Sync iPod from Shared Library?

Share the top level iTunes folder on the desktop over the network with full access permissions. On the laptop press & hold down SHIFT immediately after clicking on the iTunes icon to launch it - after a few seconds this should give you an option to choose or create a library. Navigate & open the library on the desktop. You can now edit & sync at either library, however don't open the library on both computers at the same time. This assumes all your music is in the usual iTunes Music folder below the main iTunes folder.

tt2

turingtest2 wrote:
...This assumes all your music is in the usual iTunes Music folder below the main iTunes folder.

You can't access the files from the laptop as this assumption turns out to be false. iTunes seems to with a change in the absolute path to the files provided the relative path from the main library to the target file remains unchanged. See this thread for a previous discussion on this topic.

I presume your iTunes library files are at C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes. With iTunes closed copy everything from iTunes into C:\. SHIFT-Launch iTunes and open the library at *C:\iTunes Library.itl*. Make sure you have access to all the media. Close iTunes. Now on the laptop use SHIFT-Launch iTunes to open the same file across the network. This time it should work. The one caveat is with any iPod games (see <a href"http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9594204">here) as iTunes fails to use the relative path. It should be possible to relink these using the UNC path, i.e. for each game attempt to "Get Info" and then browse to \\<desktop>\<sharename>\iPod Games\<game>.ipg . Once linked in this way they should be accessible from either location.

tt2

JofCore wrote:
I tried editing the iTunes Libarary.xml file but that apparently didn't do it 😟

The XML file may sometimes be used to rebuild the library if the main itl file is damaged, otherwise it is there for access by 3rd party tools. Did you try opeing the library at I:\ on the desktop? Does is have access to everything, not just the stuff you removed & reimported. Another thought.. perphaps becuase everything is still at the old location, C:\mp3\... iTunes doesn't need to check for it at the relative path on the desktop machine, so doesn't make the connection and thus hold onto the old absolute path. What happens if you create a new folder called say c:\iTunes, and move the library files, album artwork folders and the mp3 folder into it? Can you open this library c:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl and play things? Having been there can you now get access over the network?

BTW what version of iTunes are you using? I'm fairly sure I was using 8.1 at the time of that earlier thread and it may only have worked due to the changes that seemed to have speeded up the library in recent builds.

tt2

Dear folks, I choose to change my iTunes from Manual back to automatic. Problem is.....When my iPod is connected the music folder from the itouch All songs are Grayed out and play nothing from that area. So is everything else that's on the player. If I go the My Library I have access to everything. What's the problem? Please Help! Thanks Harold

haroldmm7@verizon.net wrote:
Dear folks, I choose to change my iTunes from Manual back to automatic. Problem is.....When my iPod is connected the music folder from the itouch All songs are Grayed out and play nothing from that area. So is everything else that's on the player. If I go the My Library I have access to everything. What's the problem? Please Help! Thanks Harold

Hi Harold.

To start a new thread drill down to a specific forum, e.g. Using iTunes for Windows rather than a category such as iTunes for Windows which gathers related forums together.

If you're automatically syning your iPod then all the content on it will also be in your library, so playing content from the iPod is uneccessary. Likewise the option to edit the content, e.g. modify tags, is disabled.

No problem - no solution.

tt2

Thank you tt2, I am pretty new here and not too familiar with procedure style of this forum. Thanks also for your info regarding my iTouch. I appreciate you solving my dilemma. Harold.