Multiple Libraries for iTunes

I am wondering if there is any way to create multiple libraries for my music? I use my iTunes for both work and personal music and would like to be able to move my work music into a separate library. I've seen this concept in accounting programs, where you create new companys in order to store and track separate information. Any suggestions? I am currently using iTunes 5.0

Cherrie:
Try iTunes Library Manager. It's not free, but it does work.
Lita

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ITunes 7 or 7.1 w/ multiple libraries for 2 different iPods

Can iTunes 7 or 7.1 have 2 libraries for two different iPods (1 iPod goes to 1 library and the other one goes to the different library) in one iTunes 7 or 7.1?

It is possible to have multiple libraries with iTunes 7. To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Shift key in Windows (or the Option key in Mac) 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. 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
Using multiple iTunes libraries -Mac

Can I have two different libraries for iTunes?

I would like to have two different libraries for iTunes. How can I do it?
Regards.

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: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Mac
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.

Multiple libraries for one ipod and match?

Ok, so... I've got about 1500 songs purchased via itunes, and own about 3500 CDs, which I'm in the process of adding to my library. All but about 50 of the discs were already ripped years ago, and I'm just copying the backup mp3s onto my new external drive after the last one failed. Anyhow, I just got itunes Match and I'm wondering if I made a mistake in doing so. Is there a way to have songs from multiple libraries on my ipod? Due to the sheer volume of music (and other thigns) I own, I'm wondering if I should just make a comedy library, a blues library, a synthpop library, a metal one, a rock & roll one, an oldies one and so on. If I do that, will I be relegated to having to decide what style of music I want on my ipod at any given time, or is there a way for me to load different items from multiple libraries onto the thing?
I'm halfway tempted to just delete my entire library from itunes and just be SUPER picky about what tracks I add in order to be able to get under the 25K limit. As is, right now I've got 21411 items in my library, over 20000 of which are in match, but it keeps crashing on step 3 right now. As is, I already know I need to re-mp3 some of the discs since when I did them originally they were less than 96K (oddly, I'm finding it's mainly on my "oldies" discs like the American Graffiti soundtrack), and that doens't bug me, but the idea of having to go through song by song and add only what I want is one I'm not too fond of and that I'd like to avoid if at all possible.
I'm really digging match, but not so much now that I realized there's a hard limit to the number of songs available. I don't think Apple is used to folks like me who live & breathe music and attend well over 100 concerts in the average year.
Thanks for anyone who's read all of my rambling, and any of y'all who can provide me a bit of guidance!
-Ann

This would be making is WAY less difficult. This is a MUCH needed feature in iTunes that they should add. As a DJ I absolutely hate having all my music in one library. Certain genres, like Electronic music, deserve to be in their own library. I would like to be able to hit the Music icon on my iPod and have it ask me what library of music I would like to access.
This would allow siblings to share one iPod and not have to combine all of their music together. Or you could make a library of music with no explicicit music on it (and passcode it) so that you don't have to worry about kids having access to your explicit material if you let them use your iPod.
You can already make multiple libraries in iTunes, why not just add the obvious next step and be able to add multiple libraries onto one iPod.

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??

Multiple Libraries on iTunes

Is it possible to have multiple libraries on iTunes? How do I set them up.
I have a library with about 26,000 songs and want to add out holiday music.
I'd like to have a seperate library just for the holiday music and be able to switch between them.

Steve:
I must echo Matthew's recommendation of iTunes Library Manager. I am currently in the process of reencoding all of my CDs. I had ripped a substantial portion of them when iTunes first came out, and I did so without knowing what I was doing - some are ripped in low bitrate MP3, others were transcoded from AAC to MP3 and vice-versa. In some cases, there were problems with the rip and songs were truncated. I decided that rather than try to weed out the bad tracks, I'd just re-rip the entire physical library as Apple Lossless.
By doing so in a separate library - I don't worry about duplicate tracks or the Lossless files getting mixed up with the MP3 data files, and then whenever I need a "clean" copy for my main library - I can just browse, import and convert to the desired codec. I also don't want the Lossless in my main library because that is the Library I use to sync with my iPod, and I don't have enough space to keep all my music in Lossless format on the iPod.
The utility is very easy to use - when you first open it, you should save your current library under two different names, and then load the version you are going to edit. iTunes Library Manager will ask you if you want to quit and load, and then it will prompt you for relaunch. You can have as many libraries as you need. The current version doesn't have a way of creating an empty library - if you want to start from scratch for any reason, but all you'll need to do is delete the songs from the Library, but NOT - REPEAT NOT - FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE.
Definitely worth the $5 shareware fee.
Lita

Multiple Libraries in iTunes.

Can someone explain me how to create multiple libraries in iTunes.
I've a huge load of 5000 songs of which 2000 is what I hear often.
I don't have album art on the other 3000 songs and don't want to clutter it with my main library.
Moreover, these 2000 songs are automatically synced with my iPhone. However, I sometimes need to move a couple of songs from the main list which I find it too tedious without a library.
Can someone teach me how to create a second library in iTunes without affecting my main library and switch seamlessly (and copy files) between the two?
Thanks,
Mugunth

One more thing, if you want a more efficient way to switch iTunes libraries without having to keep restarting iTunes, considering downloading free software http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ipoditunes/multitunesdavidcaldwell.html

Multiple Libraries for Multiple Users on iTunes

Is there a way - using iTunes 7 - to have multiple libraries? Our family shares a computer and I would love to have separate libraries.
Thanks.
Tas804

Hi there
Hold down the 'alt' key for a couple of seconds when you launch iTunes from the dock.
You should get a prompt to create a new library, or choose another library to launch.
Good luck
noel

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...

