Multiple itunes libraries and music folders

I have itunes libraries and music folders on my computerd hard drive and 2 external drives. How do I get it all into one library on one drive without losing my music? Please help I have been trying to figure this out for a long time. Thanks Michael

this a great site for automation http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/

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Consolidating multiple itunes libraries and then upload to itunes match

I have over the years my taste in music evolved and I attempted to organize my music library using iTunes, on multiple PCs. I would remove music that no longer suited me from the library and leave only the music that I was actively interested in. Also, both my wife and I have different ITunes Libraries on our respective computers, and indoubtably have the same songs in our libraries. Now that Apple is offering the ITunes Match feature, I would like to consolidate my current ITunes library as well as music from my older PCs. I know for a fact that combining all my music from their various sources will create an extreme amount of duplicates, but will also provide me with music that I used to enjoy. I have spoken with the folks as the local Apple store and have honestly not received a response that makes me comfortable with using ITunes Match. So I will pose my questions here, and hopefully somebody can enlighten me. ;-)
Will ITunes Match remove duplicate songs from my library if they are not named the same exact thing?
Can I simply create a new ITunes library and import all the music from my various PCs, which will create duplicates and let ITunes Match remove the duplicates?
Both my wife and I have differenrt Apple Ids that we use for our iDevices. If I were to create a single library and upload it to Itunes Match, would we both need to use the same Apple Id going forward?
Many of the songs that I have are remixes, how would ITunes Match handle these?
Thank You in advance!!!!
Bobby

Your questions:
Will ITunes Match remove duplicate songs from my library if they are not named the same exact thing?
Can I simply create a new ITunes library and import all the music from my various PCs, which will create duplicates and let ITunes Match remove the duplicates?
Both my wife and I have differenrt Apple Ids that we use for our iDevices. If I were to create a single library and upload it to Itunes Match, would we both need to use the same Apple Id going forward?
Many of the songs that I have are remixes, how would ITunes Match handle these?
Summary answer:
iTunes Match does not remove duplicates. It does not use the data about a Song such as Name to discriminate. The match process uses sampled sound, so re-mixes and new releases are recognised as discrete. The match process is not 100% accurate, so there will be a number of mismatches. This demands effective secure backup of Song files outside iTunes Match as the route to safeguarding your music.
Perhaps the best advice would be to create a music account with an iTunes library where you import all Songs to date. Typically use of 3rd party tools to tidy this new main library will be a very effective route to provide iTunes Match with the best start point you can. Use of a single Apple Id to access this from the cloud will be needed. Beware that Apple has strict rules on association of Apple Ids with devices. Once a device or computer is associated with your Apple ID, you cannot associate that device or computer with another Apple ID for 90 days, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4627.

Auto Synching iTunes libraries and music files among 3 computers?

My wife and I have a PowerBook and a MacBook that we use offsite at work and at home. I'm buying a new iMac for home. What I'd like to do is make the iMac a central respository for our entire iTunes music library, and have the 2 'books synch with the iMac. It's a huge music library - like 80+ GBs, so it won't even fit on each of our laptops. I don't want to simply turn on iTunes sharing to stream the music to the laptops, especially since that won't work (easily) while we're not at home. What I do want, is to have certain playlists automatically synched to the 'books, so the music files of a particular playlist (or lists) actually reside on the 'books. My wife would have the playlists & associated mp3 files on her MacBook and I'd have my playlist and associated mp3files on my PowerBook. And the iMac would have everything.
I thought that I read an article in MacWorld or MacAddict a while ago about this, but can't seem to turn it up. I've also looked at some of the synching software on VersionTracker, but I'm not seeing anything that's as simple as clicking a Synch now button...
Anyone have any suggestions? Advice? Thank you in advance!!

