ITunes For Mac :: Moving Media With Multiple User Libraries?
Jun 17, 2014
I am running out of room for all my music, movies etc, so have purchased an external drive for all my media.
All files are currently under the "shared" portion of the hard drive. It is set up so that different users are accessing different files in their libraries (eg my husband has his music, I have mine), but none is accessing everything. We had it like this to make it easier to manage our individual iphones, ipads etc, without having tracks that we both use duplicated in the hard drive. And its been great.
My problem is that I now want to move all the media to an external drive, and everything I have read recommends doing this through the itunes library. I am concerned that only one persons stuff will be moved by doing it this way, leaving the other missing files. If I simply move the folder, will it work to just point each library to the new destination? Some things I have read indicate that this won't be successful and that itunes won't find the new files.
Also, a small(ish) thing, while I am at it I would be quite keen to implement the new file organisation system with Music, Movies etc all on the same level. But not sure when or how to go about that with this setup.
Am I best to set up a new user, and import ALL folders into itunes, then move it within that itunes? Or should just moving the folder and pointing each itunes to the new location work?
I have about 250GB of music in my iTunes Music folder, too much for any of my player devices with the exception of the computer itself. The "iTunes Music" folder is located on an external drive. I want to create multiple libraries to simplify syncing with individual devices, named something like "Nano silver 16", "classic 160", "iPhone", "iPad", etc. I know how to create the new libraries from info at: [URL] Questions:3) Is there a way to switch the "iTunes Music" folder to sort by album, (instead of by artist, then album, which lists each individual song of a compilation (Greatest Hits of...". "soundtrack", "duets..., etc. in separate folders with one song each). Royal pain! 2) How do I populate the individual libraries from my media folder once I have created them? I can't find any info to do this. Am I right that these just reference the real files, and don't duplicate them in a new location/folder? I don't want to increase the space taken up by new library files. 3) Where should all of the library files live to make it easy to find and switch from one to another? At present, I have to check/uncheck individual files to sync onto separate devices, and this becomes impossible with so much to begin with. --WWmac mini, OS 10.7.4, iTunes 10.6.1
I currently run my iphoto and itunes from a external drive.I would like to set up a seperate itunes library on my laptop to manage a few select playlists on mutiple devices...2 iphones,2 itouch, and 1nano.I set up the library but am unsure of how to get the playlists from my devices to the new library.Can one device be associated with multiple same user libraries?
I have multiple devices that I want to sync from my one Mac. I decided to go for the multiple library options under my one user account. I have created multiple libraries but the problem I'm finding is that if I buy a new book/app they get placed in finder for that device. Is that a way of keeping this clean and keeping all apps, books etc under the one library in Finder and all the different devices just reading from there?
step by step directions for moving the actual media ‘files’, ie the mp3s, as well as the necessary library files, to an external drive, when ‘keep media organized’ and ‘copy files to media folder’ are NOT SELECTED?I am running OS X 10.6.8 and iTunes 10 [and prefer a solution which does not require updating software. I prefer to maintain my own customized folder and file structure for my mp3s; and have therefore deselected
1] Keep iTUnes Media folder organized and 2] Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library. All the directions in the various posts seem to require selecting these options. Is this critical for success?
From the many posts I have read, it seems there’s more to it than just drag and drop, that I need to ensure that iTunes is ‘pointed’ to somewhere? Not the mp3s themselves, but to a ‘library” [is that yet another copy of the mp3s? somewhere on my hard drive?].
Additionally, over the years I have moved about 45GB of mp3s to ‘storage’ external hard drives to create more space on my laptop. Not ideal interim solution. I am again low on space and have decided to buy new external drive for holding all of my mp3s, ie the 45 GB in ‘storage’ and the remaining 75 GB from my laptop. Ideally, I would like to also keep all my artwork, playlists and ratings and the like [which I guess are in the ‘libraries’???]
Am I correct, that I will need to also move to the new external hard drive that folder which holds the .itl and .xml files and which is named ‘iTunes’??? and then there is another step to link the ‘media’ to the ‘library’ to ‘itunes’?
I currently have a MacPro and a Mac book Air both with iTunes libraries. The musics, Tv shows and movies are stored on my external drive connected to my router. My main iTunes library is on my MacPro, but I want to ensure that that my library on my Macbook Air is automatically updated when i add contact to my external drive and MacPro iTunes library without physically copying the content on to my macbook air.
So here is what I'm trying to do, I've got a 160 gb of music in itunes on my macbook pro, but I need to decrease that number, b/c my I'm running out of hard drive space and my library is only getting larger. I want to have it set up so that I've got my entire library on my external hard drive (1 TB, space is not an issue), and while I'm at home I can access the entire library. However, while I'm out of the house, I'd like to only have about half of my current collection with me on my macbook pro..
