Synchronize Several iTunes Libraries

There are two computers in my house, both having extensive iTunes libraries that need to be synchronized. I have the iTunes music on external hard drives on both machines. I simply eject the HD from the secondary computer and mount it on the main machine. Then open both iTunes folder with the entire albums content and simply compare and drag files over until both hard drives have the exact same content. Is there a way to tell iTunes to simply just use all content in a given folder? The libraries are too vast to keep track of and manually import all new content. iTunes on the different computers have different play list so I do not want to drag the library and preferences from one to the other and thereby overwriting the play list and other proprietary information. Just make both iTunes apps have the entire music folder imported exactly the same way. Any input and advice on how this can be done is much appreciated.

I would also love to achieve this, but have not yet.
Just stumbled upon the following link: http://www.martian.com/SlingShot.html
hope this helps

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Can I have several itunes libraries on one computer at the same time?

can I have several itunes libraries on one computer at the same time?

Thank Niel
I have already got a library hosted on another computer and have homeshared my apple id for my home laptop, but I'm not sure what to do there after - any help would be appreciated! I' worried I make my husband's library disappear......

Merge several itunes libraries

Hi All,
I have multiple iTunes library on the same imac. I thought it would be the best way to manage a very large music library. Howver there are several drawbacks:
newly applications purchased from an idevice are downloaded automatically in the library you open thereafter. As a result, the purchased apps are spread over mutiple libraries
it is obviously impossible to get a piece of music from one library and another one from another library in the same idevice.
Does anyone have any idea about how to manage that?
Alternatively, I am considering merging all these libraries into a single one. How to do that?
Thanks for your inputs.

syncOtunes - http://homepage.mac.com/oligrob/syncOtunes/syncOtunes.html
PowerTunes - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powertunes/ (commercial software)
http://forums.ilounge.com/itunes-mac-pc/234406-merge-combine-two-itunes-librarie s-into-one.html#post1274671
I am unfamiliar with using mobile devices so I can't answer that part.

HT4527 Okay ... So I wish to transfer my itunes library to a new mac from a PC. Question, I do not have an single "iTunes" folder, I have three, because I have created several itunes libraries: Richard's iTunes, Justin's iTunes, and Rachael's iTunes fo

I am trying to follow the instrucitons for moving my iTunes account to a new Mac from a PC. I wish to use the External Hardrive Method, (also I have too much info to fit into the free iCloud space) ... and I am wondering how to handle several iTunes accounts for my son and daughter. We all share the itunes media folder, but I use the control-click option to open either mine, my sons, or my dauthers account.
I.e. On the old windows PC I have itunes, Richard's itunes, Justin's itunes, and Rachael's iTunes folders. The instructions speak of the simple itunes folder ... so, do I copy all of these folders to the external hard drive and will things operate as before?

Yes, you copy each one's iTunes folder to the /Home/Music/ folder in each of their separate user accounts. You will first need to create a separate user account for each of them using the Users & Groups preferences.
MacWorld - Move an iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac
Mac OS X 10.7 Help- Create a new user or group account
Mac OS X- Setting Up User Accounts

How can I synchronize two iTunes Libraries on two platforms (Windows & Mac)

I have a MacBook running both Windows XP Pro (Boot Camp) and Mac OS 10.4.9 and I have installed iTunes on both platforms. I have my iTunes Library and songs on an external drive (which I can "see" in Windows via MacDrive), and which I wish to keep in place to save space on my MacBook. Trouble is I cannot get my Windows iTunes to recognize the song files on my Maxtor external drive, even when I point iTunes to these files in the "Advanced" pane of Preferences.
How can I utilize the one song folder by synchronizing the two sets of iTunes so I can listen to music on whichever platform I happen to be working on?
I have tried placing an alias of the iTunes song folder in my iTunes folder in "My Music" in Windows but this does not work.

