ITunes media on a server

My mac was stolen but I have all my media on an external hard drive. I want to see if I can make do with just an ipad and not a mac. I intend to get a synology NAS and put all my files on there.
How do I arrange the media on the synology NAS and then get my ipad to find it. I think I want to set up a iTunes server but can I do this without a computer?

You can't use iTunes to do this unfortunately, you should look for a third party app that works with your network drive.

Similar Messages

ITunes media on Linux server via SMB - slow imports, changes and stalls

I have an unRAID server (lime-technology.com) which is a Linux based server. I'm getting terrible performance with iTunes. The music playback is fine. But if I import a song file or change any metadata, it has problems. This isn't new, I've read many, many posts complaining about this and other problems concerning SMB shares and file systems. But I think I may be onto something and would like some advice.
This is what I've found so far. Snow Leopard, OS 10.6.x, has a problem with SMB and/or any file system other than HFS+. HFS+ is the common files system for OS X.
There are hundreds of posts on the web complaining about temporary freezes, slowdowns, sometimes crashes with SMB shares and other file systems. I have yet to see Apple acknowledge that there is a problem, but there are a few suggestions out there that seem to have helped people. I'll be trying out some of these this week and post the results here.
From my own observations, specifically with iTunes, I've noticed some strange behavior. Here's my setup. I have an iMac running 10.6.4 (the latest update), the latest iTunes 10. The iTunes app is located on the local internal HD, I have my iTunes library files and all my media on disk 1 of my unRAID server. I'm hard wired to the server via a gigabit router. I have iTunes set to keep the media organized and copy the media files to the server.
When importing a song file into iTunes, the file initially seems to copy at a good rate, the file appears in it's proper place and you can see the size increasing as it copies. Then it stalls for a while, then the name changes to a long hex number for a few seconds and then reverts back to its' normal state. The process can take 30-40 seconds, even with a small song file. I looked at the console and I got the following error message:
Quote
+11/8/10 12:24:28 AM /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes[2820] Possible unresolved transaction race -103/(Master Music Library/John Lennon/Rock 'N' Roll,(null))+
The same thing happens when I make a change in the metadata. For example, I added onto the name of an album and for each song it changed I got:
Quote
+11/8/10 12:37:36 AM /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes[2820] Possible unresolved transaction race -103/(Master Music Library/John Lennon/Signature Box Set 5 - Walls And Bridges,(null))+
This happens for each file imported or changed even within iTunes.
I followed the first path in the error message: /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes[2820].
In the /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/ folder I find the following files:
iTunes
libgnsdk_musicid.1.7.1.dylib
libgnsdk_sdkmanager.1.7.1.dylib
libgnsdk_submit.1.7.1.dylib
where iTunes is a Unix Executable File.
I did some more research and have found some posts about file systems other than HFS+ having trouble with app packages. I believe that all OS X apps are actually packages, like folders, but appearing as a single file. Other file systems don't seem to know what to do with these. There was some talk of "flattening" these app packages, but I haven't gone forward with that yet because I'm not sure I understand it enough yet.
I've also noticed that in the getinfo box under sharing & permissions I usually get "You can read and write", but with apps I get "You have custom access". This was something i had noticed before and thought it was a problem on the server, but I didn't realize it until now, I'm getting the custom access on every app. So I think that's probably normal.
I'm wondering if I'm having a permissions problem with the iTunes Unix Executable File. Right now the permissions are set as follows:
system: Read & Write
admin: Read & Write
everyone: Read only
Maybe it's trying to write to that file or another one and doesn't have the right permissions since the song file is now on the server and that's causing the stalls? I'm over my head here. Anyone have any ideas?

