Laptop + iTunes + NAS + Consolidation?

March 1, 2010 12:35 PM

iTunes 9 seems to have killed the ability to disconnect from one's NAS library and re-consolidate when re-attached. Does anyone have a working solution? Details inside..

Does anyone have a great workflow to recommend for managing a library on a laptop that travels with me, using a home NAS as my centralized music storage location?

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My previous workflow was as follows:

Setup
1. set up iTunes library on laptop
2. move everything to NAS, but drag aliases to previous locations in local itunes library

Usage
3. When connected to the network, everything works as expected.
4. When disconnected, adding tracks to the library adds them locally, trying to play tracks stored on the network drive results in the (!) icon showing up, but when I reconnect everything is fine
5. When I reattach to the network, I would consolidate library and everything would be moved to the proper location, all (!)s ironed out, etc.

This allowed me to get new music while mobile, keep it locally if i wanted to, and re-sync when i got home.

After I installed iTunes 9 a while back, this stopped working. I decided to try it again and can't seem to get the magic combination.

Yes i've searched the hell out of every macnn, tuaw, apple discussions etc. thread. Not being lazy here, just trying another venue...

Thanks!

posted by Señor Pantalones to computers & internet (5 answers total)

What OS are you using?

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS NVX Pioneer on the way to me as I write this - as soon as I have it, I'll be setting up something similar with my MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard. I'll report back once I can test / confirm this.
posted by GJSchaller at 1:02 PM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

Señor Pantalones, how did your consolidation step work?
posted by aeighty at 1:03 PM on March 1, 2010

@GJSchaller
Mac OS 10.6.

@aeighty
iTunes <9 used to have a command called "consolidate library" (they changed it in 9 -- we'll get to that). What would happen is iTunes would continue to open the local library file and recognize that the files were missing from the remote drive. Then I'd add new files, connect to the home network, and choose "consolidate library." At that point it would move all the local files to the remote server.
posted by Señor Pantalones at 1:46 PM on March 1, 2010

I think it still has 'Consolidate Library' on the 'Organize Library' menu item. Can you confirm it works the same way after trying it?
posted by arimathea at 2:20 PM on March 1, 2010

The difference now isn't so much the "consolidate library" issue, it's that iTunes won't let you have a remotely stored library anymore and attempt to launch the client when disconnected.
posted by Señor Pantalones at 3:30 PM on March 1, 2010