How-To: One Itunes Library with Multiple Computers

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How-To: One iTunes Library With Multiple Computers

By Jenny Kortina Oct. 13, 2008, 8:30am CST 78 Comments 0

I recently set up a Mac mini in my living room to act as a media server. Instead of trying to update separate music libraries every time I added songs to my collection, I was just adding the music to the Mac mini’s iTunes library and streaming it my laptop. That worked fine until I tried to sync my iPhone. For obvious (copyright) reasons you cannot sync an iPhone to a shared library.

I wanted access to my music on both machines, but I did not want to share my Macbook Air’s library because the laptop would have to be on with iTunes running for the Mac mini to have the music. At this point, I had to choose between running separate libraries and updating them independently or figure out a way to run one library that updated whenever I added music from either machine. I chose the latter of the two options. Some advantages of having one iTunes library:

You can sync iPhones to any computer on the network You can add and edit playlists on any computer on the network You can add music on any computer on the network

Some things you should know before you begin:

If you are using a laptop and want to take all of your music with you, this is not the method for you. All of the music is stored on a networked drive, so it is only accessible when on the network. (You could set it up so your music can be streamed over the internet, but this article will not go over that). You can only make updates to one music library at a time — you cannot have iTunes open on both computers and make changes. Make changes on one, then open the other one. You need to close iTunes on the computer you made changes on, and reopen it on all other computers to see changes

Those are all of the limitations I have found, so if those do not bother you, read on!

The Setup

The Mac mini runs Plex for watching movies, iTunes for managing my music, and is connected to the internet so we can watch our online video content (Hulu, South Park Studios and Snackfeed being my favorites). All of my movies and music are stored on a NAS that each computer on the network has access to.

A: Mapping iTunes Music Folders

The first thing we need to do is point each computer’s iTunes music folder to the same location. There are two different methods for this. If you have an NAS (Networked storage drive) follow procedure 1, if you are going to use one computer as the host (a server or tower that’s always on) follow procedure 2.

Procedure 1: 1. iTunes > Preferences 2. Go to the “Advanced” tab 3. Click the “General” tab 4. Under the “iTunes Music Folder Location” click the “Change” button 5. Navigate to your NAS and create a folder called “Music” 6. Click “Open” 7. Click “OK” — you should now be back at a normal iTunes window 8. Complete this on each computer. So in my case I did this with the Mac mini and the Macbook Air. When you have completed this procedure on each computer, move on to the next step – “B: Universal Library Setup”

Procedure 2: Go to the computer that’s going to act as the music host (the one that will be sharing your music to all of your other computers). We are going to leave the iTunes music folder in the default location on this computer, but share it on the network so all of the other computers can see it.

5. Navigate to your iTunes Music folder: HD > Users > Your Username > Music > iTunes > iTunes Music 6. Click “Add” 7. Close System Preferences. You’re done on this computer for now. 8. Now go to a computer that is going to be streaming music from this one and continue to procedure directly below. To stream music from the host computer to other computers:

1. Go to a client machine. 2. Open iTunes > Preferences 3. Go to the “Advanced” tab 4. Click the “General” tab 5. Under the “iTunes Music Folder Location” click the “Change” button 6. Navigate to the iTunes music folder we just shared from the host computer 7. Click “Open” 8. Click “OK” — you should now be back at a normal iTunes window 9. Complete this on each computer. So in my case I did this with the Mac mini and the Macbook Air. When you have completed this procedure on each computer, move on to the next step –”Universal Library Setup”

At this point, all of your computers are accessing the same music library. Now all we have to do is make sure all the computers are accessing the same master index. Onward, to the universal library setup!

B: Universal Library Setup

At this point, both computers are accessing music from the same folder. Now we are going to make them access the same index file and album artwork. Once again, there are two different methods for this. If you have an NAS (Networked storage drive) follow procedure 1, if you are going to use one computer as the host (a server or tower that’s always on) follow procedure 2.

Procedure 1:

1. Now we are ready to point our iTunes index to our LAN. While holding option, double click on your iTunes icon. 2. A “Choose your library” window will pop up. Select “Create Library.” 3. A window will pop up. Under “Where” select your a location on your NAS from the pulldown. Save as: “iTunes1ʺ. iTunes will Launch. Close it. 4. We’re done on this computer. 5. Now go to a client computer and continue to “The client machine” below

Procedure 2: Go to the computer that’s going to act as the music host (the one that will be sharing your music to all of your other computers). We are going to leave the iTunes index XML file in the default location on this computer, but share it on the network so all of the other computers can see it.