I have the same problem with Excel files on an external drive. The drive is attached to my computer which is on a network and another user accesses the external drive. The problem of "custom access" began after our main server went down. I hope someone can come up with a solution so that I can set the permissions. For now the Excel files are all read only.
Linda

Itunes media folder location on Mac Mini server

if i want to move my itunes library on my MacBook Pro to my MacMini server, do i create a new folder called Itunes Media on the server or do i install itunes on the server (MacMini) and use the iTunes folder

FrustratedAJM3 wrote:
Setting up a new Mac. I already have my iTunes media from my previous Mac on an external drive. Went to Preferences and selected the external drive and iTunes Media folder and the files are not showing up in iTunes. Any ideas?
That simply tells iTunes where to put new files.
It does not add anything to iTunes.
You should keep the entire iTunes library (iTunes media and all library files) in one location.
Do this...
Connect external to old computer.
Copy /Music/iTunes/ folder from internal drive to external drive.
On the external, move the iTunes media folder into the iTunes folder you just copied to the external.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
Quit iTunes.
Connect drive to new computer.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
This is all you need to do.
This will bring all your playlists, ratings, comments, everything from old computer.
You do not need to change the iTunes media folder location in iTunes prefs..

Is it possible to use my Time Capsule as an iTunes Media Server?

I've bought a macbook air, which is awesome, but a bit lacking in space, it's already filling up.
At the same time I bought a 2TB time capsule. Although I think the back up features are great, I always had the intention that I'd be able to use the Time Capsule as a wireless, and even remotely accessible, personal cloud, to store some of my bigger files. Namely, my iTunes library and my iPhotos library.
I've been into the Apple Store, and the genius there told me it was a simple as copying the two libraries onto the TC, and then redirecting the apps to look at those libraries. Dead easy.
In theory, this creates a perfect system. I realise there might be a bit of lag retrieving stuff, especially if I'm trying to get a movie off the TC while I'm travelling. But if I've got half a day spare to download it, then it's great to have that option if I've forgotten to copy it to my Mac Book before I leave.
In practice, it doesn't work. Because the TC is being used to keep a back up as well, I can only copy the libraries into the Data folder. And I've read somewhere that this can confuse issues a little bit. Now when I try to navigate to the libraries, connection to the Time Capsule always fails.
I realise I could probably achieve this by plugging an external hardrive into the Time Capsule. But I've got two terabytes of space on the TC, it'll take forever to fill that up with just back ups. I don't feel I should have to buy another hardrive, when I've got a TB and a half of free space waiting to be used.
The only idea I can think of is if I partition the TC harddrive, keeping one half for the back ups, and one half for my media library.
Has anyone actually succedded in doing this? Any ideas or help anyone can offer, this is getting really frustrating, and if it doesn't work, I think I'll have to return the Time Capsule, or scrap the idea of backing up, and just use it as an iTunes server instead.
Thanks.

Hi Latitude Journey
Make sure you do the following if you are planning to load all your library on TC:
Step 1: make sure that you tell iTunes where your media folder is located, under preferences, advanced, chose the location of your media folder (assuming you are using iTunes 10+.
Step 2: Once you are done telling iTunes where your media folder is located (music, etc) make sure you go to users & groups under system preferences (assuming you are running Lion or Mountain Lion OSX) and choose login items, then click the + sign and locate your time capsule from the shared drive section in finder, just chose it (no specific folder) just any folder.
the reason why you should do this, is that if it happen that you restart your mac! iTunes will try to look for the drive that has your media/music that you set earlier in step 2: , and since TC is not an actual NAS drive, it is more like a shared drive, it will take few seconds for the hard drive on it to load, where iTunes will not be able to locate it before it is ready, and thus it will revert to the default location of the media folder which is under music/itunes/itunes media/, and eventually none of your songs will actually work since they are on the TC and not your mac.
doing what i told to do in step 2: will make sure that your TC hard drive is ready before your iTunes try to locate the media folder, where you will be able to play your library without any issues.
failing to do so, most probably you will face the problem where you try to play songs in iTunes and finding that they have exclamation mark next to them, which means that they are missing from the library.
my music library is all located on my Time Capsule, and iTunes runs on my Mac mini (with home sharing enabled), and my iTunes is set to lunch on start up under system preferences/users & groups/login items/.
My mac mini act as a server (don't worry about your mac going to sleep, it will wake up once you try to access your media from other devices) assuming that you have the option wake on LAN enabled under network in system preferences.
This is my setup.
- Mac mini mid 2011, running Mountain Lion and latest iTunes set to launch on startup in case of computer power on or restart so i don't have to worry about launching it manually.
- Time capsule 2 TB, used as network shared hard drive
- MacBook Pro early 2011 running Mountain Lion and latest iTunes
- 2 iPads
- iPhones 4s
- Apple TV 1 and Apple TV 2
all my devices having home sharing enabled under the same account.
i can access my music library from any of my devices easily and problem free.
hope this will help you and other users.
Many thanks