I agree with Chris CA that this is the way I would *expect* iTunes to behave.
When I look at iTunes from my account (my music is in ~/Music/iTunes/ and not available to my spouse's account), I can see in my music library all my rips and my purchases, just as I would expect. I can use Store>View My Account (<myAppleID>) and all is as expected. Home sharing is NOT on.
Doing the same from the other account is not much different, actually. Nothing in the library yet, of course. Store>View My Account (<herAppleID>) also works. I CAN authorize my computer to play her music. I CAN view her iTunes purchases. When I attempt to download the purchases to HER library, though, I get the following dialog box:
Now I interpret this to mean that this computer (mine) will not download from a different AppleID (also mine) for 90 days. Is that [interpretation] correct?

Combining several iTUNES libraries

My hard drive crashed and I in trying to recover iTUNES (about 30 gb of music) I find that the music library has files in at least 2 places, perhaps three.
When I got my G5, I think iTUNEs left my old music files where they were and started a new library referencing the old one (is that possible?).
Anyway, I want to combine them all in one place now that the hard drive has been replaced.
How do I do this?

Sean:
Sara's advice is correct, but I want to warn you about consolidation. Do this ONLY ONCE, otherwise you will end up with multiple copies of the same track in the iTunes Music folder (not the iTunes Library). These duplicates are linked to the Library database and if you delete them, you will lose the link in iTunes and end up with on all of your tracks.
I actually would recommend that you set the location of your iTunes Music folder, make sure that the Copy Music Files to iTunes Music folder is checked, and then just add everything either by dragging the files onto the iTunes Library window or using the Add command (File>>Add). Much more control, less likely to bork everything up.
Just a word of caution.
Lita

How to Consolidate MULTIPLE iTunes Libraries?

I’ve found myself in a situation where my iTunes file organization has gotten out of hand. Originally this occurred because I had an iBook with only a 60GB HD, storage was tight, so I had to keep my music on both an external HD as well as the iBook’s internal HD … a real pain in the butt.
So now I have three separate locations that hold the triad of folders: iTunes Library/ iTunes Music Folder/ iTunes Music Library.xml. In addition, I have about another 20GB of music in Mp3 or MPEG-4 format, which are in folders arranged by artist but are not included in an iTunes Library. I’m spread all over the place!
I just bought a new G5 Dual-Core last week and thankfully, I now have sufficient hard drive space to consolidate everything, but I have no clue as to how to proceed to merge the several iTunes Libraries into ONE, and then to add my other 20GB of music files to it (I believe I can accomplish the latter by using the import command in iTunes, correct) … with the desired end result of having all my music in one iTunes Library and stored in one location?
As it stands, I now have two small iTune Libraries on the G5 (filed in the ‘Music’ folder … this mirrors how it was on my iBook). On one external HD I have another very large iTunes Library (25GB), and on a third HD I have large collection of music (20GB) that is not currently cataloged in any of my iTune Libraries. I could really use some advice on how to get my iTunes in unified working order.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks a bunch!
G5 Dual-Core Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Thanks.
OK. I did the Consolidate command.
However, I'm not exactly sure what it did?
It looks like iTunes just COPIED the second location of my music files and placed them into the main iTunes Library (ie. the library that is referenced when iTunes opens)?
So, I'm assuming it is now safe to trash the files that were copied over/
I still have a third mass of music files (20GB) that is already organized in folders by artists (this was copied from another itunes on a different computer); they were pulled from a different iTunes Music Folder and but there is no 'iTunes Music Library.xml' or 'iTunes Library' file extant that accompanies them. So although they have already been organized (segregated by artist) by iTunes, they have not been imported into my current iTunes library. What's the most expeditious manner of bringing them in en mass?

Sync multiple iTunes libraries with iPod?

How do I sync several iTunes libraries (selectable by holding down ALT while starting iTunes) with my iPod Touch (4th generation)?
With limited hard drive space on my Powerbook I've chosen to create an iTunes library which more or less just contains podcasts and internet radio stations etc. and use an external drive for another library which contains all my music.
I was hoping I could switch between the different libraries and have my iPod sync to both of them, but alas I get a message when switching over to the "music" library that my iPod "belongs to" another library and that if I choose to use the current one everything will be erased and overwritten.
So how do I prevent this from happening while allowing me to add music from the second library?

