the My Music folder and Windows XP is quite particular about moving that folder.
You have to use the Tweak UI Power Toy (or do some registry editing on your own) to do so. Have a look at this article in the Apple Knowledge Base for information and a link for downloading it.

Odd iTunes Library Path Info

I've been searching for hours to find an answer to this problem and either I'm the only one in the world having this problem (not bloody likely) or I'm not searching on the right terms. Anyway--let's see if I can explain it this way:
My music is stored on a NAS, and a sample path to the actual file location looks like this:
...\Drobo1\My Music\iTunes Music\Music\Artist Name\Album Name\01 Track Name.mp3
If I go into iTunes 11 and select the same track within iTunes, and select 'Get Info', I get this:
...\Drobo1\Volumes\Drobo1\My Music\iTunes Music\Music\Music\Artist Name\Album Name\01 Track Name.mp3
Even though the second path does not exist on my network, iTunes is still able to find and play the file with no trouble (I can also manually browse to the track and play it in Finder no problem). However, iTunes' nonsensical path information is exported to the XML file and this is causing me all kinds of havoc for 3rd party apps like my Sonos system. I've deleted the iTunes XML file and recreated it and the weird path info persists.
Bottom Line: How can I get iTunes to retain the true path info and properly export this information to the XML file?
Thanks in advance.

If the drive is not mounted, online and ready, iTunes will not see it.
Stop iTunes from opening at startup.
You could create an Applescript that checks for the external drive, then when it sees it, starts iTunes.
Put that in your Login items (instead of iTunes itself).
For details, post over in the Applescript forum here -> http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=724

Extra Music Folder turns up unexpectedly in iTunes Media path

Everything will seem just fine and suddenly a new Music Folder will show up in the path of my iTune library. My iTunes library preferences path looks like this /volumes/music library +(an external hard drive)/music/itunes/itunes media/music...+it is at this point that all of my music folders show up in finder. However within this list of music folder another Music Folder will show and some titles or portions of titles are transferred under this sub Music Folder again located among the artist folders. I have gone and transferred these files back into the proper position under the original Artist Folder following the original Music Folder. Sometimes it is only one or two songs that gets moved and sometimes an entire album. The path remains the same under preferences. I think it may have something to do with iTunes organizing the files but I do not know how to correct this. Help!

I am totally confused. Once again an additional Music Folder has appeared in my iTunes Library path and some items have been transferred there. Again my path is /Volumes/Music Library/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music. At this point are the Artist Folders in alphabetical order. In the Artist Folders under the M's is again a folder Music and under that two Artist Folders, one Oscar Peterson which contains a single Album Folder (of which I have three OP albums) that contains 9 out of 10 songs. This is followed by a Doors folder containing a single album folder (of 6 albums I have) with a single song. In iTunes selecting that song and Get Info it shows the same path as above but with the extra /Music on the end. I am perplexed. I am dumbfounded as to the problem and what to do.

ITunes 11 - Where is the iTunes Library.itl file?

I used iTunes 11 to move my entire library to a new Western Digital Thunderbolt duo drive. In iTunes advanced settings, I specified an itunes library path of /Volumes/Media Library/iTunes Media. Then from the menu selected File -> Library -> Organize Library. This moved all my itunes media from my local hard drive to the external drive in the path specified above. As expected, there was still a /Users/bernie/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media folder, which contained my iTunes Library.itl and other files. So, I moved this folder somewhere else, yet iTunes continues to function normally.
The iTunes Library.itl file is NOT on the external drive. Can anyone tell me if this file is still necessary, and if so, how is my iTunes still working without it?
-Thanks

You did not in fact move your entire library, you moved just the media files. Your iTunes application is likely using the true "library" file (along with all the other supporting files it needs) normally in your Home > Music > iTunes folder. I have not tried what you have done but it seems iTunes is keeping track of where you have relocated that iTunes folder with the rest of the library in it. In some regards iTunes is good at keeping track of moving files, but is horribly unforgiving if you do that to media files.
Yes, that file is still necessary, though you could use Spotlight to see if you have other copies iTunes could be using instead.
To properly move your whole library to the external you should have copied the whole iTunes folder to the external drive, then start iTunes with the option (alt) key held down and guided it to the iTunes Library.itl file on the external drive.
As expected, there was still a /Users/bernie/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media folder, which contained my iTunes Library.itl and other files.
Is this accurate? Your iTunes Library.itl file should not have been in your media folder.

