Multiple iTunes on NAS

I know I can share playlists, but am planning a central data drives for all three Macs at home with everybody's iTunes on it (by aliasing from their users account). When my son is booted into windows on his intel Mac, will we still be able to share his iTunes which are now on the NAS?

How exactly did you set it? You do not do it in preferences (a common mistake). You do it by starting up iTunes while holding down the option/alt key whereupon iTunes will irreversibly convert what it sees as the library, namely the iTunes Library.itl file, to a version which will only work with the newest version of iTunes you run (your 12). Clearly you can't use 12 on your old computer so there is no way to share the same library file. Each version of iTunes will have to run its own library file which will essentially maintain its own independent list of entries, though they can share media. This means changes you make to one library will mostly not appear in the other but if you do something such as delete media in one library the other library will fuss it can no longer find the file, etc.
If you are going to start doing advanced iTunes things you need to learn how iTunes works.
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
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
One other tip. Just about every mention I see of people using iTunes with a NAS is something with a problem that results from using iTunes with a NAS. iTunes is likely not written with NAS use in mind. It may work, or it may not. Keep regular backups.

Similar Messages

How do I consolidate multiple Itunes folders on one computer?

I had a mishap with my external hard drive (I didn't know how to use it properly..yup USER ERROR!) so I have three different Itunes folders intertwined in my music folders with different previous Itunes libraries. I made a backup of the entire music mess on a flash drive, have a new computer and finally an ipod to put my music on...
Can someone give me some detailed steps to be able to consolidate all of my many Itunes libraries and let me know how I can access the music in my previous Itunes libraries? I want to make sure that I still have the rights to the music that I purchased in the past. I had some music in the Itunes cloud which is great but not nearly all of it...DRATS!
I found some steps to consolidate music from different computers onto one but I'm not sure that the same steps apply to my situation. Here are the links that I was looking at in eHow: http://www.ehow.com/how_5704389_consolidate-multiple-itunes-libraries.html and http://www.ehow.com/how_8149083_can-itunes-libraries-two-computers.html.
Thanks so much in advance!
Itunes libraries make my brain hurt!

Import everything into one library and then dedupe it.
tt2

How can I share only the same music with multiple iTunes accounts

Hello
I hope someone can help. [I am using Windows Vista (Unfortunately J) and iTunes 10]
I am trying to share the same music library with multiple iTunes accounts. Basically, I want to know if there is a way to automatically upload to other libraries when importing new music into my library, vice versa. [Better information below]
Me, my sister and my dad all use iTunes (on different iTunes accounts), and before now we used to have are own music on our own windows user. Due to many duplicates and a loss of hard drive space I have brought an external hard drive and organised all the music.
It was all going well - I first populated all the music onto my iTunes, exported the library, and then imported it on both the other users. However! Because this is only a copy of the library, when I try to import a new CD, it will not show up on there’s until I “Add File to Library”! Originally I thought about using the same library however we each have are own apps etc, that we don’t want to share.
If you need anymore information please ask!
Matt

Hello roaminggnome
Unfortunately the support is down at the moment, I will have a better look later. I did go though the Apple support previously, however I found nothing that worked.
The first thread I came across was “Home Sharing” however no mater what I did, it did not appear in the iTunes sharing list (I did go though the “Show Sharing Networks” support as well)
Secondly, I saw “Using A Single Library With Multiple Accounts On The Same PC” (Something like that) but all this did was let us share the same music location, if I was to rip extra music, it will not show in there library
Matt

Have found multiple iTunes Library.xml files. Moved Library to new Hard Drive and it needs to be completely rebuilt?