1. Go to Applications > System Preferences 2. Click “Sharing” under the “Internet & Networking” section 3. Click the check box next to “File Sharing” 4. Under the “Shared Folders” section, click the plus arrow 5. Navigate to your iTunes folder where the XML file is stored: HD > Users > Your Username > Music > iTunes 6. Click “Add” 7. Close System Preferences. You’re done on this computer for now. 8. Now go to a computer that is going to be streaming music from this one and continue to the procedure directly below.

The client machine:

1. We are ready to point our iTunes to the shared index. While holding option, double click on your iTunes icon. 2. A “Choose your library” window will pop up. Select “Choose Library.” 3. A window will pop up. Navigate to the iTunes index XML file just set up on the NAS or shared from our host computer. You should see a folder called “iTunes1ʺ. Open it. 4. iTunes will Launch. Close it. We’re done on this computer. Repeat this procedure on all other client machines.

You’re now ready to roll. Simply add music to any computer you want, making sure iTunes is closed on all other computers, then when you are done adding your tunes, close iTunes and wait for Dropbox to upload your files. Once Dropbox is done uploading your updated library XML files, fire up iTunes on another computer and you will see your freshly added tunes. Enjoy!

NOTE: All the software mentioned is cross platform, so this method will work on your Windows machines as well! iTunes

: dropbox, iTunes, plex 0

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1. Reply Adam Monday, October 13 2008

So why store the music library on your local network, and your index on Dropbox? Why not store everything on your local network?

2. Reply Theo Monday, October 13 2008

Great timing, I’m about to do the exact same thing.

Why did you choose to use Dropbox, rather than creating a share on the host machine and point all the client machines to use that?

3. Reply Jose Monday, October 13 2008

Is the index format created by iTunes running on a Mac the same as the index created on a Windows Machine? In other words, Can I use an iTunes index created on a Mac to run the Windows Machine iTunes library?

Thanks

4. Reply f. Monday, October 13 2008

I don’t understand why using Dropbox… I have this setup, with the index on the LAN too. 5. Reply Tuomo Monday, October 13 2008

I have the all my music on an USB disc attached to a Time Capsule. Every few days I copy the “Itunes”-folder of the main (ripping) Mac to all the “client” Macs. IPods will be synced with the main Mac.

6. Reply DJFelix Monday, October 13 2008

Very interesting!

Could you just as easily use an iDisk or the local network?

I’m actually quite surprised that Apple hasn’t brought out a device that will let you load all of your music into one central location that can feed your iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Mac, PC …. Sure you can share your library, but you can’t load music onto your iPod from a shared library … at least not without 3rd party software.

7. Reply Jenny Kortina Monday, October 13 2008

Yeah you can store your library XML file on the LAN too. I originally set it up using DropBox b/c I thought it might merge changes, instead of just overwriting with the newest copy. I’ll make some changes to the article though, thanks.

8. Reply Brian Monday, October 13 2008

I’m running Boot Camp on my MacBook Pro with Windows XP- Is there a way that I can access and run iTunes on the XP side with my library from OSX?

9. Reply Ricki Monday, October 13 2008

Beware!

I have been running a setup up where 3 computers and an AppleTv is using the same library situated on a network drive. My girlfriend, the AppleTv and me accidently tried writing to library at the same time. It messed up the entire disks index file and only disk warrior could save it.

It sucks, sucks, sucks that we can not easily maintain a shared library in the same household without breaking the DRM…..so darling who’s 9 Gig music library is allowed to live on the appleTv this week. Also each week I have to delete a ****load of XML’s called “previous iTunes Library xx-xx-xx” for each time some comp tried writing a new version of the iTunes library.

An iTunes music collection should not be limited to one person. The same way my girlfriend can use my cd’s on the stereo, she should be able to listen to my mp3ʹs on our mutal computer/appletv.

Sorry about the rant, just bought noteburner and plan to free our music!

10. Reply lovely45 Monday, October 13 2008

thanks for the heads up on good video sites in this article as well — liking http://snackfeed.com

11. Reply Dr Macenstein Monday, October 13 2008

Awesome tutorial, thanks!

12. Reply Jay Tuesday, October 14 2008

I must be doing something wrong cause when I get to the section: “Navigate to the iTunes music folder we just shared from the host computer” I can’t see it in the list!

13. Reply Andy Wednesday, October 15 2008

Whoa – Dropbox just comes out of nowhere in this article. I have it and use it, but can you clear up how exactly you are using it to update the iTunes XML files?