Nova
I replied earlier to your iPhoto question, and the response here is similar. iTunes is not a server and so you will have similar issues. Things are further complicated because iTunes doesn't particularly like to Export song files (tho' it will merrily export Playlists). However you can drag and drop Library listings to the Desktop and it will copy the song files there. So, drag and drop the files to a folder, sync that folder to a folder on the client machines, and again add the songs to iTunes via a script using Folder Actions for automation.
And again, you will have issues if you try and sync back to the iMac. So there's nothing as simple as clicking a Sync now button.
I wonder if this capability is limited because it would make piracy even easier?
Have you thought of buying a couple of iPods? That's how we solved the same issue in this house.
Regards
TD

Finding and combining multiple itunes libraries

I believe I have set up multiple itunes libraries that are located on different drives (the internal and an external). I'd like to find them and combine them into one place. Any help would be appreciated..
macbook running OS X 10.9.4

The .itl is simply a listing of what tracks you have selected for that library. It does not include the music itself. I have never imported another library so I don't know if the methods Niel outlines will actually move your music files into the same library folder or simply use them where they are. You can easily check by seeing if they have moved to the folder, or by get info on a track in iTunes and look at the information on where the actual file it uses is located.
Read the links below on what actually makes up a complete library and why combining them involves merging multiple items.
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

Multiple itunes libraries on same computer and removable hard drives

I have multiple itunes libraries, one resides on my internal hard drive on my computer and the other on a removable hard drive that I pug into the ocmputer via a USB cable, can itunes recognize both libraries at once, and how do I get it to do that?

That *****, apple should add a feature that allows multiple libraries.....hopefully they will in thenext release of iTunes.

Repair itunes library (damaged) file. Multiple iTunes libraries on an external harddrive. All libraries have been working fine. Do some "housecleaning" on a one of the large libraries 296GB. iTunes quit and now has damaged file. 296 GB still on HD.

How to repair itunes library (damaged) file. Multiple iTunes libraries on an external harddrive. All libraries have been working fine. Do some "housecleaning" on a one of the large libraries 296GB. iTunes quits and now has damaged file. 296 GB still on HD.

The duplication is unnecessary. Exporting creates a duplicate of the file. So now you'll have a duplicate of a duplicate. Exporting is not "working on" a file.
No it's not merging, it's exporting from one to the Finder and into another. No matter what lose something. If you export the Original you leave behind all the work you've done in iPhoto. If you export anything else, you lose the non-destructive editing and the ability to revert to the original. With merging you preserve that work. Yes, you can trash the old Library when you have completed the manoevre but no it's not the same thing as merging.
This User Tip
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
has details of the options in the Export dialogue. But in brief:
Current gets you the iPhoto Preview, used for sharing via media browsers. It's a jpg, medium quality missing metadata. Original gets the file you imported, unchanged and then you can export different version of the current version at different qualities. If you choose to export anything except the Original you do not get a Raw. There's no such thing as an "edited Raw", and you lose the connection between the original and the exported version. That means you've taken a non-destructive workflow and turned it into a destructive one.
The Tiff will certainly be higher qulaity and less likely to suffer generational loss in future editing but the file sizes are vast, often more than 10 times the size of the jpeg.
Put it this way, it would be cheaper to buy Library Manager than the disk you'll need to contain all the Tiffs. Unless you plan on a lot of editing, I'd go for a high quality jpeg as a reasonable compromise.
To be clear:
So, I guess my new question is, how can I edit the Raw image and keep it in a RAW format that IPhoto recognizes so that I can reprocess without any loss at a future time, or is it that once you edit a RAW image, then it is no longer a RAW image?
Once you edit a Raw it can no longer be a Raw. End of.

Have multiple iTunes libraries on one machine?

Hi,
I want to have multiple iTunes libraries on one machine (with two different hard drives, internal fore mp3s and external for AAC files). One library is composed of mp3s for an iPod, I want the other library to have AAC audio files for burning CDs. I would rather the libraries not be mixed.
I have read the article (#301748) for migrating an iTunes library and am preparing to migrate one of the libraries on to a external hard drive.
I have read about using Libra to maintain two different libraries on one machine. I was wondering if anyone does this and if they have encountered any problems? Is there a better solution?
Thank you,
TPK

