Dear declana,
For the time being, I'll deal with the scenario where you want to
distribute your music collection among multiple drives that are attached
or networked to your existing computer. There are two ways to move some
of your music files to a different location while preserving all metadata
for multiple users. I first present the Piecemeal Method, wherein you
change file locations one by one.
Piecemeal Method
----------------
Assumptions:
(a) You have made a new folder, shared by both users, that you
will use in addition to the existing iTunes Music folder.
(b) You know the location of the existing iTunes Music
folder. If you don't, let iTunes tell you by going to the Edit >
Preferences... > Advanced dialog and looking at the box labeled
"iTunes Music folder location".
(c) You are using iTunes 5. If you aren't, you can easily upgrade
without affecting your metadata.
Procedure:
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Double-click on the desktop "My Documents" icon twice to give
you two views of your file system. Use one of the windows to
navigate to your iTunes Music folder, and the other to navigate
to the new shared folder.
3. In the iTunes Music folder, choose the files you want to
move; you'll probably want to select entire artist folders. Drag
these files (or folders) from the iTunes Music folder to the
new shared folder.
4. Start iTunes and find the tracks you moved in step 3. For
each one, right-click on the track name and select "Get Info". An
alert box will pop up; click on "Yes" or just hit the Enter key.
5. Navigate to the new shared folder and drill down through the
artist and album folders to find the file containing the track
in question. Double-click on it, then hit Enter to make the Info
window disappear.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you've changed the location of
each track you moved in step 3. It should go fairly quickly,
since the search window in step 5 will automatically return to
the same album folder for consecutive tracks.
7. Once you're done, confirm that everything is okay by quitting
and restarting iTunes. You should now be able to play all of
your files regardless of their location.
8. Now log in as the other user and repeat steps 4 through 7.
That method is ugly, but it works. Now here's an elegant method that should
let you move a whole bunch of files without having to do the "Get Info"
rigmarole for each one.
Wholesale Method
----------------
Assumptions:
Same as for the Piecemeal Method.
Procedure:
1. In iTunes, go to the Edit > Preferences... > Advanced
dialog. To the right of the box labeled "iTunes Music folder
location" is the "Change..." button. Click on this button,
navigate to the new shared folder, select it, and click "OK".
2. Quit iTunes.
3. Carry out steps 2 and 3 of the Piecemeal Method to move some
part of your music collection to the new shared folder.
4. Restart iTunes. To confirm that everything is okay, play some
of the tracks that you moved to the new folder and some of the
tracks from the old location.
5. Quit iTunes and log in as the other user. Repeat steps 1 and
2 for this user, then skip step 3 and go straight to step 4. If
the track metadata wasn't updated properly, you can still resort
to steps 4 through 6 of the Piecemeal Method.
5. From now on, any further music you import will be added
to the new iTunes Music folder unless you go to the Edit >
Preferences... > Advanced windowpane and deselect the "Copy
files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" option. With
this option deselected, you can add new music to either user's
collection from any location -- the old folder, the new folder,
or an even newer folder at a different location -- without
duplicating files.
To solve your future problem, wherein you've made two user accounts
on a new computer and you want them to inherit the respective music
collections of the users on the old computer, it is best if the new
computer initially has a disk that can store all of your music files
at once. Later on, you can redistribute your music collection among
multiple disks using either of the above methods. But for the time being,
set up a network share or some other means of copying files from the old
computer to the new computer, then carry out the Wholesale Method with
the following modification: in step 3, instead of moving part of your
music collection, copy the entire contents of the iTunes Music folder
(including the metadata files), plus all music files from the various
distributed locations, to the new computer. It doesn't matter if you
missed some of the files as long as you've copied the metadata, since
you can always copy the missing files to the new iTunes Music folder or
to a different location using the Piecemeal or Wholesale Method.
It has been a pleasure to address this question on your behalf.
Regards,
leapinglizard |
Request for Answer Clarification by
declana-ga
on
05 Oct 2005 21:57 PDT
Leapinglizard-ga,
I appreciate all the work you have done on this, but there is an
incorrect assumption in your answer that prevents your method from
being a solution. Perhaps it can still work, but as it stands this
does not answer my question.
I state in my question that my music files are in a shared folder on
the C: drive, that both iTunes programs run independantly, and that
one possible solution might require consolidation of the files into
iTunes.
Your answer assumes that my music is located in the iTunes music
folder. It is not. My music is in a shared C: drive folder that both
iTunes programs point to. I add music to my library without copying
music into the iTunes music folder (this is one of the options on the
advanced tab you discuss).
I am sorry that this answer was not on point, but I think it was clear
that these files were not in the iTunes folder. If my music was in one
or the other iTunes music folders, I wouldnt have suggested that a
possible solution was to consolidate these files. They would already
have been there. I dont mean to piss you off after you have done a
lot of work, but I think the question was clear that these files were
not in the iTunes folder. You are clearly really talented and I hope
you put your mind to solving this problem again. I will provide a 50%
tip if you do (not another party).
Also, in terms of further clarifying the question for you (or others)
to answer, I do not consider the piece meal method to be a
satisfactory answer. I am asking for a solution for managing over 90
gigs of music. I cannot hand direct a new location for each file.
|
Clarification of Answer by
leapinglizard-ga
on
06 Oct 2005 05:02 PDT
It shouldn't matter if your files are already distributed among
several folders, since the metadata stays the same for any files that
you don't move. As long as you designate a new shared folder as the
iTunes Music folder, then quit iTunes and move a bunch of files into
that new folder before restarting iTunes, you should be able to access
the moved files as well as the old distributed files.