And I’d love to hear how you do iPhone syncing. Since the contacts, calendars, photos are not included in the iTunes Library, how is it possible to sync from any computer on the network as you say?

14. Reply entica Monday, October 20 2008

Whenever I open iTunes on one of the “client” machines, I get “Cannot write to this library” error message (or something to that effect). I’ve set everything as wide-open as possible, guest and registered users have read/write access to the music folder and the itunes library folder. It’s shared properly and I even ran a permissions repair on the disk. Still, no matter what I do, I can’t get any client machines to actually write to the shared library. It doesn’t matter if I’m remotely connected as “Guest” or as the administrator on the server. Any idea? Thanks.

Reply Dwain Willis Tuesday, July 21 2009

When choosing the library, ensure that you do not have that library already opened on another machine. Quit ALL instances of iTunes on all machines except the one you are trying to map to.

Reply Bob Tuesday, February 23 2010

Doesn’t seem to matter. I even moved my .xml files to the same external drive as the media. Both users are set up on one iMac. If one user has iTunes open, the other can’t even open for read access to the library file. Error message is that file or disk is locked or you don’t have permissions. Don’t know how these others seem to be doing it — either not simultaneously or maybe it’s a Snow Leopard “feature”.

15. Reply Damon Friday, October 31 2008

Ditto the comment #13…please explain more fully how to do this with DropBox. I know how to use Dropbox I just don’t understand what iTunes files would go into it. The music files AND the library files? Or would the music files be on all the computers separately and just sharing the library xml files? If the latter, I do not see where there is an option in iTunes which allows one to independently select the locations of the respective music libraries and index libraries. Or maybe I am missing something.

Thanks.

16. Reply Dietrich Saturday, November 1 2008

I have an old iMac connected to an external hard-drive that has my main iTunes library. In addition, I have a MacBookPro with a different iTunes library.

I tried the method described above (Procedure 2 that uses my iMac as the host computer) with the modification that I am pointing to my external hard-drive which is attached to my iMac.

But it’s not working. Is there something that I am missing?

Help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Dietrich 17. Reply Help!! Friday, November 21 2008

Do you guys think it works well or are there to many downsides? I’m planning on putting my itunes and iphoto library on my time capsule and let time machine backup on the drive connected to time capsule. You guys think it will work? or do you have some suggestions, always want to learn more…

18. Reply yaalag Wednesday, November 26 2008

This works really well! I have the same thing set-up in my house and once the library and index is setup on the network drive, you can add any computer very easily. Installing itunes, then delete the created library and when starting up, after the error message point it to the network drive and chnge the preffs for the index file. I have added cheapo older windows notebook around the house, connecting to stereo’s in the room and connected to the network wirelessly. The children, my office, the kitchen anywhere we share our music and play it the same time. only point is still that only one machine can update it while other itunes apps are closed.

19. Reply Peter Saturday, January 3 2009

RE: #14

I am having the same problem as the person in post #14. I have successfully set this up with my MacBook Pro as a Client (old PowerMac G4 is the Server). I am trying to set up my wife’s New MacBook Air and I am getting an error message when I try to choose the iTunes xml library on the Server. It says I do not have permission. I am connected to the server as the Administrator.

Has anyone been able to resolve this issue?

Thank you,

Peter

20. Reply Ugo Thursday, January 8 2009

Worked for me with the following setup

iTunes (media, database files, artwork, mobile applications) on ReadyNAS Duo Client 1 (PowerMac, Tiger 10.4.11, iTunes 8.0.2) Client 2 (MacBook, Leopard 10.5.6, iTunes 8.0.2)

I can see the same library from both clients. I can add songs from both clients. Didn’t try yet to sync iPhone on client 2 (since I want first understand what will happen with Calendar sync).

Thanks Ugo

Reply Arun Venkatesan Saturday, August 22 2009

sync all your calendars to gmail and that should help with calendar sync

21. Reply Scott Friday, January 9 2009

This is a great setup if you have multiple machines but one user. My setup has two users, each of whom have different music tastes, so we want different playlists, and we want to keep different music in our libraries. But we also like some of the same songs, and don’t want to keep them twice, and I want to back up the music. So our setup is similar: – Media files on a media server – 2 machines, each with their own local libraries, but with the iTunes preference set to use the network server as the library location. This preference is under “Advanced,” at the top (iTunes Music folder location).

Now our music syncs to our iPhones, and we can set up our own playlists without stomping all over each other.