How to Share One iTunes Media Folder on a Windows Laptop and Mac Laptop

I have an HP EX490 Home Server setup. I want to use the Music Share volume to act as the home for all of our music. I am using a MacBook Pro and my wife is using a Dell Windows Vista Laptop. I have my iTunes pointing to the iTunes Media Folder on the Music Share. The iTunes Library resides on my laptop in Music/iTunes/Library. I used the consolidate library feature and it moved all the music to the appropriate iTunes folder on the Share. Now I want to do that with the Windows Vista Laptop. I have the Vista laptop pointing to the Share for the iTunes Media folder location. The question is how do I add the files to her library? Do I "consolidate library" again or just "add folder to library"? Also do I keep the boxes checked "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" under the Advanced Tab in Preferences? Would greatly appreciate the help. Lots of music/videos and only want to do this once.
Thanks in Advance
Tom

Tom DePrenda wrote:
I used the consolidate library feature and it moved all the music to the appropriate iTunes folder on the Share.
Good!
I have the Vista laptop pointing to the Share for the iTunes Media folder location.
Good!
The question is how do I add the files to her library?
Go to your File menu and use the command Add Folder to Library. When the dialog comes up, point it to the Music folder in the Share area. But read on first...
Also do I keep the boxes checked "Keep iTunes Media folder organized"
You must turn off the "Keep..." option. Otherwise, when one of you changes a tag, iTunes will re-"organize" and the other person's iTunes will lose the link.
The "Copy..." option should also be turned off. As you add new music, put it where you want it. Then you must "Add File to Library" from each iTunes.

Can you "lock" iTunes Media Folder location?

One of the things I hate about iTunes is that I keep my music collection on an external hard drive with mirrored RAID array. Songs I buy are automatically transferred onto that drive. But sometimes, the hard drive will go offline, for whatever reason - a power issue, bumped by someone, whatever. When that does happen, iTunes doesn't give you a warning, it just defaults to the internal Music folders. Until you realize that the hard drive is offline, every CD you rip, every song you buy will go straight to the iTunes folder on the Mac. When you finally reconnect that hard drive, and redirect iTunes to the iTunes Media Folder on it, you're hopelessly lost, with your music collection distributed between the two drives.
First off, WHY can't iTunes notify you that it can't find the designated iTunes Media Folder? It'll notify you about just about every single other bloody thing that happens in the computer?
Second, is there a way to LOCK the iTunes Media Folder onto another drive, such that iTunes can't find the iTunes folder on the Mac HD?
Third, is there an easy way to scan the library on my Mac HD and on the external HD to find out which files are missing from the external HD and need to be manually added to the library?
ks in advance!
Than