Question re: moving iTunes library to new computer where files have different file path?

Hi everyone-
I just got a new laptop and need to transfer my iTunes library to the new computer.
On my old computer, the hard drive was partitioned into a "C" drive and an "F" drive. The new laptop is just "C."
Since my iTunes library was on the "F" partition on the old laptop, the file path for all the files is going to change when I transfer to the new laptop.
I can find dozens and dozens of articles online about how to move iTunes to a new computer, but none of them seem to address the file path issue.
Does anyone know where I can find detailed instructions on how to make this work?
Thanks in advance.

Quit iTunes.
Move the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to the F: drive.
Hold Shift & launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you moved to the F: drive.
Everything should still work fine.
Now go to iTunes prefs > Advanced.
Set the iTunes media folder location to the iTunes folder you just moved to the F: drive.
iTunes menu File > Library > Consolidate library.
This will copy all your media into the iTunes folder (F:\iTunes\iTunes media\ folder)
Let it finsh.
Quit iTunes.
Then you can copy the F:\iTunes\ folder to the new computer.
If you copy it to /Music/ folder, just start iTunes and it'll work.
If you copy it elswhere (such as another drive) hold Shift, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder.

HT1751 I need to uninstall and reinstall iTunes (it won't let me update). So, how do I copy or back up my iTunes library of over 1,500 songs? Can I use a Flash Drive to do so?

I need to uninstall and reinstall iTunes (it won't let me update). I have IE 8 on Windows XP, and iTunes 10 something. In my Program files list I see iTunes and iTunes (2) and even iPod and iPod (2) where a tech had to back up and do this for me before. I'm just trying to fix it all. I keep getting the "The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable. Click OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package 'iTunes.msi' in the box below." I can even run a search and find the folder, but it gives me the same error message. I was planning on using the Microsoft Fix-It tool to help uninstall then Reinstall iTunes. But I need to backup my library. So, how do I copy or back up my iTunes library of over 1,500 songs? Can I copy the folder to desktop or can I use a Flash Drive to backup my music? I don't want to do anything until I know for sure how I can backup my songs, and then reinstall them into iTunes. Thanks for any help.

Ok, thanks that helps. I don't have an external hard drive though. What about backing up through 'the cloud'? I'm just wondering since my husband syncs his iPod to the PC through iTunes and he's worried that he will lose all the songs on his iPod if the library is lost from iTunes and he tries to 'sync' it up again. I'm not exactly sure how to 'copy the entire iTunes folder' either. I kinda suck at this unless I have step by step instructions, which I haven't found yet on iTunes help or other sources.
The only way I know how to back anything up is by going back to a restore point, etc. (as stated before, we don't have an external hard drive.)
Thanks for the info.

Multiple users sharing one itunes library

i have multiple users on my mac, but i'd like us all to be able to access the same itunes library. when i go to itunes prefs on one of the other users accounts and redirect their music library to my folder, it says it is doing it, but itunes still goes to their own music folder instead of mine. i can share my library with the sharing pref, but while they can now listen to my music, they still can't use it in imovie. is there any easy way around this problem??
thanks for your help.

