Q: Libraries in iTunes
Hello from Paris by night!
My name is Laurent, I'm French and I have three question to which I have so far not found any answer, even in an Apple Store...
I'll be grateful to the person who will be able to answer it, and help me progress in the understanding of iTunes :-)
My situation:
- I'm on a PC, using Vista as the OS and iTunes to listen to my music
- My hard drive is partitioned between C and D. C for most programs and D for data
- The iTunes program is stored on the C-drive
- My music files are stored under D-drive (I went to Preferences/Advanced and indicated, as the target for the iTunes Media folder: D:\Music\iTunes)
- I can find in my computer library files in 2 places... under C:\Users\Laurent\Music\iTunes but also, for some reason, under D:\Music\iTunes
My questions:
- The question #1 is: where are the correct libraries?
> As I read everywhere, C:\Users\Laurent\Music\iTunes seems to be the default location for libraries, so it would seem that files there libraries are the correct ones (and to confirm this impression, the last updates seem very recent)
> On the contrary, the libraires stored under D:\Music\iTunes seem to not be updated (the last updates date back to 2009 while I of course made changes to my playlists since then)
=> Am I safe in deleting the library files under D?
(I suspect these files are actually old back-up files that have been put there but never used... but don't know/don't remember/am not sure)
- The question #2 is: is it normal, then, that the iTunes Media Folder only contains the music files, not the libraries?
Indeed, as a matter of fact, if the libraries are stored under C:\Users\Laurent\Music\iTunes (as asked in question 1), this would mean that
> libraries are stored in one place (C:\Users\Laurent\Music\iTunes)
> and music files are stored in another place (D:\Music\iTunes)
=> I find it a bit confusing (but maybe I'm the only one? ;-)) Why would not libraries be also stored with the music files?
- The question 3 is slightly unrelated, but still about iTunes and the libraries... Therefore I have this question... ;-)
The question #3 is: is it normal that while my library file is not even 2MB big, the genius library is >40MB???
I stop here and thank you all for your help and support on this. I look forward to reading your answers.
Kindest regards
Laurent
iPhone 3GS, iOS 6.1.6
Posted on Aug 24, 2014 5:46 PM
1) Very likely safe getting rid of the old ones. If you want to be sure, start iTunes while holding down the shift key and guide it to the .itl library file you want it to use. If it looks like it's the same one then that's the one you're using.
2) Yes, because that is what you told iTunes to do. Changing preference settings to put your media (as it says) in a different location does just that. It starts storing media and only that in a different location. A library is more than just media so your media files end up in one place and your library files in another.
Your location is the default location but you can have a library file located anywhere you wish. Many people put entire libraries on a different drive and in fact it is usually recommended you keep your library files with your media.
3) The .itl library files is basically a text listing of where your media files are located, plus other data such as your playlists, ratings, etc. It isn't media. 2MB is possible if you don't have a very large collection. Even with a few thousand tracks your library file may only be 15-20MB
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 - and making an iTunes library portable.
Posted on Aug 24, 2014 5:58 PM