ITunes Updates & Multiple Libraries

In Windows 7 I use iTunes V 10.7 with three iTunes Libraries. Before attempting any updates I always Backup MY MUSIC, & make sure that I have a very recent Windows System Backup. Every time I attempt an Update, I always end up with three Libraries that are totally mixed up. It does not help that I copy my Backed Up Libraries into My Music & reopen iTunes with those Library files, because they get mixed up too. I end up using 'Restore System Settings' to restore my system to the happy days of V 10.7.
Now I'm sure that there are lots of other iTunes users with multiple Libraries.
I'm hoping that one or more of them can tell how to do a 'clean' update with clean Libraries.

Thanks. I think that the first part of your response is not relevant in my case. But the second part is definitely relevant, because I get hung up at the message 'The file iTunes Library.itl cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes'. That is the point where I give up & 'Restore System Settings' to put me back to V 10.7. Yes - technically I'm doing a 'downgrade'.
Now, when I was in V 12, after resetting my displays - Playlists etc. on the Left side, & Music showing in a Song list the way I like, I didn't see any benefit of V 12 over V 10.7. Moreover, in V 12 the 'iTunes Store' doesn't work - it just closes the iTunes program!
So I'm not in a big hurry to try reinstalling V 12.
But I'm up to the academic challenge, so at the end of the week - which will be the New Year - I might try a more thorough job of Backing Up my three Libraries, & downloading/installing V 12 & see if anything has changed. Of course, I will do a Windows System Image Backup first, so that if I end up ****** off, I can do 'Restore System Settings' & thereafter live forever happy with V 10.7.
Remember that in the software world "New does not mean better". Very, very true.

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Shift key thing is cool. But I agree, why not let us switch while in program. Itunes Library manager seems to be a better bet still and keeps hard drive clean.
http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/ituneslibrarymanager.php
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It says that iTunes 7 now supports multiple libraries. How do I do this? What if I want one library for songs on my external hd and one for songs on my internal hd?

Shift key thing is cool. But I agree, why not let us switch while in program. Itunes Library manager seems to be a better bet still and keeps hard drive clean.
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I'm looking for this answer too . . . Iron Maiden showing up in daughters lulabies is not that cool . . .I'll come back if I find anything. I think it has something to do with the cloud.

ITUnes 9 - Multiple Libraries cannot be found

Yesterday, in order to free up space on my macbook's internal hard drive, I created a new iTunes library on an external hard drive where I moved most of my music. But I kept some on my internal drive for when I'm away from home and want to listen to music directly from my laptop. Like today. When I started up iTunes holding the option key, I selected 'Choose Library' and selected my iTunes music folder (and then subsequent other folders) and every time got the message "An iTunes library could not be found in the folder X. Please choose a different folder". I figured it might be because my internal music library was created eons ago. So I created a new one.
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The only thing is that when I unplug my external hard drive, and open iTunes holding down the option key and select the library that is on my internal hard drive, it still shows all of the music on my external hard drive ... Is this linked to the iTunes library file that I still have sitting on my desktop?
no. iTunes looks for library files in your iTunes folder only. i guess it's because you created one library containing all files and another containing the +internal files+ only. i'm thinking it might be a good idea, in order to clean up the mess , to have iTunes consolidate all content to the external drive first, then consolidate selected content back to the internal.
Since there is so much more music on the external than the internal, it would be nice if, when I option-opened iTunes and selected the internal library, it would only show the music that is actually on my computer, instead of having to guess what is and what isn't.
instead of working with two libraries, i much prefer one single library which content is (or can be) spread across one or more volumes. iTunes provides the option to create plain (dumb) and/or smart playlists in order to filter content. the advantage is, IMHO, not to have to switch between libraries or remembering what content is in which library. as an example you could create a smart playlist that contains only the tunes that you keep locally (for traveling) and another that is a combination of local & external content for when you're @ home and the external drive is hooked up.
check the following reads on the subject: one and two.
however, if you, for whatever reason, need separate libraries, there are tools that'd make the task easier. notably, there are:
_*http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/ituneslibrarymanager.php*_
and
PowerTunes
click here for more information on *how to manage multiple iTunes libraries on the same computer*.
there are ways to have iTunes move only selected files to another location. say, for example, you want to move your movies. in that case, you would point iTunes (preferences > advanced) temporarily to that location, select the movies in iTunes, right-click and choose +consolidate selection+. after the move's done, you'd point iTunes back to the old location - or where you want it to put newly added content.
I'm not sure I get this part.
the +consolidate selection+ provides an option to move selected content to another location. for example, if you want to move your Apple Lossless music to drive A, movies to drive B, tv shows to drive C, and yet have all content in a single library.
the above reads on +splitting & managing+ your library will provide further insight.
let us know which path you will follow and if you have additional questions.
JGG