Hi Jonathan, it annoyed the heck out of me too. Answers to your questions:
No idea, it’s probably trying to be “helpful”.
I don’t believe you can lock iTunes the way you want, but you CAN stop iTunes from running WITHOUT THE DRIVE YOU WANT I got sick of manually transferring songs when this happened to me too. In my case my library is on a network server (NAS). I wrote the following AppleScript to deal with the situation and it will work for any externally connected drive, network, USB, FireWire etc.
So to explain the script: I’m asking Terminal to list the directory contents of the iTunes Library folder on the external drive. If it can, it makes iTunes start. If it can’t (the “on error” bit), it beeps at you and displays a dialog box that tells you it cannot start. I then save the script as an App, and give it the same icon as iTunes has, but a different name (‘iTunes Custom Launcher” for example). Then I remove iTunes from the Dock and put my custom launcher in the Dock instead. Doing this means the only odd thing you will see is that when the launcher starts iTunes, there will seem to be two iTunes icons in the Dock, but only while iTunes is running.
— Start of script
tell application "Terminal"
          try
                    do shell script "ls \"/Volumes/Music/iTunes Library\""
                    tell application "iTunes" to activate
          on error
beep
                    display alert "iTunes will not start until the Network Music Library is available"
          end try
end tell
tell application "Terminal" to quit
quit
— End of script
In order to use the script, you will need to replace the folder location of the iTunes Library. If you’re not familiar with Terminal, see what Finder says the name of the Disk (or network share) is when it is connected. Assuming your iTunes Library is called “iTunes Library”, the format of the third line of the script is:
do shell script “ls \"/Volumes/<disk or share name>/<folder>/<sub-folder…>iTunes Library\"”
If, like me, your iTunes Library folder is at the root of the external drive, you only need to replace <disk or share name> with the drive name and forget about the <folder>/<sub-folder…> bit. If you’re not sure what to do to the script let me know and we can do more Q&A to see exactly what you need to make the script look like.
So, the main steps:
Open the AppleScript Editor and copy/paste the script into the blank window
Save the script as “iTunes Custom Launcher” and choose to save it as an Application.
Copy/Paste the app into your Applications folder using Finder
To give the new app the same icon as iTunes has (optional), in the Applications folder, select iTunes and copy it. Do a “Get Info" on your new app and select the little icon in the top-left of the info screen so it has a blue outline, then do command-V (paste).
Remove iTunes from the Dock and add your new app.
For your question 3, I would just go into the music folders of whoever logs on to your mac and manually move whatever folders for artists/albums/songs are there; it should be the last time
Let me know if you need more help
Message was edited by: SilverSkyRat

Purchased iTunes media artwork not showing up in finder?

I've scoured google and the threads here on the ASC, but nothing has worked. At first I did not notice the pattern, but now I realize it. None of the album artwork that is embedded into my purchased itunes media displays in finder. All of my artwork displays perfectly in iTunes, but not in finder. I started having this problem today, seemingly randomly. I hadn't downloaded any updates to any applications, nor had I installed any new applications. The only thing I did was import four new cds (ALAC format) and the album artwork shows up fine in finder for those. To be honest the problem could have been going on earlier but I did not notice this until today when I went and looked for my new albums to verify the artwork had been embedded properly.
I tried everything under the sun, including deleting the album artwork cache that Finder supposedly shares with iTunes in the iTunes folder. I downloaded a program called Onyx that someone suggested and rebuilt ALL folder window displays, resetting all folder views. I cleared every cache there was on the computer, and rebuilt all databases, including the spotlight index database. I have literally rebuilt all databases that are rebuildable and cleared every single cache there is (including in my /user/library folder) and the problem still persists. I don't know what it is about the purchased itunes media that doesn't display in finder, but it bothers me. It's embedded.
The weirdest part of it is that in Time Machine, all of the artwork displays in the Finder icons and Finder CoverFlow just fine. But when I restore from Time Machine back into my iTunes media folder, the icons go back to the generic sound file icon in Finder (coverflow, quickview, file icons, everything). The only place the album artwork displays is in iTunes itself. I tried using Doug's applescript for re-embedding artwork, to no avail. I'm at a complete loss.
Even if I manually browse to my time machine backup folder on my external HDD, the icons show up just fine. It's just the purchased files that are actually in my iTunes media folder that don't display.
Some info on my setup:
2013 macbook pro w/ retina 15" 2.7ghz model
OSX ML 10.8.4
iTunes v 11.0.4 (4)
I checked for available updates, there are none, I'm completely up to date. I'm new to mac this month, coming from a long line of Windows computers, so I'm not completely familiar with all the nooks and crannies of OSX but I feel like I exhausted a fair amount of my thinkable options here.