Reply Scott S Wednesday, July 8 2009

Scott (Jan 9th)… I am very interested in your set up… I moved my library to an external drive and would like a second user (my wife) to be able to access the same music library… Any chance you can supply me with a little more specific info re: your set up and the steps took to get there?

Reply SteveK Monday, August 31 2009

Wow – this is exactly what I want to do. I have a Windows environment with a AD server. On teh server is a shared folder with ALL the iTunes music. I want to have a shared library as well as 2 or 3 personal libraries. Can you please provide in depth instructions on how to accomplish this.

Thanks so much in advance.

22. Reply Craig Thursday, January 29 2009 Using this setup, can two computers both be using iTunes at the same time?

23. Reply Julian Bond Tuesday, February 17 2009

Just Say No To DRM and copyright restrictions and you wouldn’t have all this trouble.

Reply Borat Wednesday, March 3 2010

This has nothing to do with DRM, this is a software problem with iTunes itself, which they nearly solved with their home sharing update…but stuffed it up with the need to keep copies of library files on each machine.

My lib is 160gb + and this is not pheasable….fingers crossed

24. Reply Shailesh Thursday, February 19 2009

In your steps:

Now we are ready to point our iTunes index to our LAN. While holding option, double click on your iTunes icon. A “Choose your library” window will pop up. Select “Choose Library.”

If I’m using iTunes for Windows, how do you start iTunes so you get the choose your library prompt? — Since there is no option key to hold while starting iTunes.

Reply Face Monday, August 3 2009

you hold down Shift key when double clocking the itunes icon. you may need to try it twice for it to prompt you.

25. Reply sheila Wednesday, February 25 2009

can i still do this procedure without a mac? I have a dell inspiron 1521

26. Reply Marshall Tuesday, March 10 2009 I’m getting the same permissions problems as posts #14 and #19. All permissions/sharing settings are open on the host machine. iTunes is closed on it, and I’ve restarted it on the client. I can access all the music but keep getting an iTunes error message on the client that says “The iTunes Library file cannot be saved. You do not have enough access privileges for this operation.”

Has any figured out why this might be the case?

27. Reply Pete Saturday, March 14 2009

I am having the same permissions problem as posts #14, #19, and #26. Perhaps it has something to do with this drop box? As someone above said, it comes out of nowhere in this article and I’ve never used it.

Please explain if you can – if this really does work it will be a huge help.

28. Reply Eric Saturday, March 14 2009

2009-03-14 Hi, I tried the setup mentionned above but it’s nok working… I think I know why it’s not working but don’t know how to solve this…

On my iMac (the one that holds all my CDs), in the Library XML file, the path of each file looks like this: file://localhost/HD/Music(…). So on my “client machine” (and old G4), I’m able to “see” all the songs but when I want to listen, I can’t. Of course, the XML file tells iTunes to look on localhost for the songs…

Is there a work around to solve this ? Because I want iTunes to work on both Mac’s, iMac and my old G4.

29. Reply parkersweb Tuesday, March 17 2009

@Shailesh – hold the shift key and double click the iTunes desktop icon

30. Reply drew Saturday, March 21 2009

I’m pretty sure the drop box comment came from an earlier revision of the article (comment #7). They probably just forgot to take out the reference to it.

31. Reply JT Saturday, March 21 2009 Does anyone know how to do this with a mixture of mac and windows pc’s? I’m using my macbook as the main computer but can’t get my wifes dell pc to access it as it can’t see the xml file.

32. Reply UV-Birke Saturday, March 21 2009

Actually there is a better way to do this:

Assumption: You have one computer where you started/built yolur iTunes library and are now moving to a server/NAS with several computers accessing it.

1) Put the “iTunes Music” folder containing the music itself from the original computer on your NAS/server. 2) Put an alias of this folder into the original computers Music/iTunes folder replacing the “real” one. 3) Repeat step 1 and 2 with your “Album Art”, “iPod Games”, “Mobile Apps” and “Previous iTunes Libraries folders” if you have them. 4) Repeat step 2 and 3 for every computer that should have full access to the iTunes library. 5) Buy/try and install Syncopation on every computer accessing the library. Subscribe to the original computers iTunes library on every computer. Make shure to check “Automatically syncronize with remote libraries”, “Automatically delete tracks from remote libraries” and “Import tracks without copying”. 6) Sync the libraries on all computers. This should happen very fast. 7) Subscribe to every computers library with every computer.

Voila, now you can use iTunes simultaneously on every computer in the network and even modify the library from every computer, instantaneously updating it on the other computers.