Updating multiple libraries

When I upgraded iPhoto to version '08, it said that my library would be updated and that my photos would no longer work with older versions of iPhoto.
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Jim
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Nest time you access those libraries they, too, will be updated.
Regards
TD

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Try the options here and here.
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I am using an two libraries with my iTunes, the "regular" on on the mac for the music I bought on the store and one on an external drive with a copy of my old CDs (some are so rare and odd that even gracenote cannot identify!), I would like to consolidate these libraries indipendently, how can I decide which drive and folders iTunes must look into?
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Don't take this as a correct answer, but the solution I think you are looking for lies in the "consolidate library" function. Found under file/library menu in iTunes. Research it first. Like I said I have not done this yet but I think this might help you.
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Jeveland,
Welcome to Discussions,
Although iTunes only has one 'iTunes Music folder location', the music can be stored at any location and added to the library.
The 'iTunes Music folder location' is the location where iTunes stores ripped CDs and purchased music. It does not tell iTunes where your music is stored.
The locations of your songs are stored in the 'iTunes Library' file.
Read more about the library files here.
Uncheck 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to the library' in Preferences>Advanced>General. Then add your music to the library.
Hope this helps.
M
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Supposed support for Multiple Libraries in iTunes 7

Come on Apple, your website says iTunes 7 supports multiple libraries in multiple locations, yet there is no way to enable a second library or create additional libraries through iTunes. Is this just hype about the tedious manual workaround of not having iTunes copy everything to one location? When will we get true multiple libraries? This is sorely missing functionality for anyone with a harddrive smaller than 250GB.
Quoted from http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/
"Multiple Libraries
Build your collection over multiple libraries, and keep them on different hard drives to save space."

I think there are a large number of us who are in the "for some reason" category: we want to have our libraries split across multiple HD's.
Here's my exact scenario:
I have a small portion of my library stored locally on my PowerBook for when I am on the road (~30GB). I have the bulk of my music collection stored on an external drive at home (~160GB). I have another set of tracks that are works in progress that my band is in the process of writing/recording, stored on a 2nd external drive at our studio (~10GB). I want to be able to plug in any of the external drives, and have access to that content whenever I am at home or at the studio, without having to change the local library stored on my PowerBook.
Consolidating the library does not help at all in this scenario - not only does the complete library not fit on my PB's hard drive, but I also don't want the reverse, which is to consolidate to one external drive which I'd then have to carry around everywhere. iTunes should be smart enough to recognize different library files concurrently, and store the import/organize settings per library. I guess that's too much to ask...

Multiple libraries/computers

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I now know it is only for itunes store purchases. Nevermind

