I am trying to access the same iTunes library with my new MacBook laptop and my Windows XP Desktop PC. The iTunes library file (renamed iTunes Library.itl) is stored, along with the iTunes Music folder and xml file, on an external hard drive formatted in FAT32. The library on the external drive is my music archive (ripped in Apple Lossless format) - and I tend to do almost all the ripping from my Desktop PC.
The reason why I want to access this library from my Mac laptop is that I tend to listen to music off my laptop and I synch my ipod to my laptop. I want to have a library on my laptop that contains (smaller format) aac versions of all the music in the archive, and when updating this library, it will be helpful to access the archive library to move files according to date added to library. Also, I sometimes rip music on my mac laptop and want to add it to the archive, so I need to be able to open the archive library with the mac.
Right now I am using a direct connection (USB 2) to connect the drive to the computers (when I want to switch, I just manually switch the cable). The library works just fine from the PC, but on the Mac when I hold down the option key while opening iTunes, in order to choose the Archive library, I can navigate to the iTunes Library.itl file on the external hard drive, but the file itself is greyed out so I can't select it. I've tried deleting the .itl extension in the filename, and restarting both the hard drive and the laptop - the iTunes Library file is stil greyed out and unselectable.
Can anyone tell me why this is greyed out, and how I can make it a selectable library?
The reason why I want to access this library from my Mac laptop is that I tend to listen to music off my laptop and I synch my ipod to my laptop. I want to have a library on my laptop that contains (smaller format) aac versions of all the music in the archive, and when updating this library, it will be helpful to access the archive library to move files according to date added to library. Also, I sometimes rip music on my mac laptop and want to add it to the archive, so I need to be able to open the archive library with the mac.
Right now I am using a direct connection (USB 2) to connect the drive to the computers (when I want to switch, I just manually switch the cable). The library works just fine from the PC, but on the Mac when I hold down the option key while opening iTunes, in order to choose the Archive library, I can navigate to the iTunes Library.itl file on the external hard drive, but the file itself is greyed out so I can't select it. I've tried deleting the .itl extension in the filename, and restarting both the hard drive and the laptop - the iTunes Library file is stil greyed out and unselectable.
Can anyone tell me why this is greyed out, and how I can make it a selectable library?