It's one thing to want two music libraries on one machine and another to want two music libraries on one user account. For the latter, here's what I've done.
I created folders in my iTunes folder called, say, Main Library Folder and Second Library Folder. (These could be anywhere you find convenient.) I dragged my regular iTunes Library file into the Main Library Folder. Then I opened iTunes and created my second music library. When I finished that, I closed iTunes and dragged the just-created iTunes Library file into the Second Library Folder.
If I want to use my main iTunes library, before opening iTunes I drag an alias (Cmmd-Option-drag) of the iTunes Library file from the Main Library Folder into the iTunes folder. Then, when I open iTunes, iTunes reads my main library file. And of course, it works the same way for the second library.
Of course, you could just shuffle the actual library files into position in the iTunes folder from their holding areas, but I strongly preferred to get myself into the habit of relying on aliases, so I could leave the actual library file alone in their respective folders. You most definitely would not want to accidentally overwrite one of your iTunes Library files.
I'm sure one of the shareware products would do a more elegant job, but this just shows you that it's not a difficult process.
The alternative is to set up separate user accounts to access different libraries on the same machine. This has real benefits and, to me, should be the first option one considers. It's easier on the brain, as it sticks to iTunes' one-user-one-library model, and there's absolutely no risk of getting libraries confused. Fast User Switching on the Mac makes going back and forth between accounts easy. But if you really want to avoid using different accounts, and it's only you that has to keep things straight, the approach of jumping back and forth between different libraries in the same user account should be OK.

Multiple iTunes Libraries on single Mac

I have somehow managed to create libraries of music/podcasts/videos in 5 different places on my iMac. I would like to consolidate all of them into one spot that can be shared by all accounts. Is there a way to merge them easily, that is without copying song by song or rewriting the entire library, potentially losing some files that are more current? For example, I have 3 folders of the Killers, only 1 of which has all downloaded songs. Thanks.

If you want to do it that way, each person should have their own computer login which will give each person their own iTunes library.
This would be far easier than using multiple iTunes libraries in one computer login.
To do different content on each device, select the device in iTUnes (menu View > Show sidebar), click the tabs acroos top and select what you want to sync to that device. Do the saem for all devices.

Problem with multiple iTunes libraries!

I've been using a program called PowerTunes that enables easily switching between libraries. I suspect that it may be the culprit of the multiple iTunes Libraries that I have. It's out of control! I've nested Previous iTunes Folders six layers deep!
In addition to this weirdness I've also got multiple plist files and temp files. It's a mess!
When I look at my backup iTunes folder it looks much cleaner. None of the nested folders (pictured above) or the temp files and multiple plist files. Can someone help me to understand this and restore my iTunes library to a normal state??
I've written the maker of PowerTunes but he's just one guy so who knows when I'll hear back from him. The more overt problems I am having include:
• losing ratings
• recently added items disappear
• when I switch libraries, iTunes wants to rebuild the genius library (every time!)
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!!

I'm noticing that with iTunes 8, iTunes now doesn't keep separate preferences for multiple library locations, which is really crazy. I wonder if it's a bug or if there's a reason they did that. so when you hold option and launch itunes to get to your other iTunes library, this "other" iTunes library is now using the "old" iTunes library's file location. So if you add music to them, then they get all jumbled together and you don't know what's going where.
I'm thinking this is the cause of what's happening to you. When you "keep music organized" or whatever, who knows where iTunes is putting the stuff now. It's really bad. I'm hoping somebody has a solution, or any ideas.

Multiple iTunes Libraries on same computer?

Hi,
My wife, daughter, and I all have ipods, each uses a different computer, my wife and I each use our laptops, and daughter uses the home desktop. Recently, the desktop has crashed and looks like we might need to re-format the drive (i.e. lose everything) and re-install Windows XP. She's got all her music on her iPod but unfortunately, no back up on a CD or DVD. Is there some way to re-create a new library for her from her iPod on to either of our laptops without causing conflicts with our existing iTunes libraries which are totally different. I.E. will the "sync" function work to recreate a library on a hard drive vs. going the other way around as usual.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to the other Library.
Note: You can only have one Library open at a time and iTunes will default to the last library opened if you don't use the keyboard command to choose one. The new library will be empty until you add content to it. To get back to your original library you need to close iTunes and open it again while holding down the shift key, this time choose to open an existing library and navigate to its location: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows
iTunes will only let you copy your purchases directly from an iPod to the computer, you'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
For everything else (music from CDs, other downloads and including iTunes purchases) there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
A selection of iPod to iTunes utilities:
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
YamiPod Mac and Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
iPodRip Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
Music Rescue Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide

Multiple iTunes Libraries?

