Sharing iTunes Library between Mac and PC

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Level 1

85 points

Sharing iTunes Library between Mac and PC

I currently have an iTunes library on my Mac Book Pro, but what I would like to do is move it to be stored on my Time Capsule so that I can access it from either my Mac or my PC. I've done some searching on the intarweb, but I can't seem to find a simple way to do it. So, is it possible? If so, how can it be done, preferrably with the minimum of fuss. If I can't get this working, then as a last resort I guess I can use home sharing to copy my Mac's library to my PC, but I'd rather have one central library if possible.

Thanks 🙂,

Dave.

MacBook Pro 2.4GHz 15", Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Nov 8, 2009 8:32 AM

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Answer 1

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rosh400

Level 1

20 points

Nov 8, 2009 5:38 PM in response to Dave Abrey

I have a similar setup. You need to move your itunes library to your network storage device. You need to do this within itunes (you will have to google moving your itunes library because I don't remember all the steps). After you moved the itunes library to a network share, you need to go into advanced preferences on each computer that will access the library and set the location of the itune library to point to the network share folder where the file itunes library.itl is located - the exit from Itunes. Restart Itunes on each computer (pressing shift on the Windows computers and option on the Macs). You will then have to choose the Itunes library. Browse to the network share and click on the itunes library.itl folder.

Three notes. Only one computer at a time can access the library. Second, each time you switch back and forth between mac and pc, the library folder needs to be updated. Third, for some reason, with iTunes 9.0.2, the updating process has slowed down. It is especially slow taking 15 minutes or so for a 13GB library. Hope apple fixes this.

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Answer 2

Dave Abrey Author

Level 1

85 points

Nov 26, 2009 12:04 PM in response to rosh400

Thanks for the reply, sorry for taking a while to get back!

I am glad to hear that there is a way to do it by having the library on an external device, but it's a shame about having to update the library every time. It wouldn't be a problem only having one computer accessing the library at a time, but the updating thing sounds like a deal breaker.

I actually found another option, and that was to use Home Sharing to copy the library from my Mac to my PC, so I have two copies of the library. It won't be a huge issue to update both libraries with new imports, as I'll Import on one computer, and then use Home Sharing to update the other one. Still, it would have been really great if I could have had a hassle free centralised library.

Regards,

Dave.

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