Reply Chris Wednesday, August 5 2009

@UV-Birke Sounds promising.

Is there any danger of corrupting files using this approach? Or does syncopation assure that no two computers are writing to any given file at the same time?

Reply steve Monday, February 15 2010

except it doesn’t work if you have both macs and pc’s? Apple really should figure this out, don’t they want you to buy a new computer every year or two?

33. Reply Max Tuesday, March 24 2009

You can do this a whole lot easier with Echodio. I’m using the beta version to sync my home media server and me and my girlfriends laptop and it’s working flawlessly. The only catch is that it’s MacOS only for now so I can’t sync my work machine. Use the TC/DC invite code instead of accelerator it gives you 5GB instead of 1GB.

34. Reply Computer Rental Company Wednesday, March 25 2009

Great Tip!

Your blog was really helpful.I was hoping that it can also be integrated with the Windows OS knowing that a lot of computer users are using Windows on their computer system.

35. Reply Mark Saturday, April 4 2009

I use this setup storing my music on an AirDisk. My setup includes a macbook and a mac pro and I want to be able to share the same music on both computers supporting the ability for both computers to run itunes at the same time, two different people. The only way I have found to do this is to have two itunes folders that contain the itunes library (itunes library.xml) or more, one per user that wants to simultaneously access the library. The benefit of doing this is to be able to avoid needing to constantly synch music files to multiple locations, each user can maintain their own play lists. The downside is that when new music is added to one library it is not automatically added to the other libraries, this has to be done manually. With a little tinkering I bet I will be able to figure out how to automagically synch the two itunes library xml files, that would keep both perfectly in synch while allowing multiple users to simultaneously access them.

36. Reply Dan Schneck Monday, May 18 2009

Great tutorial – thanks for your efforts and willingness to share!

37. Reply Niall Smart Wednesday, May 20 2009

This is all very complicated :) We’ve built Echodio specifically to solve this problem – it work just like DropBox, and easily syncs your playlists, tracks, ratings and metadata across multiple iTunes libraries – and for peace of mind keeps a backup in cloud storage. We also have support for streaming from the cloud to Boxee, so you’ve the same music collection everywhere.

Right now, we’re in beta, so it’s free to use. See http://www.echodio.com to signup!

38. Reply Kevin Friday, June 12 2009

I would love to figure out how to have the itunes library open on multiple machines at once. Echodido – Mac only, limited storage space, and only syncs one playlist. I want my entire library synced on both machines.

Syncopation – Again, Mac only. Looks promising, but I use PCs.

39. Reply Jason Tuesday, July 28 2009

Try SuperSync

http://www.supersync.com

40. Reply tilman Sunday, August 9 2009

Hi,

I tried this with Apple iDisk and it worked. Cool Tipps, thanks a lot! I also tried using my Timemachine Airport Extreme Backup Volume (over Network) and here I just copied my local iTunes Forder (and all media files) to it. This woked, too. So what I ask myself: is it really necessary to go the way that is described here regarding creating a new xml and folder etc? isn’t it the same if you copy all your itunes data to the NAS/iDisk and the option start iTunes, let it scan and correct the paths and it works from different computers – as long as you don’t access the file from 2 computers at the same time?

Tilman

41. Reply Steve in Seattle Saturday, September 26 2009

Awesome post. I have been able to share my library easily with XP but Windows 7 was not letting iTunes default to the network share I have always had my library shared out on, it insisted on keeping the library files on the local hard drive even though I used the Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> iTunes Folder Location setting to point to my network share. That’s all I needed to do with XP at least. Your client setup tip on how to point iTunes to the the library file did the trick. THANK YOU!!!

42. Reply Dan in London Thursday, November 5 2009

Guys, I’m trying to set this up but on windows.

I get as far as “select option and double click itunes”. Obviously this is a MAC function. What is the function for windows? And how to you point itunes to the .itl file?

Cheers, Dan Reply Steve in Seattle Thursday, November 5 2009

Use the key on a Windows machine where you see instructions to use the key. Also, be sure to hold the key while double clicking on the actual program icon, not a shortcut. (Find the acutal program icon here: Start button -> All Programs -> iTunes -> iTunes)

Reply Steve in Seattle Thursday, November 5 2009

Aaaah foo. I used special characters before and after the words Shift and Option in my reply above. Here, this should be more clear. My apologies.