I have given it several days now and still no joy. Details are as follows:
1) I have two collections:
    a) In one collection: All files are Apple Lossless (ALAC) with embedded artwork.
         - There is NOTHING else in this collection - no other media - nada.
          - This collection is about 380GB
     b) The other collection is a mix of compressed m4a's, audiobooks, and iPad apps.
          - The music part of this collection is about 170GB
          - The audibook part of this collection is about 43GB
2) In both cases, the iTunes library and media are in a subdirectory of a Pegasus R4 (4TB RAID 5 array).
3) Issue manifests itself with both collections on on both my systems, each of which has a Pegasus R4 connected via the Thunderbolt port
     - MacBook Pro 15 Retina with OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4
     - Mac Mini with OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 and Server 2.2.1
Again, for my case...artwork shows up perfectly in iTunes and in other tools (Clementine, Logitech Media Server), but not in Finder.
Also - tools that use the Finder's mechanism for accessing album art (Plex, for example) do NOT work properly.
I wonder if it is related to having the media housed on an external (if you can call what thunderbolt does "external") drive.

ITunes not storing files in iTunes media folder location

A number of years ago I wanted to move my itunes media files to an external drive. At the time an article was posted that explained how to do such that. Additionally the article explained how to put the media files in one folder on the external file server and all the itunes definition files in another folder on the same external file server. It worked perfectly! All seemed well. Of course since making this change there have been many many updates to iTunes and the OS.
Recently, I was scanning through the folders of the external file server and noticed some media files that appeared in the iTunes application listing were missing in the physical iTunes media folder (folder A). After a little searching I found the media files were in the iTunes definitions folder (folder B). Initially I thought somehow I had changed the folder location under the iTunes advanced tab. I checked it stilled pointed to the ORIGINAL folder A location. Yet iTunes had for a while as it turns out had created a whole new media folder tree and was adding the media files to that media tree (folder B). This is the folder the original only contained the iTunes definitions.
Thinking I had made a mistake somewhere sometime ago, I copied all the media files to the proper folder (folder A) and reset the iTunes Media folder location to point to folder A. All was fine.
Today I added some new media to the iTunes library and once again, iTunes created a new media folder tree in folder B were only the iTunes definitions are supposed to be stored. So once again I moved the media files to the proper folder.
There is no question THIS IS A SOFTWARE BUG. It does NOT matter what folder location is specified in the Preferences->Advanced->itunes media location is specified, iTunes will either CHANGE the folder location to wherever the definitions files are located or begin putting the media files where the definitions files are located even though the iTunes media location is setting to a different folder.
when this started I do not know. I have been using itunes for a number of years and once I had my external file server set up never had reason to check it.
One might ask why put the media files in one location and the definition files in another location. That is because there was a time when iTunes for some reason would think it definition files were corrupted and start to do nasty things to the media library. Once I lost a number of songs it is then when I found a note in this forum that suggested putting the definitions in one folder and the media in another folder. It was great idea. Is there a work around of a fix for this bug?

Some additional information.
When I click the apps tab in iTunes, some of the applications listed are actually songs (the songs are also shown in the music list and point to the proper location), when I click Get Info on some of the apps, it points to a song, and some apps that actually exist in the Mobile Apps folder are shown to located in a song folder. Bottom line the apps database is corrupted.
When I consolidated the music files I did not touch the mobile applications folder. As best I can tell all the movies and songs are fine (about 3000 items in total).
When I export the library it does not include the apps in the xml file. So deleting the iTunes DB and re-importing the .xml will not work.
To recap. All the songs and movies are in one folder (folder A). This is the folder listed in the Preferences->Advanced->Itunes media location. The apps folder is located in a different folder (folder B) where the iTunes definition files are located. How they got there I do not know.
How do I fix the apps tab and have the app icons (and physical applications) to point to the proper location? Also to remove the songs listed in the apps list without removing the song from the iTunes library.