Is there anyway you can have multiple libraries (not playlists) for different iPods on the same computer? We don't want our music to mix...how can I fix this?

To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to the other Library.
Note: You can only have one Library open at a time and iTunes will default to the last library opened if you don't use the keyboard command to choose one. The new library will be empty until you add content to it. To get back to your original library you need to close iTunes and open it again while holding down the shift key, this time choose to open an existing library and navigate to its location. Multiple libraries can prove tricky when using multiple iPods, if you don't use the keyboard command you can risk syncing to the wrong library: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows
Another option is to create a separate Windows account for each person on your PC. Different user accounts by definition would give you completely separate libraries. Each account has it's own iTunes folder, Library and iTunes Music folder and you load it with CDs etc just as you did with your original one. The iPod can be set to update however the owner chooses, sync all, manual or sync specific playlists.
Apart from these methods there are several other ways to use two or more iPods with one computer, have a look at this help page for all the suggestions and choose the method that suits you best: How to use multiple iPods with one computer

Can I house 2 iTunes libraries and sync 2 iPods on the same PC

not sure if this can be done. I have one ipod/itues on my pc. just bought my daughter an ipod and I'm not sure how to get hers to sync/load. When I plug hers in it opens my iPod library?
Any instructions would be helpful.
dell Windows XP

When the iPods belong to different people, there are basically two ways of using multiple iPods on a computer and these involve:
a) Sharing a single iTunes library and or user account or
b) Creating multiple user accounts.
Note: When you are sharing an iTunes library, you don't have to set each iPod to update in the same manner, you can mix and match from the options below as each iPod has it's own update settings
Sharing a Library and/or User Account
If you want to share the one library, you can set either or all of the iPods so that they only get updated with only certain playlists (you can update from more than one if you wish):
Loading songs onto iPod automatically - Windows
Choosing the update option "Sync Music - Selected playlists" allows you to create a playlist specifically for the iPod and drag the tracks you want into it. If you tire of the list and want to change it, you just add or remove the songs you don't want. The ones you take out out remain in the library to be used some other time if you choose. You can read more about playlists at these links:
iTunes: Creating playlists of your favorite songs
How to create a Smart Playlist with iTunes
Or you can choose to update any or all of the iPods manually and just drag whatever content you want to them: Managing content manually on iPod
It's also possible to have multiple libraries in a single account. To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Option key (or Shift key in Windows) when launching iTunes 7. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to the other Library.
Note: You can only have one Library open at a time and iTunes will default to the last library opened if you don't use the keyboard command to choose one. This can prove tricky when using multiple iPods, if you don't use the keyboard command you can risk syncing to the wrong library:
Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows
Separate User Accounts
Another option is to create a separate User account for each person on your PC or Mac. Different accounts by definition would give you completely separate libraries. Each account has it's own iTunes folder, Library and iTunes Music folder and you load it with CDs etc just as you did with your original one. The iPod can be set to update however the owner chooses, sync all, manual or sync specific playlists
I don't use Windows so I can't give you a step by step on that one, however I can point you to another web page which should help you out. You can read about Windows user accounts here:
Using Windows XP User Accounts

Have created multiple itunes libraries but when asked to choose a particular one only a single library shows up???

Have created multiple itunes libraries but when asked to choose a particular one only a single library shows up???

Unless you or your software moved or deleted the files from iTunes on your PC, they're still there. Time to go hunting. I don't know where iTunes stores its files on a default installation of a Windows Vista box, but I'd look in your documents folder for something containing "music" in its title. Before you do *anything* to or with the folder, copy it to a safe location. That way if something you're doing messes it up, you've got clean files with which you can work. Make sure you can see all the files in Windows Exploder by first checking your folders settings. By default Windows often hides important system files.