I tried to set it up using the 'itunes manage multiple libraries' method, but this didn't transfer any of my ratings or playlists. Then I realized that with having these two libraries completely separate, this will be a re-occurring theme. The playlist and ratings between the two separate libraries in two separate locations, would continue to get more and more askew from each other depending on which library I'm accessing when I import new music, change ratings, or modify playlists...........
Is there an easy way to keep my ITunes libraries in between two computers (MacBook and IMac), and my iPhone in sync? I've been having a bit of trouble, particularly with my IPhone - if I'm on the road, and download new podcast episodes daily, and then get home at the end of the week and plug my IPhone into my iMac, rather than syncing the new podcast episodes to the IMac, the IPhone gets wiped out and only has the podcasts, songs, etc that were on the IMac. Is there any easy way to keep the libraries on the two computers and my IPhone synchronized?
I have just transferred my iTunes content to a larger hard drive in my Mac Pro. I did this by changing the 'iTunes Media folder location' and then, using the 'Organise Library' feature, I consolidated my library. All went well until i remembered that my wife also has an account on this Mac with her own iTunes library which references the same content but in the old location.
My question is - what is the best way to get my wife's iTunes library to reference the content in the new location?
Also, I noticed that iTunes 9 now stores downloaded apps in the iTunes Media folder rather than in the users home folder. How does iTunes handle multiple iTunes libraries storing apps purchased via different iTunes store accounts in the same folder?
I have a bunch of itunes libraries and it's a pain to switch between them (open itunes while holding the option key and select the library). I don't think itunes lets you have more than one open at a time, but I didn't know if there was a third party plugin or something.
I'd like to have two iTunes music libraries, the same songs on both but one for high quality lossless music file to play from iTunes at home and the other for lossy music files to have on my iPod. The reason for this is that I just maxed out my 64GB iPod Touch, I have a mixture of bitrates and I know I could go in and decrease the quality and file size of the songs but I would like to still have the the higher quality songs too to play at home. If this is possible then what would be the hurdles of syncing multiple libraries?
Is there a way to add files to multiple iTunes libraries simultaneously?
I currently store all my media on a network drive; so I don't want to copy the same file to multiple locations. Instead, after the DVD is ripped I'd like to have the movie added to two different libraries. Simply copying the iTunes library from my primary computer won't work. The library on my primary computer, has all my personal song ratings and playlists. The second computer is connected to a TV to be used as a HTPC and is more of a family computer. I would like to be able to maintain different playlists for this computer.
Essentially is there an easy way to make sure any new files added (or modified) to my primary iTunes library are also added to another iTunes library?
I love iTunes, but ever since my dad and I have gotten iPods (we just ordered my mom a 15gb), I have wanted to share the same music library with two users, so that whenever one user imports something it appears in the other user's library. Both users would have the same music, but they can sync their iPod in their own user name and have different songs checked. I just don't see myself having two copies of my 10gb+ music library on the same computer. There must be a way...
Is it possible to play music from multiple libraries over a single device, with control over the playlist possible from multiple devices/computers? Baiscally, in one of my smaller offices, everyone has a Mac or PC with iTunes, along with various iPads, iPhones etc etc. They randomly pick some tunes to play from each of their individual machines.
I would like to setup a system where there is a single device (Mac/PC/Airplay/Apple TV etc) with decent speakers, where anyone can submit a track(s) to play from their library, be it on their Mac, iPad iPhone etc. to stream through the central system.I would then imagine using the Remote app to control it.
They should all be able to submit tracks simultanously, rather that one device connecting with a Airplay at a time. This would also work in a party senario. Guest rock up, pair their device with the system, and they can all submit track(s) from their device and it goes into the playlist...
I have multiple Podcast Libraries. Which Podcast file is in the correct place? I can combine the other Podcasts after knowing the correct path. "iTunes New" is my external hard drive housing iTunes.
So is it:
iTunes New > Podcasts iTunes New > iTunes > Podcasts iTunes New > iTunes > iTunes Music > Podcasts
My computer was full so I moved my iTunes media folder to a 3T time capsule following the 15 steps from the article ïTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media Folder", everything went smoothly, no problems when I reopened iTunes, tested on a song, a tv episode and a movie to make sure I could watch them and no ! symbol or warning appeard. Afterwards, I downloaded an episode from the iTunes store and when I tried to watch it appears a warning "THIS MOVIE REQUIRES QUICKTIME WICH IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THIS VERSION OF ITUNES", I checked iTunes version (10.6.1) and Quicktime (no updates available).
I use an Apple T.V. and I keep all my media for it on an External Hard Drive. Is there any way to add files to iTunes from the External without actually transferring them into the iTunes media folder - and without having to change the "copy to iTunes Folder" setting in preferences back and forth as I do want certain media such as songs to be moved into my iTunes media folder? In previous versions of Mac OS X there used to be a keyboard shortcut that would accomplish this. If you held down (either control or option) can't remember which it would import the media into iTunes but not transfer it to iTunes media folder. It would sort of import a "shortcut" to the desired media into your iTunes library.