Hello. I have a Mac Mini operating Mac OS X 10.7.2. I recently had to move my iTunes Library to a new hard drive. I followed the directions on how to move the library and refind everything yet when I do so what comes up is a mere skeleton of what I had. I have had to hunt down my purchased Apps, Music and Movies and re-add them to the library. I also noticed in doing this I have multiple iTunes Library.xml files ... shouldn't there only be one? If so how do I clean this up without doing any accidental damage (i.e. how do I find the one that is being used and delete the rest?)? If I delete the others is there any risk of losing purchased content? Lastly syncing my iPads has become a nightmare as I get the "This iPad is currently synced to another iTunes library" message. Obviously something

It's hard for me to picture the exact situation. It sounds like you still have your library file on the internal but some files on the external, and maybe some on the internal, some of which are in the library and others not... By re-adding things after consolidating it may have made things into a hodge-podge. Yes, that article you referenced says: "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder"with Media Folder being the emphasis. You probably should have just moved your whole iTunes folder. Still, moving the media folder as instructed should not have messed up the library. Did you make the mistake of starting up iTunes before the external drive had mounted fully and it then told you it couldn't find many files? How you proceed to sort it out will depend upon how much time you want to spend and how important things such as ratings and playcount are to you. I have not actually used the consolidate feature across different drives myself (and don't feel inclined to do so here to test ).
If you are in the USA you can download some previous purhcases with iCloud, but not all.
Here's a bit on what an iTunes folder should look like:
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]
Library files with graphic and explanation of different iTunes versions - http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13169517
Once you get iTunes working off the external drive it should just put new media to the external when you add it.
I have almost no experience with synching (I synched my neice's iPod, once, about 4 years ago).

My old laptop crashed, and took my iTunes account with it. I got a new laptop, and want to sync my iTouch to my new iTunes account. It gives me an error message stating that I can't sync to multiple iTunes accounts, but I can't access my old one! Help!

My old laptop crashed, and took my iTunes account with it. I got a new laptop, and want to sync my iTouch to iTunes. It gives me an error message stating that I can't sync to multiple iTunes accounts, but I can't access my old one!
How can I get my new iTunes account to allow me to Sync my iTouch? The only option it gives me is to "transfer purchases" from my iTouch to iTunes, but that is only about 25% of my iTunes library-most of it is CDs I have uploaded. How can I Sync without losing all my music from my iTouch???
Also, I have lectures and photos, etc. on my iTouch that I don't want to lose.
I've tried a few of the iPod copy programs-the free ones and the ones you have to pay for, but I can't find one that will work for ALL my content on an iTouch.
Right now, I can't get anything from my iTouch to iTunes, and I can't update my iTouch with my new iTunes purchases, so I'm stuck! Help!

Also-I tried to use my backup hard drive, but I wasn't able to drag/transfer/send/move any of my muic files onto my iTouch when the iTouch was connected to my computer. I can't figure out why it won't let me do that.
The only thing I can see when I open my iTouch on my computer is my file with photos. I can't see videos, music, or anything else. What's going on?

HT1689 How do I download multiple itunes accounts on one computer under one user?

Recenlty moved to one account on our windows 7 computer to cut down on potential malware issues that allowed malware to migrate over to other user accounts. However, we have different iTunes accounts and want to be able to download our individual music from each of our devices that include an iphone 4, iphone 4S, and ipod. How do I create this capability under one windows 7 user account?

It certainly is possible.
How to use multiple iOS devices with one computer
A single computer can be authorized for multiple iTunes accounts but only one account can be signed into the store at a time.
Frankly, you are better off with unique Windows User accounts for each user.

Multiple itune users on the same computer

Is it possible to have two seperate itunes running on the same computer? My husband and I share a computer and both have ipods. We both have different tastes in music so we would like to be able to access our own itunes instead of having to share a library with all the music together.
He currently has itunes set up with all his music on the computer at home. I have been running my itunes at work and would like to be able to bring my stuff home. Is this possible?

When the iPods belong to different people, there are basically three ways of using multiple iPods on a computer and these involve:
a) Sharing a single iTunes library
b) Creating Multiple Libraries in a single user account
c) 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): iPod - Syncing Music
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
Loading the iPod shuffle differs slightly but it can still be used with the others, for details have a look at this page: Adding songs to iPod shuffle - Windows
Multiple Libraries
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