Use the Shift key on a Windows machine where you see instructions to use the Option key. Also, be sure to hold the Shift key while double clicking on the actual program icon, not a shortcut. (Find the actual program icon here: Start button -> All Programs -> iTunes -> iTunes)

43. Reply bins Sunday, November 8 2009

Great tips! I have the NAS sharing (Time Capsule, iTunes 9.0.2, Snow Leopard) configured, but every time I switch computers and start iTunes I get Updating iTunes Library which takes quite some time (45 min or more with 100Gb music)… Any suggestions to speed this up or stop this from happening?

Reply Pascal Wednesday, January 6 2010

Did anyone solve this “Update Library” problem? It must have been introduced with iTunes 9(.0.2?), since the setup worked before for three years without any problem.

44. Reply Mike Sunday, November 8 2009

I am having the same problem as bins. All my music is on my Mac Mini, and I’m connecting to it with a Windows 7 laptop. Everytime I switch computers it rebuilds the library. Also, whenever I go back to iTunes on the Mini I don’t have permissions to the “iTunes Library” file. My user has been taken away, and there is a user “nobody” that has the only read/write access. I can re-add myself to the file, but then iTunes still does the “Updating iTunes Library” thing. Any suggestions? 45. Reply Chris Monday, November 9 2009

I am using Windows 7 and iTunes 9. I have a desktop with two logon’s mine and my wife’s. Additionally I have a notebook with a universal log on. My music is all on one shared folder on my Windows Home Server. I have successfully mapped iTunes to the server folder with the music; and the iTunes library to the library file on the server. So, it all works great with my desktop logon. However, when I log off iTunes and log into my wife’s account or the notebook’s account and attempt to point iTunes to the library file on the server it states that the file is locked or that I don’t have permission to use it. Is this something with iTunes 9? Any suggestions. I’ve tried to troubleshoot for hours now.

Reply Steve in Seattle Monday, November 9 2009

Sounds like a windows file permissions problem to me. On your server, try giving the other user accounts that access that folder “Full Control” permissions: 1.) On the iTunes folder on your server, right click, choose “Properties” 2.) Click on the “Security” tab 3.) Click the “Advanced” button. 4.) Click the “Edit” button, then the “Add” button. 5.) Enter individual users you want to have access and click the “OK” button. You didn’t mention if your Windows Home Server is a domain controller or not. If it is, you might just make sure the group “Domain Users” (no quotes) has “Full Control” permissions, this may be all you need to change rather than list the individual users. 6.) In the “Permission Entry for iTuenes” window, click the “Full Control” box under the “Allow” column. 7.) Click “OK” on each window to close them all out. 8.) Try to access iTunes from your other user accounts. You may have to log out and back in, but I doubt it.

Reply Steve B Friday, January 22 2010

I’m having this same problem with locked files, anyone worked it out yet?

46. Reply Sally Thursday, December 17 2009

This is by far the best article I have come across regarding accessing a single music database from 2 computers. However, I am using Windows rather than Mac and some of the instructions are unclear, eg I can’t find a Windows equivalent of “application>system preferences” referred to in Procedure 2.

Also I’m not sure whether I would be considered to be using an NAS (Procedure 1) or a Server (Procedure 2). All data is stored on a server (in the roofspace) accessible via Windows Home Server.

I think I have both computers accessing the same library – they are the same size, but one is in caps the other in lower case – which is slightly worrying – but I can’t actually find any folders in caps in any of my file trees.

However, when I edit my index to the library on one computer – this is not automatically transferred to my index on the other computer. Eg, I deleted a track from iTunes on one computer, but when I checked the other computer, it was still in iTunes.

I have been struggling with this for months (!!!). I feel I am nearly there – all I need is for the indexes on my computers to sync. Is this possible?

47. Reply Steve in Seattle Thursday, December 17 2009

Hi Sally, Here is my take on your questions, in order: Question 1: Procedure 2 has instructions to share the folder out so other users can see it. To do this in Windows: 1.) In the file explorer or My Computer on your server, navigate to the location where your iTunes folder lives. 2.) Right-click on the folder, choose Properties. 3.) In the window that comes up, click on the Sharing tab. 4.) The next steps vary depending on what version of Windows you are running, but essentially, you just want to share out the iTunes folder to “everyone” or you could be more secure and specify “Domain users” if you home server is a domain controller, or you can specify individual user accounts. 5.) Test to make sure your clients have permission by opening the file explorer (or My Computer) on one of your clients (it may be best to log it out and then log back in first). Navigate to the path where your iTunes folder is shared. Next, drop down into it and create an empty .txt file to make sure you have permissions (To do this, right click inside the iTunes folder, choose “New” and then “Text Document”. You can just leave the default name (“NewTextDocument.txt); press . If it doesn’t complain about insufficient rights, you are good to go. Delete this file.).