The trick is that iTunes only refreshes the metadata for files that
you moved into the new iTunes Music folder. It can find these files
when it starts up because they are located in the designated iTunes
Music folder. In the meantime, it still remembers the locations of all
files that were not moved. If you follow the steps in sequence, you
shouldn't have any trouble relocating a portion of your files to a new
folder.
Notice that you can repeat these steps as many times as you like to
designate a new iTunes Music folder each time you want to move files
into that folder. You should think of the iTunes Music folder
designation as a magic token that tells iTunes, "Look here for music!"
If the music it finds there has already been imported into the
library, iTunes intelligently updates its metadata to reflect the new
location. By shifting the magic token around to various folders, you
can redistribute your music files at will.
If you ask me, this is actually a design flaw in iTunes. It would be
nicer, I think, if you were allowed to designate multiple iTunes Music
folders. It's easier to have several magic tokens than just one. But
as long as you're stuck with a single token, you'll have to pass it
around from folder to folder. This is the best way I've found to trick
iTunes into refreshing the metadata for a subset of your files.
So in your situation, when you reach step 3 of the Wholesale Method,
never mind the Piecemeal Method instructions. Instead of going to your
old iTunes Music folder, use one My Documents window to navigate to a
folder containing music files that you want to move, while another My
Documents window shows the new iTunes Music folder you have just
designated. Select and drag music files from the first window to the
second. Repeat this procedure for the other folders from which you
wish to move music. Now carry on with step 4 of the Wholesale Method.
leapinglizard
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
declana-ga
on
06 Oct 2005 05:28 PDT
Leapinglizard-ga,
Please re-read the question and my clarification -- there is no music
in either account's iTunes music folder. All of my music files are in
a shared folder on the C: drive == C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Documents\My Music -- not in the iTunes Music folder. The
iTunes music folders are format C:\Documents and Settings\XX\My
Documents\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music.
I have one copy of each music file and both iTunes look to that file
without copying it into their iTunes music folder. Your answers
continue to assume that I have multiple copies of each music file
saved into each iTunes music folder. If that was the case there would
be no problem to solve because iTunes allows you to move a
consolidated music library (as I point out in my question as a
possible solution for one of the users, but not the other). The
question/problem is that the two iTunes programs look at a single copy
of each file located outside iTunes.
|
Clarification of Answer by
leapinglizard-ga
on
06 Oct 2005 06:19 PDT
No, I do not assume that you have multiple copies of the music files.
I understand very well that you have only one copy of each, and that
these files are not located anywhere near the iTunes Music folder.
Suppose you've made a new folder --
M:\mystuff\music
-- where you want to move some of your music files. Start up iTunes
and tell it that this is now the iTunes Music folder. Quit iTunes, log
in as the other user, and designate the new folder as the iTunes Music
folder for this user as well. Quit iTunes again.
Next, acting as either user, copy a bunch of files over from
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music
to the new folder, and start up iTunes. All your music should still be
visible, with the old metadata intact. At this point, you can actually
change the iTunes Music folder designation back to what it was before,
and the displaced files' locations will still be saved. Now log in as
the other user and start up iTunes to get the same effect.
Trust me, this works. It doesn't matter where your music files were
before, and there is no duplication involved.
leapinglizard
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
declana-ga
on
06 Oct 2005 09:40 PDT
Leapinglizard,
Okay, I will try it tonight, but I still need one more piece of
information to make this work. The two user profiles must look to a
shared folder. How do I make M:\mystuff\music available to both
profiles?
Thanks!
|
Clarification of Answer by
leapinglizard-ga
on
06 Oct 2005 10:43 PDT
If both users are in the Administrators group, they can read and write
each other's files without restriction. Look at User Accounts in the
Control Panel to see whether this is the case.
If only one user is an Administrator, log in as this user and make the
new folder on your M: drive. Right-click on it, select "Sharing and
Security", and select the "Share this folder on the network" checkbox.
Click "OK". Now all users on your network, including local users, will
be able to use this folder.
leapinglizard
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
declana-ga
on
08 Oct 2005 21:24 PDT
Leapinglizard,
First, I tried your method using the original admin account. It does
not work. I received a "The song ___ could not be used because the
original file could not be found. WOuld you like to locate it?"
Second, in regards to the shared account issue, the second account is
not an admin account. The option you describe does not appear to me.
When I follow your directions, the only option for the new folder is
"drag it to the shared folder" which creates a new copy of each file
in it.
Thanks!
|
Clarification of Answer by
leapinglizard-ga
on
10 Oct 2005 21:50 PDT
If you use the Piecemeal Method, that message is supposed to appear.
You only have to locate the file the first time you play each song.
After that, iTunes remembers the location. With the Wholesale Method,
you don't have to manually locate a file even once. As long as you
remembered to change the iTunes Music designation to the folder where
you plan to copy files, the message will not appear.
When you set up a shared folder, you must do so as the user who is the
Administrator. Only an Administrator has access to the "Sharing and
Security" options. Once you have activated the "Share this folder on
the network" option, the other user will be able to access this folder
as well.
leapinglizard
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
declana-ga
on
11 Oct 2005 14:38 PDT
Leapinglizard,
I did not use the piecemeal approach and I did use the admin account.
This does not work.
|
