How to edit iTunes database outside of iTunes

You can edit the iTunes Library.xml file and use the edited XML file to rebuild the ITL database.
This will keep all metadata except Date Added.
If you care about Date Added, your only option is to re-link the files one-by-one.



iTunes has to have an ITL file to open & run. There are 3 ways it gets one:
1) If no ITL file exists, it creates a new one (blank library)
2) If it finds an existing ITL, it uses it and ignores the XML file.
3) If it finds a damaged ITL, it looks for an XML file and tries to rebuild the ITL from that.




You need to edit the XML file and replace all the paths from D: to E:.
Then damage the itl. Open it in WordPad, select everything, and hit delete. Save it with zero bytes (nothing) in it.
This will force itunes to re-create it by looking at the XML file.



Like you said, be sure to make backup before doing this.

You can't edit the iTunes database directly. Which version of Windows are we talking about here? Can you move them back to D:\multimedia\lossless\, at least temporarily? iTunes reports the location of "missing" files as "unavailible" which makes it hard to write a script which does a search & replace on the missing files. I do however have a script which will move things that can be found to a new location and updates iTunes as it goes, thereby preserving all metadata.

An alternative possiblity would be to create a "junction" so that D:\multimedia\lossless actually points to the folder on E:\ then create a script that updates the locations without needing to physically move the files. Once the update is complete the junction could be deleted. Or you could just create the junction and leave things as they are...

tt2

Oops, we talking Mac or PC? Talk of drive letters says PC but the sig says otherwise? Macs can also support junctions aka symbolic links... Ignore me...

Message was edited by: turingtest2

You're welcome, and thanks for the points.