Question 2: If you are using Windows Home Server, you are using a server, not a NAS, although your comment “All data is stored on a server (in the roofspace) accessible via Windows Home Server.” makes me wonder if you are using an attached NAS device. Either way, it really doesn’t matter as long as you have the iTunes folder shared out from your server with proper permissions and this folder is online and available whenever you are using your client machines.

Question 3: Sounds like your clients are not using the same library. Make sure you have specified the same iTunes library file in each client. Remember in Windows there is no Option key, so you will need to hold the Shift key while opening iTunes. Also, be sure you are double clicking on the actual iTunes program icon, not a shortcut. (Find the actual program icon here: Start button -> All Programs -> iTunes -> iTunes). Here you will be prompted to choose an iTunes library and can navigate to the one you have shared out above.

This is pretty wordy, but I hope it helps. Good luck. Steve

Reply Sally Monday, December 21 2009

Hi Steve, thanks for your helpful and very prompt response.

I think my situation is now as follows. Both computers are accessing the same library on the roof space server.

However, when I come to edit the index to this library on one of the computers, it does not automatically sync to the index on the other computer. (I tend to “fiddle” with my index a lot!)

Is this beyond the remit of iTunes – or am I still missing a crucial step?

Reply Steve in Seattle Monday, December 21 2009

Sally, You’ve got me on that one. Hopefully someone else on this forum will reply with a solution.

Sorry about that, Steve

48. Reply Dave Sunday, December 20 2009

Every one of these comments is way over my head. Is it possible to just copy my library from my home PC Itunes to my laptop that I want to take on the road? If so, what’s the easiest way to do it?

Reply Ronan Sunday, January 3 2010

Hi Dave

Did you get any “plain talk” replies on how to copy itunes library from the PC to your laptop?

I have similar problem. Original itunes library on old laptop ….got new laptop and set my wife and kids iPOD up with itunes ….now I cannot access the original library on new laptop.

Ronan Ronan

49. Reply Sally Tuesday, December 22 2009

Hi Steve – I think the light has finally dawned. The problem is that iTunes 9 and Windows Home Server are – wait for it – incompatible!!! So I don’t have iTunes software installed on the server. Instead, I open iTunes on whichever computer I’m using. What I’ve now realised, is that if I go onto the server, and click on the iTunes Library folder, this will actually open iTunes on the computer and will be giving me access to the Library folder on the Server. Using this method, both computers will now be accessing the same Library/Index and I can fiddle away to my hearts content! Hoorah – it’s only taken me about 6 months to sort this out – well ever since iTunes 9 was released. 50. Reply Sally Tuesday, December 22 2009

Hi again Steve

Unfortunatey my new found confidence was misplaced. I’m still getting 2 different libraries up.

Libraries under preferences are now definitely the same for both computers. But it makes no difference whether I access them via iTunes software direct, or through iTunes Library icon on the server they are still different libraries.

How can this be?

Anyone out there with any ideas?

51. Reply OW Tuesday, December 22 2009

Great article and knowledgable comments…The best I found on this subject.

The setup is great in addressing new installations with no existing libraries. My problem is that my household has several users, each with his/her own playlists structure on his own machine pointing to local media folder. Nobody wants to recreate these playlists manually from scratch. 1. Now that I’ve copied all my music to the NAS, is there a way to recreate these libraries, such that the playlist structure is preserved and pointing to the NAS media folder. 2. Assuming #1 is doable, Is there a way to consolidate all libraries to a single master library and point all iTunes clients at startup to this library?

Thanks!

52. Reply Dave Sunday, January 3 2010

Hi Ronan. Thanks for your comment. I was starting to wonder if I was all alone out here. No, I have not rec’d any feedback on how to get my library of songs and podcasts from my home desktop PC to my laptop or whether it’s even possible to do so.

My itunes skill is at about a 2 on a scale from 1 to 10. Need very simple instructions.

Reply Chuck Friday, January 8 2010

found this link useful when moving Itunes around:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new- hard-drive maybe something useful here.

53. Reply barabadam Saturday, January 16 2010

I’ve got one iTunes music library shared between osx10.5 and vista home basic. I can’t open iTunes on both computers at once because the iTunes Library.itl file is locked.