I wrote a simple shell script that executes each time a user logs in (well, actually, each time I log in, coz' it's not really applicable to other users). It syncs my work and home addressbooks and iCal calendars to one another.
I named it "sync". Then I read somewhere that if you wanted to make it double-clickable (to launch it from the Finder), I appended a ".command" filename extension (so it's now named "sync.command"). I also did a chmod 755 to that file so that it had execute privileges. Depending on whether you give each user their own copy of this thing, or keep a single copy in, say, the /Users/Shared directory, you may have to play around with chmod. Whatever, just so long as the user that has just logged in has execute permissions to the file, and to the entire path to the file, you should be good.
Then, in SysPrefs > Accounts > Login Items, I added that "sync.command" file to the list. So, really the only difference is I'm not wrapping mine inside an Automator script like you are.
I had tried adding it to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and make a launchd plist for it, that would kick it off at login. But I didn't get that to work. Don't know why. But just adding the double-clickable executable unix script to the Login Items list did the trick. Whether the plist has to hang out there with it, I don't know. I still have it there, though, in case I ever get motivated to figure out what's wrong with my launchd plist file. So, if just adding it to the Login Items list doesn't do it for you, you could try making a (functional?) launchd plist for it and plopping them both in ~/Library/LaunchAgents, too. That's how I am now, and, like I said, it launches at user login as that user's process (not as a root process like the above referenced article said how login hooks worked -- although, you may want it to run as root since you want this to work with multiple users...in which case, you might want to listen to Cole and not me...).

I have 3 podcast folders in my iTunes account, how can I combine them into one folder in my iTunes library?

I have 3 podcast folders in my iTunes account, how can I combine them into one folder in my iTunes library?

What is the title of the other bookmark folder that can not be deleted?
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Can multiple XP users access the same iTunes library?

Because I'm having a REALLY hard time getting that to work at all. I've moved my entire iTunes folder into 'Shared Documents' so that all users should be able to access it and changed the option in iTunes Preferences to the correct 'all users' path, but iTunes still tries to find the info in 'my' (sal's) documents instead of 'all.'
Anyone figure this out, or does it somehow break the EULA and isn't supported? The wife and I just want to use the same library since we're on one computer. Seems silly to not allow a user with admin rights to allow other users access.
Thanks,
Sal
Windows XP

Sal,
As this article in the Apple Knowledge Base explains the trick is to move the iTunes Music folder, not the entire iTunes folder, to "a publicly accessible location" and I believe they mean to suggest C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music as a good place.
It is important that the iTunes Library files remain in Sal's Documents and Sal's Wife's Documents.

How can I manage 1 iTunes library with 2 computers (not on same network)?

I have 1 very large iTunes library in which I am always adding/deleting/editing songs and 2 computers (1 home, 1 laptop). I would like to be able to manage my library with my laptop when I am away from home but also be able to see any changes I made next time I open iTunes on my home computer. I tried home sharing but this seems to be more for computers on the same network. My library is much too big for iCloud. Someone suggested I hold shift when I open iTunes to select a library but even though I can select the library file I want, it doesn't populate iTunes with my changes (or any music for that matter). I'm running XP with the latest version of iTunes (10.7.0.21). Thanks

This describes a work/home scenario. For home/away use, edit the library directly on the portable backup when away, then sync libraries on your return.
Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 to update the local copy with the external drive. Mac users should be able to find similar tools. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other. Again Mac users should be able to find similar tools.
As long as your media is organized within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organized) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behavior has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entries and import the local content you have on that box.
tt2

HT1391 I have accidantally created anoth iTunes library file and ripped a lot of music in it. Than I discovered that this music was not arrived in one library file. Know I would like to merge all my music in one library file but don't see which library is