I'm not sure if I've got it right but I've played around a bit after reading the above and come to the conclusion that I first need to check (turn on) the "Manually manage music and videos" (and most likely "Open Itunes when this iPod is connected") options in iTunes when I click on my iPod icon on the left column.
But much to my surprise I can still have iTunes automatically (or so it seems) sync my podcasts which makes things a whole lot easier than doing that manually for each podcast update!
For everything else (music, videos, PDF files/books/audiobooks, iTunes U, Ringtones etc.) I will need to manually drag and drop over to the iPod. To make things easier I created a playlist folder named "Manually transfer to iPod" with various playlists inside (just to make it easier to see what my iPod contains from that particular library and to organize things neatly).
And instead of dragging the items from each playlist over to the iPod I simply select the folder, then drag all the items on the right hand side (contents) over to the iPod.
I haven't tried switching libraries yet, but I assume I'll be able to add media from there as well without any problems.
Was this what you meant?

How do I merge my iTunes libraries and make them accessible from multiple Systems?

Our family has several Macs using several versions of OSX.
My Music collection, mostly converted from my large collection of CDs, is scattered across all the Macs and several hard drives with Systems running OSX 10.6.8, 10.8.5 and 10.9.4.
The older Macs can not be upgraded to either Mountain Lion nor Mavericks.
My most organised library is the latest on the Mac running Mavericks. It is tidy ALAC, and has all the correct metadata such as covers, composers, ISBNs etc. So I have started by organising those onto an external 1.5 Tb Hard Drive in a folder called Central iTunes Library.
I intend to then go through the Libraries on the other hard drives and systems and add them to this central external collection.
1. Will I be able to open the Central Library (created in iTunes 11.2.2) on the older Macs and Systems directly, by plugging in the hard drive?
2. Is there a better way than reopening the files from the other Systems and Hard Drives and importing them all over again into the Central Library?
eg Drag and Drop or File > New or a Dedicated Utility for the purpose
3. Is sharing from my Mac, the only way to let everyone access the library?
4. Will the other Macs be able to add to the Central Library once it is shared from my Mac?
5. How do we manage our various iPhones, iPods and iPads with one central Library?
6. Are there any hazards to watch out for?
7. What is the best way to have a duplicated backup of the library?
Thanks,
Peter

The concept of a central library sounds great (in principle), but unless you can all follow the same rules about handling playlist/ folder/ genre naming it can get into a mess. Are you sure you want to see all of your son's & wife's music when setting up iOS syncing? I also suspect your son & wife may have a different opinion about accessing all your music (with it's larger ALAC file size) - they may be happier not sifting through all your tracks to find the ones they like for use on iOS?
The store authorizes to the Mac not the library - so as you move around on each Mac & use your AppleID to purchase that Mac will get tied to that AppleID. That would be fine accept iTunes has a 90 day limit on changing the Apple ID on a computer. You will have to wait 3 months to switch to using another Apple ID to download music & apps on that device - that also affects apps that sync from iOS for backups.
Personally I think that users need their own Mac with their own library (& each Mac needs to be backed up), especially if they have their own iOS device that needs syncing to a Mac. Home Sharing is ok for moving files that you want to hear from another library - but it can be bad when a client is on wifi.
iTunes is designed to be a single user who can share over the network - it isn't intended to be one large bucket for every family member to store media, the Apple ID issue makes this pretty clear to me.
Your flaky wifi issue sounds like a reason not to rely on anything that requires networking to work too.
You are correct to worry about the library versions, eventually an iTunes update will alter the library format. Only machines that have that version can open the library - this happened from iTunes 10.7 to iTunes 11.
See how many 'old libraries' you have in the Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries/ folder - that indicates how many times iTunes has backed up & upgraded the library. Is that more than expected? Major iTunes versions will need to be performed at the same time to keep it all working with the 'central music library'.
You may be tempted to access one iTunes library over file sharing on multiple Macs. This can cause problems when one Mac updates something (placing a file lock on the library file). It's hit or miss whether the other Macs can read & write to the library.
PJRS seems to be using a networked iTunes library - I can't understand how it works with iTunes from Tiger to 10.9? What version of iTunes is used PJRS?