Multiple iTunes Accounts on the Same Computer

iTunes states that you can have multiple iTunes accounts on the same computer. But when I attempt to put in a new user account (for my wife so she can have her own music library) my own iTunes account pops up when I go to load iTunes while in her user account. And if I create any account that is NOT an 'Admistrator' account iTunes refuses to install itself as the "user does not have the privileges - consult your Administrator". So I am lost as to what I need to do to create separate iTunes accounts where each person has their own iTunes library and thus their own music. Perplexed...
Robert

iTunes states that you can have multiple iTunes accounts on the same computer. But when I attempt to put in a new user account (for my wife so she can have her own music library) my own iTunes account pops up when I go to load iTunes while in her user account. And if I create any account that is NOT an 'Admistrator' account iTunes refuses to install itself as the "user does not have the privileges - consult your Administrator". So I am lost as to what I need to do to create separate iTunes accounts where each person has their own iTunes library and thus their own music. Perplexed...
Robert

Can you have multiple Itunes accounts on one computer?

I just bought a new IPhone. my husband and I had HTC phones but I wanted to go Apple so i could have my own itunes account. He has a IPod and doesnt desire an IPhone. My computer has my husbands ITunes. How can I use my computer for MY ITunes account?

https://discussions.apple.com/message/24659889#24659889
"Won't it present problems if the daughter needs to reauthorize the computer for her own use before 90 days,"
No. The 90 day limit ONLY applies to redownloading purchases from iTunes..
So if she were to redownload purchases from the father's account then she'd have to wait 90 days to redownload form her own account. and the computer can be authorized for multiple iTunes account (pretty sure it's 5) . You don't need to later reauthorize for first account if you authorize for a different account.
More discussion on 90 day wait period - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6094005 - disable automatic downloads so message doesn't appear when using multiple accounts.
Most people don't see the "re"

Set up multiple iTunes accounts on one computer?

I bought each of my two daughters their own iPods for Christmas, and when I set them up, I used my iTunes account login for both of them. It has become an issue sharing my account on their devices, because all of my information comes up on their iPods (like my messages). How can I set up new accounts for each of them, since I only have one computer? I want each of them to have their own iTunes accounts so they can stop using mine. Please help!!!

How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495
Chris CA's 2009 instructions on sharing iTunes music libraries between multiple user accounts - http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8973804
How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495 - Method #1 using separate user accounts. Method #2 using separate playlists in one library. Method #3 using multiple iTunes libraries.
iTunes Home Sharing now works between users on same computer - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3865597
You could set up two completely separate libraries and share music via Home Sharing.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189
Also consider getting them their own AppleID, setting each person up with their own user account on the computer, and look into Family Sharing possibilities. Family Sharing - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201060 - "Family Sharing makes it easy for up to six people in your family to share each other’s iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases without sharing accounts. Pay for family purchases with the same credit card and approve kids’ spending right from a parent’s device. And share photos, a family calendar, and more to help keep everyone connected."
If you use multiple AppleIDs on a computer make sure you maintain a backup of all media. There is a 90 day wait time between using different Apple Ids with the iTUnes Store for the purposes of re-downloading past purchases.

Multiple iTunes open in multiple 'user accounts'- at the same time

We have three people in our family, each with their own iPod/iphone, we sync our iPod/iphone on the same computer but in different ‘user accounts’ in xp.
Now the problem is ; only one iTunes program can run at a time, so if one person is downloading a podcast and another logs into their user account then they can’t open iTunes because it is open in another user account already.
There must be a way to run multiple iTunes at the same time in different user accounts?
Anyone?
I’m running XP on an i7 machine

Welcome to AD!
Sadly, there is not a way to do this.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1969?viewlocale=en_US

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.

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

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.

Is there a way to rename multiple Itunes songs at the same time

Is there a fast way to rename multiple Itunes songs at once, instead of renaming one song inside Itunes at a time? For example; So I can select multiple songs at once and rename each songs Genre all at the same time? Without needing to rename song by song?
Casey Computer

You can click on multiple songs, and change info in the Get Info > Info screen. This applies to most fields EXCEPT Name. iTunes has never allowed the simultaneous change of Name of multiple songs, presumably on the grounds that it is usually an error to do so.
Regarding Genre, yes, this can be changed for multiple songs at once, using the Info tab of Get Info.

Multiple iTunes on NAS

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