iTunes library help needed.

[pixmaniowa]

I have over 12,000 tunes in my music library. With the videos added it comes up to about 300GB or more.
I gave just moved it over to a Buffalo NAS drive.
My iTunesMusicLibrary.xml and Library.xml are history.
I am trying to get at least ONE library between my MacBook Pro and my G5 to be correct and current.
I have assigned the folder on the NAS to be the music library and allowed iTunes to consolidate the library.
It now shows a total of just 8000+ songs. MANY of the songs listed can not be found by the library when I try to play them. If I go look in the proper folder they are actually where they are supposed to be.
MANY of the songs that are in the folders where they are supposed to be are not shown in the library list.
I have tested just re-dragging the songs to the library a folder at a time. Sometimes it corrects the problem. Sometimes it puts a duplicate into the library and leaves the old, supposedly missing, name in the list. Sometimes it duplicates itself in the same folder and adds the number 2 to the name thus doubling the number of files in the folder.
I don't really have time to go through all 12000+ tunes and look to check if they are in the library list, then check to see if they actually play when requested, then manually put them into the library, then check for duplications. I have a day job.
Please help with suggestions of fixes and cleaner utilities.
Thanks,
R

[fryke]

It sadly isn't supposed to work that way. Sharing iTunes libraries between computers has not been a feature of iTunes. Ever. Unless you count accessing another computer's library in "viewing" mode only, where you turn on sharing on one computer and access the library from within iTunes or Frontrow on the other.

[pixmaniowa]

At this point I'm just trying to get the ONe library right.
I deleted all the movies and TV shows from the library, chose to NOT delete them from the hard drive, and dragged them in again. That seems to have reloaded them.
Now I am doing that with the full library of music. I have a total of 1868 folders in the list by artist. It will take quite awhile to process. I'll let you know how that works when done.

[fryke]

I had similar problems when moving my 600 GB+ library to an external harddrive once. It's really a drag. But I've come to accept iTunes' limitations and Apple's plans for how they want you to use it around your home. I've got the iMac with all my music/video files on an external harddrive. From my other Macs and my AppleTV, I just access that shared iTunes library. It works very well, even over 802.11g (my AirPort base station isn't "n" yet).

[VirtualTracy]

I don't really have time to go through all 12000+ tunes and look to check if they are in the library list, then check to see if they actually play when requested, then manually put them into the library, then check for duplications.

Why don't you put your current messed up iTunes Library to the side for the moment and try a different angle.

I gather that all your iTunes media is now stored externally which means that you have deselected this option in iTunes ~> Prefs ~> Advanced

• Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to libary

Keep this option selected to make it easier later on with things, unless you must organise everything yourself:

• Keep iTunes Music folder organised

Quit iTunes and relaunch it holding down the Option key to bring up this window:



Click on the "Create Library ... " button and save this newly created library in the Default location which is in your Music Directory/Folder.

This new library is now the 'Default' library that iTunes will open when you launch it. To select a different Library just launch iTunes holding down the Option key and click the "Choose Library ..." button and navigate to the libraries location.

So, if this newly created library isn't already open, launch iTunes and you will be presented with a blank Library window.

Make sure your NAS drive is connected and mounted and it's time to try to fix the mess. You can either use the iTunes ~> File ~> Add to Library and then navigate to the NAS and select your music OR you can drag'n'drop folders from the NAS to the iTunes Library window to add them.

I would suggest only working with portions of your overall Music collection as to avoid the spinning beachball or "Application Not Responding" message .... it'll take some time as you would be fully aware of, to transfer 12000 + files ...

You can take all the time it needs to build up your library and when you are fully satisfied that the job has been done, then it will be time to have a look at deleting the original iTunes Library that has the messed up .xml/library.xml files.

Be sure to have the NAS mounted before you launch iTunes as AFAIK, if iTunes can't find the Library (now stored on the NAS drive), it will create the iTunes Music folder and set that as the default library location again. You'd then be back where you started - all of your music files on an external disk and the default library set as iTunes Music in your user folder.

[pixmaniowa]

Thank you!
That is basically where I am at.
On my G5 I went through a phase where every time I started iTunes it would crash. I would have to option/start the application and manually select the iTunes library I wanted to use. Even the default. That is why I originally listed my library.xml as history-dead.
I re-installed iTunes a couple of times before that seemed to clear up. But my old library was gone.
Here's a new question...
Do you think I will be able to copy my library.xml file and iTunesMusicLibrary.xml to the g5 from the intel MacBook Pro?
They will both access the same folder on the NAS but I will have to manually update the second when I add music...?
BTW
I tried using the iTunes server application on the DLink 323 but there was no way to playlist anything. 1200 songs, one big list. Yuck!
R