The right way, the wrong way, and the Apple way.

September 19, 2006 12:28 AM

One network drive with an iTunes Library. One old, dead computer. One new computer. What did I do wrong?

My old hard drive died, but it wasn't a big deal because my iTunes library (including the XML files, etc.) is stored on a network share. So, I installed iTunes on the new computer, pointed it at the network share, and saw...nothing. This is not intuitive.

It looks like maybe it wasn't recognizing the library file, or something to do with a slightly different path to the network drive? I had to eventually re-import *every* *single* *song*, re subscribe to podcasts, lose rating information, and then erase and refresh the iPod when prompted on connection.

This is annoying. Was there a way to do this better (just in case this dies again)? There's a lot of links out there for this sort of thing, but all of them seemed to assume that it would Just Work (tm) after pointing iTunes in the correct direction, or the details were different (I'm not actually moving the library!).

posted by RikiTikiTavi to computers & internet (8 comments total)

When you "pointed it at the network share" what did you do? Did you change the settings in preferences (wrong) or make an alias of the iTunes folder to the one on the network (right).
posted by bonaldi at 5:13 AM on September 19, 2006

bonaldi, why do you say it's wrong to change the settings in preferences? We share our library over the network and just point iTunes to the shared drive and it works fine. Not that there is anything wrong with making an alias, but I just don't get why it's right and pointing iTunes at the iTunes library is wrong.
posted by bouncebounce at 8:37 AM on September 19, 2006

I regularly use a synch program to copy my iTunes library between a desktop and a laptop. Path to the folder containing the library is different on each system, but there is no problem - songs added on the desktop show up on the laptop after a synch, and an iPod plugged into either machine just synchs with the local copy of the library.

In short, I can't say what you did wrong - doesn't sound like you did it any differently than I might have, so can't figure out what may have broken, given the info you posted.

Any more info that may help? Platform (Win or OSX)? Check to make sure it wasn't trying to copy the files? Who knows.

Only bit of info I have that may help is that occasionally songs get entered into the directory, but aren't in the library: iTunes (for all it does do) lacks the very basic ability to monitor your library folders and check to see if files have been added or removed. Every other music management program I have ever used has this funcitonality. The only way to force iTunes to recognize what is added to the library folder is to tell it to import the library folder (which can end up giving you duplicates of files). Only way to clean up missing files is to look for the star in the first column in the library noting that a file is gone (and of COURSE you cannot sort files by this column - that would make too much sense, wouldn't it?) and then manually delete (I mean "clear") these files.

iTunes is kind of a pig, really. It looks OK, it does what it says is does, but the idiosyncrasies of the program annoy the hell out of me. Perhaps if I was a Mac user it would make more sense - but as a Windows person, all it does is make me not want to use a Mac.
posted by caution live frogs at 9:34 AM on September 19, 2006

It's wrong because if you get a new mac, and you set up itunes and then point it at a library location in preferences, that only tells it where to store the new music files -- it has already set up its new, empty, library by this point.

It won't read in an iTunes Music Library file that it finds there.

To use an existing Library file on a new computer, you need to make an alias or copy the old one over so that iTunes doesn't create a new -- empty -- one.
posted by bonaldi at 9:46 AM on September 19, 2006

Wow, I can't believe I forgot the platform. Windows. But does it matter?

So, I'm re-importing all my music, and all my podcasts are gone and are showing up in the main music directory, somehow having lost their podcastness. Most of my songs on my iPod are listed but actually not there; I'm hoping that's because I didn't give it enough time to sync. Now I have a "sad iPod". Hopefully it will go away after I try to sync next time.

This would be easeir if I had a better mental model of what the iPod is doing behind the scenes. Right now I'm just flailing and guessing, it seems.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 3:23 PM on September 19, 2006

RTT:My question is just as valid for Windows as Mac.

Here's what's happened, I suspect.

1. iTunes Folder on network drive contains:
   1. Library file with details and ratings etc
   2. Music folder, containing all the MP3s, podcasts etc
2. You install iTunes on new PC and get:
   • A new iTunes folder, complete with new, empty Library file.
3. You tell new iTunes, in preferences, to store its files in the network share.
4. iTunes does. Any new songs you add will be put on the network share. But you wanted it to find the old songs.

What you need to do is, if it's still extant, find the old iTunes music library file, and replace the new one with it. This will reconnect all your music.

Is this what happened? Have you lost the original iTunes Music Library file?
posted by bonaldi at 5:43 PM on September 19, 2006

bonaldi, you have had different experiences to me I guess. I've never had a problem: I just point iTunes at the library and then import that library and it all works just dandy.

It takes a while to parse the 700 or so albums on there but it works just fine.
posted by bouncebounce at 3:19 AM on September 20, 2006

Yes, but that doesn't read in the existing library file! It just pulls in the MP3s. All your ratings and playlists etc aren't carried over. RTT is looking for those, I think.
posted by bonaldi at 6:00 AM on September 20, 2006