2nd home computer can't see itunes library on network server drive

Ripped CD library and streaming Airplay successfully to home system. Moved itunes library to network drive which is a Seagate BackupPlus connected to ASUS ac-68u router with USB 3.0. Have Apple Media server turned on for the asus router. Used iTunes Edit/Preferences/Advanced to change library location, Checked both “keep itunes media folder organized” and “copy music to itunes media folder when adding to library”. Turned on home sharing, used same apple id on both computers. Original computer (Win8.1) I ripped to can see and use the library fine, but the other one (Win 7 hardwired to router) shows only the 4 sample songs. Probably not permissions because I can use Windows Explorer to look at the cd titles in the Music folder. Aloha, Mike

I may have misunderstood, but the iTunes folder will only be there if you have copied it from your old computer to the iPod first. If you no longer have the old computer see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device,
tt2

How can I access iTunes media from my iPad to my time capsule

How can I access iTunes media from my iPad to my time capsule with out a computer

Really not suitable.. The TC is a dumb hard disk in a router.. it is not a media server..
You can move your itunes library to the TC.. but if you do that.. one day the TC will die and take your library with it.. as well as giving slow response to every network device.. this is really not suitable.

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?

Syncing contact on one computer and iTunes media (music) on another

I have a desktop computer that serves as the family's itunes music and applications, and video library. I have sync'd my iphone with that computer for over a year. I also have a pc laptop that i use for work that is one of my authorized computers on the same itunes account. This is where my outlook account resides with all of my contacts. I have mobileme but have been reluctant to sync. my iphone (which has alot of contacts) with outlook using itunes because of the many stories i hear about deleting info. Now as I am about to take the leap, it seems I may not be able to sync contacts with my laptop, while continueing to sync the itunes media via my family desktop. I can't believe this is the case, but it is far from clear that i can do this, and all warnings as i start the process appear to indicate that it's going to delete those items i have sync'd from the other computer if i decide to sync. contacts with my laptop. Can i sync. my iphone with some non-itunes content (contacts) with one computer, and also sync. itunes content on a different computer?

Can i sync. my iphone with some non-itunes content (contacts) with one computer, and also sync. itunes content on a different computer?
Yes.
In regards to iTunes content, an iPhone can be synced or manually managed with an iTunes library on a single computer only, and photos can be transferred from a single computer only. When transferring iTunes content and photos from another computer, all iTunes content and photos transferred from a different computer will be erased from the iPhone first.
Contacts, calendar events, and Safari bookmarks can be synced with the supported applications on multiple computers.
There will be a warning message provided that your iPhone has been synced with an iTunes library on another computer, but if you don't select to transfer any iTunes content from your PC at work - don't select anything under the Music, Podcasts, Video, Applications, and Photos tab for your iPhone sync preferences with iTunes on your PC at work.

How can I move my iTunes media folder from users/shared back to one user account?

I shared my music with multiple users on one macbook pro.
Like on the Apple support discussions described I changed the iTunes media folder to users/shared. My question is how to reverse that action? Once I reset the media folder location it tells me /users/name/music/itunes/itunes media, that would be right but the files remain in users/shared?

Tell us what the underlying objective is in all this. You came here asking how to move a media folder but now we're getting into user libraries and moving things back and forth to their original locations. Why move it in the first place if you are just putting it back? Maybe you don't need to move things.
Read these to learn more about how iTunes works. If you move the wrong things you can end up breaking links. This goes double for moving things to other drives.
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
It is almost certain that nothing you are doing will require removing the iTunes application itself. Asking that tells me you are doing something relatively complicated with insufficient background -- kind of like somebody asking me how to use a power saw. I can tell them, but when it sounds like their project is painting a room one begins to wonder if they are going about things correctly. That said, organizing/consolidating copies files. Open iTunes, get info on a track, look at summary and see where the file is now located iTunes uses to play the track. It should be in the moved location and it is okay to delete the others.