Multiple libraries, multiple instances, multiple preference sets

Hi everyone!
I know how to create multiple libraries, but does anyone know if it is possble to access through ONE instance of iTunes the multiple libraries created? If not, is it possible to run multiple instables of iTunes?
In any case, if it possible to have different preference sets for each library?
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Syncing with an iPod, too, is a pain, because I have to manually manage the iPod.
So until, iTunes does all this by itself, does anyone know of a solution?
Thanks.
PowerBook G4 17" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Good thoughts, and maybe we'll get there someday. Already, Apple has made a complex business (managing a media library) impressively easy through iTunes, and it's steadily improved iTunes, too. Of course, the success that Apple has had in software ergonomics always leaves it in the position of having consumers say, "Well, if you can give us this, then why can't you give us that?"
At the same time, many--probably a large majority--of iTunes users do not discern the difference between the iTunes Library and the collection of music files the Library refers to. I'm sure Apple is concerned about confusing such users by adding the kind of complexity and power to iTunes that some of us could take advantage of. It's a tough balancing act.
(BTW, I think Apple should have chosen its iTunes terminology a little differently in order to help users more easily understand iTunes organization. Maybe the iTunes folder could have been called the iTunes Library folder, the iTunes Music Library file the iTunes Music Catalog, and the iTunes Music folder the iTunes Music Holdings folder, or something along those lines that makes for a closer analogy with a regular, physical library.)
I still think Apple could give you the feature you seem to be looking for by creating a new kind of preset...maybe call it Collections, or something like that... that would allow you to store different sets of preferences affecting Importing of new tunes--location, file format, etc. Then you could do what you want within one library.
Who knows? ...Hope you get what you want sometime soon!
iMac G4 17; iBook G4 1.33 Mhz 14; iPod 3G 20GB Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Multiple libraries, same computer

Hey all!
I've been trying to organize my music quite a few days now. The good thing is I've figured out how i want things to be. Too bad iTunes doesn't seem to get it. Or maybe am I missing something?
I have a Macbook computer which is getting it's hard drive pretty full. Because I use it both at home and at work, I travel with it a lot which means, I can't fill it with music. I do have some music on it (podcasts for example), but most of my music is on external hard drive and I'd like to keep it that way.
The way I'm thinking, is there a way to let iTunes use multiple libraries at the same time? For example I have my external HDD library available next to the one on my internal hard drive? Kinda like when iTunes finds shared music on computers on the network?
That way I could differentiate two libraries yet having them both available without using option-key to launch and select libraries (thats kinda lame).
Hope you guys and gals get my point

DiggyStereo wrote:
Would be nice if it would be built in iTunes by Apple of course
try your luck here: _*iTunes feedback*_.
happy computing !
JGG

Multiple Libraries in iTunes 7 (Windows)

Another whinge about iTunes 7!
The multiple libraries feature in the Windows version (I don't know about the Mac version) is very poorly implemented and, quite frankly, useless.
When changing libraries in iTunes 7, the preferences for the new library are not copied across; in effect, iTunes 7 retains the preferences for the previous library. This becomes very annoying if the user has libraries with different preference settings, as I do. I have two libraries, one of which is located on the hard drive of my PC and the other on a network drive. The two libraries have different preferences, ie music location and the encoder used when importing files (one lossless and the other AAC).
Whenever I switch libraries in iTunes 7, the preferences for the previous library are retained. Consequently, when I select a new library I have to change the preferences to match those required for that library. Otherwise, iTunes 7 updates the new library according to the preferences for the old library. Very frustrating, I can tell you!
I have now removed iTunes 7 and restored iTunes 6, along with a third party library manager until such time as Apple comes up with a decent way of managing multiple libraries.
Windows XP

No, it's the same Windows XP user account, but I have two separate music libraries - the music files in library are in a lossless format, while those in the other are in AAC. For convenience, I wish to keep the two libraries separate.
In iTunes 7 it is possible to have separate libraries - start iTunes and hold down the SHIFT key (Windows) while the program starts. A dialogue box then appears where the required library can be selected. However, as far as I can tell, it's not possible to have a different set of preferences for each library.
Say the preferences are set up for my lossless library, which is located on a separate network drive. If I then make the AAC library active and open iTunes, iTunes reindexes the library according to the settings for the lossless library and I end up with the AAC library full of lossless files. I've tried unchecking various things in the preferences box, but I've had no luck fixing the problem. Thanks for your suggestion - I have already reported the problem.
The whole thing is a rather inelegant way of managing multiple libraries in iTunes. Surely the Apple developers can come up with a way of doing it from within iTunes??

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Message was edited by: phaedracat

ITunes Updates & Multiple Libraries

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