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

How do I merge two iTunes libraries?

I have two iTunes libraries on different hard drives on one computer. I choose the appropriate library when starting iTunes.
I now want to merge these libraries but retain the files on their separate hard drives (the files are too large to combine).
How do I do this?

This is indeed an excellent question. I am looking for what seems to be the exact same solution. I have two libraries, where the ratings, checks, and play counts are included in the itunes xml library files. I have found that using synchronization software only compares documents and replaces one with the other. If I modify one computer (in terms of collections, ratings, or play counts), and then don't synchronize before modifying the other computer, then my libraries do not match.
If there were a quick solution to compare and merge libraries, then I would not have to re-synchronize libraries each time I switch computers (assuming I'm not adding/changing mp3 file structure).
I suppose there could be a very long-winded applescript to do this, but I'm not familiar with scripting, nor interested. Any help?
Have any solutions been found?
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Convert two different computer logins with itunes to one computer login with 2 itunes libraries

I am trying to combine two users from my old computer to just one user on my new computer. what folders of itunes do I need to transfer so we can have just one log in to the computer with two different itunes accounts? Basically, I'm trying to take two different itunes libraries and put them into one library with two different logins (users)

Hi dbricetyler,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
If you are trying to move the iTunes Media folder from two different computer user accounts to a single user account on your new computer, there are several different ways you can accomplish this. Please read over and use the following article as a reference to help you accomplish moving the content over to your new computer.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Have a great day,
Joe

How do iPhoto and iTunes libraries connect to iMovie?

I'm still having trouble with iMovie '08 being unable to "see" or show still photos or sounds from the iPhoto and iTune libraries. It does not seem to even know those libraries exist.
Can someone at least tell me how iMovie normally connects to those libraries? What file tells it where to look?

In iMovie 11, there is a Preferences file called com.Apple.iApps.plist. If you move this preferences file to the trash, it will reset the links to iTunes and iPhoto. I haven't had iMovie 08 for several years, but I assume there is a similar preferences file for iMovie 08.
In general, the steps would be...
Close iMovie, iPhoto, and iTunes.
In the Finder, find this file and move it to the trash. Empty the Trash.
Restart iTunes. Restart iPhoto.
Restart iMovie.
It should be in the Home/Library/Preferences folder. (Macintosh HD/<Your user name>/Library/Preferences/)

Can I have Multiple iTunes libraries?

Hi,
I have two large iTunes libraries from when i had two computers.
I would like two keep them seperate and was wondering if there is a way to choose which library i want when launching iTunes?
This can be done in iPhoto for example by holding down the Alt key when launching iphoto and then choosing your desired library, there is also an application called iphoto manager that does this for you. Is there such a thing for itunes?

Libra is another iTunes library manager.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Combining iTunes libraries from separate iPads or PCs

My wife and I both use iPads almost exclusively and only keep our old Windows PCs to basically house our iTunes libraries and a large no. of photos. Can I combine both iTunes libraries onto a Macbook Pro either from our iPads or our old PCs? And if so how?

Hello Chet Black1,
Thank you for the question. The article below outlines several methods to transfer your music from your previous computer to your new computer.
Home Sharing is the easiest way to transfer your music from one computer to another, but I recommend reviewing the options available in the table to decide which method would work best for you:
The following table compares the methods to move music from your old computer to your new computer.
Method
Considerations
Home Sharing
The easiest option, as long as your new computer is already connected to the Internet.
External drive
Requires additional hardware but backs up your iTunes library.
Transferring purchases
Fastest, but only moves the content you purchased from the iTunes Store. Also requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod with the content on it.
Windows Migration Assistant
Works best for migrating from an old PC to a new Mac, and transfers more than iTunes.
You can find the steps for each of these methods in the article:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

Synchronize Several iTunes Libraries

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