I never really used the iTunes media folder system. All my music is on extrenal drive and I was only importing it into iTunes manually to keep my own folder system, for example once a week Ive created a folder with a date of creating and there I had all the releases from that week (some in their own folder or separately but all in this one folder named by a dat eof creation). So on my ext. drive I have lots of these folders by date. And the names of folder always correspond with the date added to iTunes as well..My ext. drive is full now. so Ive decided to take a next step and put out the dvd-rom and put another internal drive (1TB) into my macbook pro which will be used for music and movie data only (the system stays on the old one).What I want to do now is somehow move all these music folder to my new internal drive, so they can be accessed from iTunes without reseting all its features.
Ive read that one solution can be creating the new iTunes Media folder on that new drive and Consolidate all music from iTunes to this location. Problem is I cant even try it, because when go to iTunes Preferences to change the location of Media folder a hit Create after selectin the new location (new internal drive) after fee seconds the progress freezes and Activity Monitor says that iTunes are not responding. Ive tried to leave it for about half an hour and no changes, even tho theres not much to copy/move cause the Media folder has no music in it, only playlists etc. So question number one is - why its freezing? any other way to trasfer all my collection and keep its organiation as it is without loosing the iTunes list and be able to use it after transfer?
I've followed several tutorials on how to get this done, as it seems so simple but it's not working on my end. I've moved the iTunes folder from the /music/ to an external hard drive. I'm opening iTunes, going to Preferences, Advanced, and replacing the iTunes Media folder location to the correct one /Volumes/Volume E/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media
I'm checking Keep iTunes Media folder organized & Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library, clicking on the "OK" button, and nothing happens.
Funny enough, Spotify finds it in seconds and I can play my music from that player instead.
I currently have itunes on two accounts set to access a library at /Users/shared/iTunes/. The problem is if iTunes is running on one account and I try to launch it on the other, it gives an error saying it doesn't have write access. It needs to stay running on one for my appletv. Is there a way to start it and have all accounts have access to it as a single process? Run it as root?
We have a Mac with separate user profiles for each family member. Each family member also has their own iTunes with their own Apple ID. When we tried to download iTunes content from the cloud to one of the profiles from their own iTunes account, we received a message that the computer was associated with a different Apple ID and if we changed the authorization, the other AppleID would be blocked for 90 days. How can we deal with this issue and have each user download iTunes content onto their own profiles on the same Mac?
we have a macbook pro running Leopard. My wife and I have separate user accounts on the single laptop and keep the music in one central Public folder (both or our iTunes are pointed to this public folder). For some reason, my wife is unable to make any changes to song info (album art, change genre, etc.). However, she can play the music, update her Nano, import music, etc. The only thing she can't do is make changes to the song info. This isn't an issue with my account because I am the primary user account on the computer. We are both set up as Admin and I have assigned Read/Write privileges to all files. Does anyone have any idea what the issue could be? Tech support/program specialist has no idea.
I've just started mucking about with idvd and it looks good but unfortunately my mac cannot burn dvds, so I was wondering if any body new a way I could put the file on a standard disk or flash drive and transfer it to a computer that can burn the dvd using the file?
Currently I stream media (videos only at the moment) through my older MBP C2D Laptop using PS3 Media Server. I find the PS3 is loud and annoying so thinking of picking up a new generation Mac Mini to run my Media Serving Needs. My Equipment list is:
Pioneer 5080HD 768p Plasma
Yamaha RX-V3900 AVR
The rest of the equipment does not really matter. Thinking of hokoing it up by HDMI through the AVR to the plasma. Want to run Plex as my media front end. Now I also have an Acer Windows Home Server box kicking around with 1TB drive in it. Is it possible to use that on the network as a type of Media Storage that can be accessed by the Mini through Plex? Should I just use the WHS box as an archive unit? I know I will fill up the mini's HD fairly quickly.
Also I usually watch 720p MKV files through my PS3 so would I be fine doing that on the mini as well using Plex?
I recently changed the iTunes Media Folder default location to a different area on my drive. I waited a couple minutes and the files did not move. I was unaware you had to go into your settings and also select to consolodate files. Since the files didn't move I reselected my default location and kept trying to go back and forth a couple times. After letting it sit for a couple more minutes I noticed over 200 GB's of files were missing. I looked in each folder I tried to change the default Media Folder location to but they were not in either of them. I have also ran multiple system file recover programs and been unable to find them.
After using FCP 7 for years, I have finally moved to FCP 10 and completed a course which didn't deal with this basic question. I have for example 3 SD cards, with video clips on them, lets call them, 1/ wide shot, 2/ close up and 3/sundry. I have created a library and have no problem importing data from SD_1, but I cannot work out how to eject SD_1 and insert SD_2 to import data and so on. Even after the MBP has imported, rendered and shows all background processes as "Idle" if I try to eject SD_1 it shows a message, "Card in use".