ITunes 12 - "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised" feature no longer works

Hi everyone, I was wondering if you could help me with an issue I've been having.
Since updating to iTunes 12, the 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised' feature no longer works. When I add media to the library, iTunes doesn't copy it to a destination within my media library. It only works if I turn the feature off, and then back on again.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I don't use the feature myself, but it works properly in a test library for me.
It could possibly be a permissions issue. Different processes in iTunes seem to make use of either the system or the user account for file actions and it is just possible that which has been used in that case has changed. See Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows for details.
tt2

ITunes media on a NAS, libraries locally?

Hello, all,
I've been browsing search results on hosting iTunes on a NAS, and I had a couple of questions and perhaps someone has some wisdom to share.
My girlfriend and I have separate iTunes libraries that we would like to combine. We are each on an iMac: hers is running Snow Leopard, mine is running Lion; each of our computers is authorized to play each others' music as far as older FairPlay DRM goes. She and her kids sync their iPods on her machine; they each have intricate playlist structures that I think have evolved into sentient life forms. I sync mine on my machine. We each have our own iTunes/iCloud accounts, and each have our own sets of iPhone apps.
We are attempting to migrate her user account over to my iMac, as a way of load-balancing the available computer time, as it were. So now the question is how to keep all the media updated between the two machines; it would appear that the best way to do this would be to merge the two libraries. I currently keep my iTunes and iPhoto libraries on an (old, and getting older) external firewire (400) hard disk. We both need to update our storage, and so I'm considering two different approaches:
(1) NAS. Have a partition for Time Machine, a partition for a combined iTunes library, and a partition for file sharing.
(2) New, larger Firewire 800 hard drive, combine our libraries. This wouldn't be accessible, though, from both machines.
So some questions about option (1):
--I understand that if I copy the entire iTunes library and media to the NAS, that that can bring everything to a crawl. I currently have mine on my external drive, and all user accounts on my machine have access to it and use the same library. I get the feeling that if I utilize the same tactic here, that everything will operate very slowly.
I've read that if I copy just the iTunes media library to the NAS but keep the actual library files on each local machine (and, I guess, user account), that not only would that speed things up but would also enable each user to have their own library, with their own playlists and their own play counts etc. But how would that work if User 1 purchased a new song or app? Would that new media only be added to User 1's library? Or would it become available to every library (I would prefer the latter)? How can this be made to happen?
--Songs are easy enough, but what about apps? If an app is purchased by User 1, using Account 1, and iPhone 1 is linked to Account 1...that part's easy. But what about User 2? Does User 2, using Account 2 on iPhone 2 also have access to that app? I'm not interested so that I can avoid paying twice, that's not the issue: but if all the apps are stored on the same library but are purchased from two different sources, then how would we/should we keep them separate as far as syncing with our iPhones?
And a question about option (2):
--So let's say I just bring my girlfriend over to my iMac, and do something similar to what I have now: a shared iTunes library on a new external drive, with all users on my machine using the same library. Her user account still is tied to her iTunes account while my user account is tied to my iTunes account: each of us can purchase music, and each piece of purchased music drops into the exact same library. How, then, to keep that library in sync with the library on the other machine?
Here is my idea, and would like feedback: if she makes all her purchases (songs and apps both) on her machine rather than on mine, then using iCloud should not all those purchases (again, songs and apps both) also download to my machine as well?
Thanks for any help you can give!

HI
Read this user tip Make and keep a backup of your iTunes library, and only stream from the cloud.
Problems? No hidden catches. Whilst streaming using match, you will need a wifi connection. You main worry is that if your NAS drives fails, you need to redownload your music from match but this could take time depending on how large your collection is. Personally I keep an additional backup of all my music as a matter of course.
Jim

ITunes media on a server

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