54. Reply Mike Tuesday, February 2 2010

Does anyone know of an app so I could access my itunes on my NAS on an iPod touch?

55. Reply levellerdk Friday, February 5 2010

@Mike

Well, that would depend on your NAS. If you have a Synology with DS2.2 you just need to add the DS Audio app to your ipod touch.

56. Reply ajai Friday, February 12 2010

Hello

do you know a way to create a itunes library from the iphone so the music can be stored in an external usb drive ? I want to control the music from the iphone but i don’t want a computer to be all the time switched on, so i would access the music from the iphone but the files are stored in the external drive

Is this possible ? do you know any app that can do this O

57. Reply Chris Perabo Thursday, March 4 2010

I’m still trying to figure this one out myself and have tried many things. I agree that the “Home Network” option on iTunes is useless to achieve what you want. The solution I am looking for must be able to do the following:

I have an iPod shuffle (for my kids lullabys), an iPod Nano (for my runs), an iPhone (cause it’s so damn cool!!) and then three PC (strangely no Macs) When I plug any iPod device into any of my computers I want it not to “reject” it based on sychronization with “another library”. I also use the Nike+ iPod so after each run I plug it into a computer to update my runs. What I have now is the solution posted here where I run all my computers from one library.

This mostly works, except for the nagging issues that Jenny points out during her discussion, namely: 1 – If you are using a laptop and want to take all of your music with you, this is not the method for you. All of the music is stored on a networked drive, so it is only accessible when on the network. (You could set it up so your music can be streamed over the internet, but this article will not go over that). This I can deal with since I rarely want “all my music” with me… my syncd iPods take care of what and when I want to listen to.

You can only make updates to one music library at a time — you cannot have iTunes open on both computers and make changes. Make changes on one, then open the other one. Acccccckk! This is a pain in the ASS!! Since when do I “turn off iTunes”? It’s always on, should be on, should stay on. This sucks.

You need to close iTunes on the computer you made changes on, and reopen it on all other computers to see changes As above… SUCKY!!!

PLUS One she doesn’t mention, but worth mentioning… if your internet connection falls out (ie wireless laptop), then iTunes gives you ERROR messages that it can’t save the library… buffering issues with live streaming I can deal with… but error messages suck.

So after thinking and trying… I’m ready to try something NEW! I am already a huge fan of Microsoft (did I just say that?) Live Mesh. Finally, they are starting to get it, and Live Mesh is a great example of what the future will bring with cloud computing. (Why it’s limited to 5Gb and why there is no “paid upgrade” option is another story…)

This is where I need help though…. thinking logically about it… instead of “Accessing the remote library” as Jenny teaches, I want to SYNCHRONIZE my library. Note, I have also >400Gb of music and I do NOT want to SYNCHRONIZE my music files, JUST the library that keeps track of all the meta data (tracks played, album artwork, genres, playlists, all this great stuff…)

The advantage here is that the Library file (iTunes library.itl) is relatively small (1.5Mb) and can be easily synchronized in one of my Live Mesh folders.

What I don’t understand though – is two-fold: 1 – What do I do with all the other files? Do I need to sync these too? iTunes Library Extras iTunes Library Genius iTunes Library.xml files too

2 – What about the other folders, do they need to be syncd too? Namely:

Album Artwork iPod Games Mobile Applications

I sense I’m on the verge of a breakthrough… can anyone help put the last pieces together? Then I can make a “Setup” Entry and we can finally SOLVE this!

Reply CJ Sunday, May 16 2010

Did this ever work for you?

I’m trying to do the same thing, but with no success. I have a MacBook Pro that I store all my music. I wanted to have my iMac at home to access MBP’s iTunes Library when I’m home. Didn’t like the Home Sharing, because I would have to “sync” manually and it’s actually keeping two separate libraries.

If I could add a file from iMac and it gets reflected on MBP’s library, I’ll be happy.

I tried to set file sharing and tried to access the library file through the network, but I kept getting “unknown error message (13014).”

Any advice would be helpful.

58. Reply James Saturday, March 13 2010

I have an ipod shuffle 2nd gen. My PC died and I bought a Mac, now when I connect my shuffle it comes on that I am connected to a itunes library already. I don’t want to lose my music that is on my ipod and I can’t get my music from my old PC as it is dead. What can I do to get back on to itunes and not lose my music on my shuffle.

59. Reply Chris Wednesday, April 21 2010

Cheers for this, I haven’t fully tested it yet but I just got it all set-up and it looks right and it’s downloading artwork etc right now.

12 Trackbacks

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