Using my iTunes library from an external hard drive to a brand new Macbook.

Question

This seems to be such a simple thing to be able to do but I'm fearing it's not. Basically I've had an iMac for 3 years and during that time have built up around 165gb in my iTunes folder. So I learnt off the net how to move my library onto an external hard drive so that I can free up the space on my iMac and play my iTunes library from the external drive. So far so good. My iPhone 4 is obviously connected to my iMac and thats how I get my media on and off the phone. Here's where my problems begin.
I've just bought a Macbook Pro. Its obviously empty and has no media on it. I have paired my iPhone 4 with the new Macbook but obviously the iTunes library on my new Macbook is empty. I downloaded a couple of podcasts onto my new machine and tried to put them onto my phone but got a message saying that the podcasts I currently have on my phone (that are on there from my iMac iTunes library) were going to be deleted and the new ones would be put on. Still with me? So, if I could get my original 165gb library thats now on my external hard drive to be seen on my new Macbook that would possibly solve my problems. But I cant see a simple way of doing this. I've pointed the iTunes Media Location folder in the preferences on my new Macbook to the same folder on my external hard drive as is on my iMac but iTunes on my Macbook is not showing up my library. Do I really have to open every album into iTunes on my Macbook seperately? It seems such a stupid, laborious way of doing it. As if you cant have two Apple computers and run one iTunes library off an external hard drive so that its the same on both machines.
Help!
Message was edited by: Eels290776

Answer 1

Eels290776 wrote:
if my external hard drive is not connected to either of my machines, and I download something onto my iMac and then something different onto my Macbook, where are my machines going to be storing the new downloaded media
when the drive is not connected, +iTunes media folder location+ will default back to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)
and when I next connect the external hard drive how will I easily get the newly downloaded media onto the external HD
you'd have to point +iTunes media folder location+ back to the external via preferences > advanced > iTunes media folder location, then file > library, organize library > consolidate files
and essentially, to have it easily readable on both machines?
in that case it might be best to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external. then, on each machine, launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and navigate to the iTunes folder on the external.
note only one iTunes can access the iTunes library @ a time !
also, make sure the external is mounted on either machine before launching iTunes.
JGG