Opening Multiple iTunes Libraries at Once

I was wondering if there was a way to have multiple iTunes Libraries open simultaneously? For example, if I wanted to view two websites at the same time I would just open a new window, thus having the two sites side-by-side. Is there a way to do the same thing with my iTunes Library, either thru Apple or after market, so that I can create and compare different libraries without having to close out of one before opening another?
Thanks for any help, and sorry if this has been asked before...

Hi, welcome to Apple Discussions.
No, iTunes doesn't have a multiple document interface for the library database. You can however get it to open a separate window on a playlist so you can compare one playlist to another. If you want to view separate libraries at the same time host one on a virtual machine, a second physical machine with remote access or put two machines side-by-side.
tt2

Want to erase and install & reinstall iTunes libraries and some documents

My iMac G4 Flat Panel is 9gb shy of being totally full and performance really suffers as a result. I want to erase the drive and install Leopard (I just bought a new disk).
What is the best way(s)/procedures to backup my iTunes libraries and some documents so that I can reinstall them on the newly formatted drive?
After paying for the Leopard disk, I don't want to buy any other programs to do the backup. I have been backing up the drive to an external using Backup.

Steven,
Backup is a fine application, but it typically targets specific items to be backed up. Meaning, that it is not necessarily entirely comprehensive. At least not in the context of migrating from one installation to another.
One of the concepts present in OS X is the idea that everything that makes your account "yours," all of your data, settings, history, etc., is entirely contained within your HOME folder. By moving that HOME folder into any new installation, you essentially transplant your entire experience as a user into the new location. In many cases, this works so well that, if someone did it behind your back while "swapping" computers with you, you would never know the difference. That's how it works, in theory.
In practice, there are usually some minor things that pop up in such a transfer, but these are all minor in the extreme. One might end up with a "question mark" or two in one's Dock, resulting from the absence of a linked application in the new installation. The question mark can be removed, or the application in question can be installed, so these things are easy enough to fix.
Your situation is complicated somewhat by the fact that you want to "whittle down" what you restore to the new installation. The assumption I make, based on your posts, is that you have only the one account, and your single HOME folder contains enough data to consume most of your disk space. OK, you can handle this several ways...
You could cover all bases by making one complete backup of your HOME folder as it is now, then begin "whittling down" what you have now before wiping your drive and reinstalling. This would give you the opportunity to reduce your disk space consumption while still working within your HOME folder; testing what you do, as it were, and with the knowledge that your deletions are not irreversible. When you find the right balance between what you can delete and what you must keep, you can make an additional backup of your reduced HOME folder (provided you have enough space on your external drive).
Or, you could make a complete backup of your HOME folder, as it exists now, then go ahead and format/reinstall. You would then have to decide what you will move from the backup into your new account. Part of this process is knowing just where to place transferred items for everything to work properly. As far as simple files are concerned, it wouldn't make any difference where you place them. Items contained in libraries, however, might be quite complicated to move, unless you simply moved the entire libraries in question. In these cases, the libraries themselves must be transferred to the correct locations. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it does complicate matters a bit.
Finally, you could backup and restore the HOME folder as it currently exists. Typically, the process of formatting and reinstalling, then restoring user data, results in a more compact installation. Over time, any installation accrues some fragmented free space, and this effectively reduces the storage capacity of a volume. As much as or more than 10% of the size of the volume can be recovered this way. In any case, your new installation will be smaller than the old to some degree, even with all of your user data restored. Once you get to this point, you could begin reducing the amount of data you have stored, just as in option #1 above, and again safe in the knowledge that nothing you delete is irrecoverable.
rsync is powerful. While it is easy to use, it has many options and is therefore complex to learn. Its "man pages" might be considered daunting. I could provide a copy and paste command for you to run which would make a complete backup of your HOME folder, provided I knew the path to a destination. The exact name of your external drive, along with any nested folders therein you might want to use as a destination, would suffice.
If you want to read more about rsync yourself, open Terminal and type "man rsync," then press <RETURN>. The "man" application will scroll line by line by using the arrow keys, and page by page by pressing the spacebar. Press "q" to quit the man application.
Scott

Multiple itunes libraries and music folders

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