Hi,
Regarding my Itunes library:
I'll try to explain my situation (sorry for my english).
I have a networkdrive where all my music is stored on. Itunes is installed on my macbook and I entered the network drive as my media file location.
I use my macbook to rip music and buy itunes music assuming it will all be placed in the media folder that I once entered.
Recently I found out that itunes had changed the location of my media folder to the local drive.
Since a time now (I can't exactly say when) I'm ripping many of my music collection to itunes.
Today i discovered the change of my media file location by itunes after I ripped some collections. When clicking the info button on some of the ripped files I see that they are not stored on my networkdrive, very normal, since the location of the media file is changed to local computer.
When I look in the finder I can find a local libray file (xml file) from 13 april and also one on my network drive but the date is from March. So this one is even older.
I suppose that the libray file is updated each time I add a song in itunes. So there must be anonther library file somewhere?
Is there a way to see which libarary file is used in itunes? I know you can start Itunes with the option key to select another library file but is it also possible to view in itunes which library file is used so I can consult the path of the library file in use?
What should i do to put all the local music to to my network drive and update the correct library to the new location of these files?
Why is there no alert when Itunes changes the location of the media files path?
Thanks

hi i had the same problem today when i updated my itunes to latest version. however, i have just found my songs in the 'itunes media' folder. this was accessed through 'my music' then keep clicking through until you find itunes media and all my library songs were in there and i then just added these files to my library and all were restored however, i have lost all my playlists but at least my 700 songs are back. very dissapointed with apple that they have let this happen with their latest update, the previous version was miles better than this one . hope you find them. stevo

Why doesn't my iTunes content show in Library? Also, How can I sync music purchased on my iPhone to my PC's iTunes Library?

I have been having several annoying problems with iTunes for the past several months...
1) Library content not showing after folder relocation:
First, in order to free up space on my C drive, I wanted to relocate my iTunes folder to a new 1TB hard drive (F) I installed. I did so according to Apple's instructions online, but despite setting the new location to be my library in my iTunes preferences, the content never shows up in the iTunes Library in the actual application. This is my most annoying problem, so please someone help me to resolve this! Thanks.
2) Albums purchased on iPhone 5 only sometimes sync with PC
I have purchased a few albums on my iPhone 5 and only some of them have synced to my PC when I connect my iPhone via USB. They don't even appear under the "Purchases" playlist in the iTunes Store. So, I have content right now on my iPhone that I can only access via my iPhone, and some of the music has gone missing. One or two tracks from albums are not there despite me purchasing full albums at a time... This is also pretty dang annoying and prevents me from trying a solution I'd looked up to fix my third problem...
3) Album artwork mixed up/mismatched on iPhone 5
This is pretty self-explanatory. Ony day my album artwork decided to play musical chairs. So now, for example, it shows Andrew W.K.'s bloody face when I listen to Zedd, and shows Skrillex when I listen to Symphony X. I read online that if you desync your content on you iPhone so that none of the music is there any longer, and then resync content from your computer, it will fix this issue. I'm hesitant to apply this solution until I can fix the ones above though, because I don't want to lose content that I have legally paid for.
My final problem:
4) Apple charges $20 for a support phone call for iTunes
Seriously, WTH? I hope the community can help me out. Thanks all!

1) The best way to relocate the iTunes library folder is to move the entire iTunes folder with all subfolders to the new path, then press and hold down shift as start iTunes and keep holding until prompted to choose a library, then browse to the relocated folder and open the file iTunes Library.itl inside it.
If you've done something different then provide some more details about what is where and I should be able to help.
2) Purchases on the device should automatically transfer to a Purchased on <DeviceName> playlist, but it my depend a bit on whether automatic iCloud downloads are enabled. If there is a cloudy link then the transfer might not happen. You can use File > Devices > Transfer Purchases. In iTunes you should also check out iTunes Store > Quick Links > Purchased > Music > Not on this computer.
3) Backup the device, then immediately restore it. In some cases you need to add a restore as new device into that equation. Obbviously not to be attempted until you're sure all your media is in your library. See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device should it be needed.
4) I believe there is complimentary 1 incident 90-day support with hardware purchases, but no free software support for iTunes itself. AppleCare gets you a different level of support.
tt2

Itunes library path x 2

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