Support for multiple libraries on iTunes server

Hi All
I need help to understand if the following is possible, and if so, how I can best go about getting this working.
I have all of my music on my server, which iTunes can see. Why I try and use Homeharing on my iPad it just takes too long to create the music library on the iPad (i waited about 3 minutes and gave up). Therefore I had an idea. Currently all of my music is in a library called My Music. What I was thinking was that if I could seperate the music out so that multiple libraries were available via Homesharing on the ipad i could choose a suitable library, and not have to wait to load the entire music library each time.
Therefore, I thought I'd start with an easy split - creat a library of music for my young daughter. That way she can have access to her music, and I never need to see it within my library. I 've gone into itunes to create a new library for her music, but the only way i can se to create a new library is to log on as a different usr in iTunes.
All i ultimately want is a solution whereby i can have multiple libraries available whenever we open up the Homesharing option in iPad / Ipod Music player app. Is this possible?

As of this morning I can't get Home Sharing to work on either of my iPhones. It gets stuck at 3/4ths the way through and I can watch my battery percentage drop in front of me. My phones get warm trying

Multiple Libraries for Video running at the same time on one PC

Hi Everyone -
I want to clarify this is for VIDEO files, not music for my 6 ATV's on the network.
Problem: I have well over 1000 VIDEOS in my iTunes Library, and I am wanting to have multiple libraries availible at the same time; not just whichever the computer has open.
We have several atv's on the network and I would like to take my video organization one step further; instead of scrolling forever in the atv menus for the video you want; I could make several libraries all availible at the same time.
Such as:
Kids Library
Workout Library
Parents Library
etc
This in turn would shrink the primary library and have less videos to sort by. I know how to create the Libraries, I just dont know how to have them all running at the same time.
Infastructure:
Windows 7 Ultimate with Drobo B800FS (16TB of storage) all connected to Cisco 3660 Gig switch with multiple atv's hardwired back.

iTunes can only open one library at a time. If you have multiple computers, or virtual machines, each could be serving a different library.
tt2

Using Multiple Libraries With iTunes 7.5

I recently updated to 7.5, using multiple libraries does not work anymore. The dialog to choose library if holding the option key while opening itunes will not appear anymore. anyone having a similar problem? Multiple libraries are a necessity for me.

I am also having this problem. I tried to create a separate library, but when I followed the directions (hitting shift when I open iTunes) I did not get the option to do so. My regular account just opens. Have you resolved your problem yet?
Message was edited by: phaedracat

Multiple Libraries for ease of use.

This topic may be a deadhorse (no offense to horses) but I was wondering if there is a way to have multiple libaries within iTunes?
Here is what I would like to do:
1. Be able to have all of my "purchased" music stored on on an ext HD. I currently have my entire library on an ext HD, but the reason I ask, is that in Backup there is no selection to backup purchased music from anywhere other than the home folder, which is on the primary HD.
2. Have a preference solution to "choose" where to store PURCHASED music, movies, music videos, audiobooks, & podcasts in different locations (independently) but still organized withing the library files in the iTunes folder that is located in the music folder.
I understand that this is mostly wishful thinking. I will submit this as feedback to Apple, but when using Feedback there is usually no response.

Thanks, I understand about using the option key when launching, but what would be most helpful is to be able to control the locations from within iTunes and not have to "switch" during startup..... I just sent the feedback to Apple, I hope that it is taken into consideration. It seems simple and something that would make iTunes more powerful. The backup feature within iTunes does not have a selection for other than burning to disk (which with my library would take many DVD-R's and even with Blueray it will take multiple disc's....)

Cannot Use Multiple Libraries in ITunes 8.0

I'm trying to set up multiple libraries, one of lossless that runs of an external drive, one of compressed that runs off a portable drive. I'm in XP.
I have set up Itunes with the lossless files, and am now trying to startup Itunes with the shift key in order to have the option to create a new library. No dice. I hold shift then I double click on the Itunes icon on the desktop. I've also tried it from the programs menu and the start menu. On two different computers. Every time, it just loads the account already set up.
HELP!

To create or access a second (or more) library on a Mac, hold down the Option key 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: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Mac

Multiple Libraries in iTunes 7

Me and my partner use the same pc at home and up to now have been using the same library.
I now understand that we can set up multiple libraries on the same pc which we have done. However, is there a simple way to transfer all my partners music out of the main library into her library?

This article may be of interst, you did not say which method you used for creating different libraries.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300432
The library files are just databases containing information about your music. There is no reason to copy the actual music files, as long as both users have access to the files. You add your music to your to your library and your partner does the same.
If you are using separate accounts, you can put the music files in the shared music folder, but as you didn't say what you did, I can't be specific about what to do. If you do want to copy music files into another account, you can also do it via a shared folder.
Message was edited by: polydorus

Multiple Libraries for iTunes

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