My iTunes preferences/media folder location keeps going to default

Hi Bill,

As noted elsewhere there appears to a be a bug (in several recent builds) that prevents the media folder preference being correctly saved for some users. If you can arrange to have the library database at <somepath>\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl and the media folder at <somepath>\iTunes\iTunes Media then this bug should not be an issue.

1. What build of iTunes are you currently running?
2. Where is the iTunes Library.itl file for the library?
3. What is the media folder path that you want to use?

See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for general background on the layout of the library.

tt2

Hard to be absolutely sure without testing things locally. What happens if you type in \\volume1 in the address bar? I'm guessing Windows will find the box because you added an entry for it in hosts file at some point, but if it only advertises itself to the network as DS720 then maybe it doesn't know it is also volume1. Perhaps you should be editing the XML paths to point to file://DS720/etc. rather than file://volume1/etc.

tt2

Experiment with the test library first. Test media folder, test XML file, scan the library files, import the playlists. Prove to yourself that it works and see how it works. Then look into fixing in the XML for the primary library, putting the edited XML in the right location, scanning that library, and then importing that set of playlists.

It's gone 3am here and I'm working later in the day. I'll have a go at making a playlist with that name if I get a chance before I go in.

tt2

Say your existing path to a track was:

Y:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Beatles\Abbey Road\01 Come Together.m4a

Which the XML file would record as:

file://localhost/Y:/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Beatles/Abbey%20Road/01%20Come%20Together.m4a

And you wanted to correct things such that the XML was using the media folder /volume1/iTunes/iTunes Media then you would need to use %20 instead of a space in the replacement text where it appears in iTunes Media. I.e. replace "localhost/Y:/iTunes/iTunes%20Music" with "volume1/iTunes/iTunes%20Media" so the resultant path becomes:

file://volume1/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Beatles/Abbey%20Road/01%20Come%20Together.m4a

The point is that you must not put spaces in XML file location strings. There won't be any there already, they only way they would be added is if you didn't consider them if they feature as part of a replacement string, in which case use %20 where you would otherwise want a space.

tt2

My NAS is called DISKSTATION2 on my network, yours is called DS270. The distinction isn't important. From the point of view of the Plex server running on the device it is called volume1, and it can see any shares created in the device that it has permissions for.

In testing I created a new empty iTunes library in the folder D:\iTunes 4 Plex\ on my Windows 7 box, imported one album, and made a playlist of that album. I also signed out of the iTunes Store to avoid cluttering up the XML file with references to my purchases though I don't know if that is relevant for iTunes 10.7. I then made sure that iTunes was creating the XML file as this is no longer enabled by default.

In my case the first entry location in the XML file was <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/D:/iTunes%204%20Plex/iTunes%20Media/Music/The%20Beatles/The%20Beatles%20(The%20White%20Album)/1-01%20Back%20In%20The%20U.S.S.R..mp3</string>

In other words the path above the artist folders in my case is D:/iTunes%204%20Plex/iTunes%20Media/Music (when spaces are replaced with %20) and this is going to be the search term I use later when massaging the XML. I called the shared music folder I created on the server Music and gave Plex permission to read and write to it using the Control Panel > Shared Folder tool.

I copied the artist folder from D:\iTunes 4 Plex\iTunes Media\Music into \\DISKSTATION2\Music over the network.

I then made a copy of the iTunes Library.xml file (as iTunes Library (Copy).xml), edited it using Notepad++ and used the Search > Replace function to change D:/iTunes%204%20Plex/iTunes%20Media/Music to volume1/Music and replaced all, then saved the changes. Making a copy to work with ensures that iTunes doesn't overwrite the file that I am editing.

Next I copied the XML file to the network folder \\DISKSTATION2\Music and renamed it as iTunes Library.xml. I was a bit imprecise with my comment about saving it earlier, but the upshot is that file is now available for Plex to use at the path volume1/Music/iTunes Library.xml.

In Plex I had to enable the iTunes plugin and then shut down and restart the Plex server in order to activate it. I then went into the Plugin settings to set the path to the XML.

I struggled a bit to get Playlists menu to show below Music in the Plex sidebar. Creating a dummy playlist and then refreshing all metadata appeared to do the trick. I then used the ⋮ menu to Import from iTunes...

First time was a bust:

But after using Music > ⋮ > Scan Library Files and then trying again I got this:

The display didn't update automatically so I had to switch to Music and back to Playlists to see this (after deleting my dummy list):

Hopefully you can see how to translate the various paths that I used so you can follow along with your library. If not then please post back with a <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/...etc.</string> value from your XML file, along with the path to the same file when viewed from the perspective of Plex on the server, i.e. a path that starts volume1/<sharename>. With those two details I should be able to guide your use of Notepad++ to update the XML.

tt2

William Richards3 wrote:

You know how I have to edit the XML that's part of the iTunes volume1 library on the C:/My Music folder and remove the second slash? Since that's literally the only thing I have to modify since all my music resides on the NAS natively (so to speak), can I edit the XML and remove the second slash and then copy it back onto the C: music folder so I don't have to do that each and every time I make a change in the library and update it in Plex?

I would do as you suggest and make a COPY first and then edit it, make the change and then save it so it would get copied over the one on the C: drive. You know what I mean, right?

The XML file in your library folder will be updated each time you make a change to the library, e.g. edit a playlist, add some metadata, or just play a track which increases the playcount. Plex should detect metadata changes by itself, but when you want it to update the playlists or you've moved/renamed any files, copy the XML, edit out the unwanted double slashes, save the copy in the volume1/Music1 folder as iTunes Library.xml then use Music > ⋮ > Scan Library Files followed by Playlists > ⋮ > Import from iTunes... with the option to Overwrite existing playlists. The is no point copying the updated file back to C: as Plex isn't going to change it, and you'll want the current version produced by iTunes next time you want to refresh the playlists.

iTunes is producing the XML file to support your third party software. You cannot "break it" as far as iTunes is concerned as it only writes out the file. It would only read it if you explicitly tried to import the XML file. It will however routinely overwrite it as you use the library with iTunes, so you'll have to edit out the second // every time you want to refresh the playlists in Plex.

tt2

Hi,

The core of any iTunes library is the iTunes Library.itl file. This is the file that knows what tracks have been added to the library, what their properties are, and what tracks belong to what playlists. When you switch from one library database file to another the new library that you have opened remembers the data from the last time you had it open. If you have two parallel copies of your library then updates you make in one don't get automatically reflected in the other, even if both libraries are connected to the same set of files. For example track 7 of Sgt. Pepper is Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! but my house style is to use the US version of Mr. rather the UK which is Mr without the period. If I make a change in one of libraries to Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! then switch to the other library the track will still be listed as Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! If both libraries are connected to the same file and I now play it iTunes will spot the changed value and correct its listing, provided I didn't allow the file to be renamed. If the file was renamed following the edit then it becomes a broken track in the second library and would need to be repaired, as well as needing to pick up the changed metadata.

Whether or not these considerations come into play depends on exactly what you're doing.

tt2

Do you have any smart playlists or playlist folders? Perhaps the import system chokes on those?

tt2

iTunes ratings aren't written into the tags. They are only stored in the database. This allows ratings to be synced from library to device, or vice versa without rewriting the media files. Play/skip counts/dates are treated in the same way. Grouping should be stored in the tag, but it may not be in the field that you expect. Windows Media Player used to show the iTunes grouping field as either mood or subgenre. I think your version of iTunes might pre-date the Work and Movement features introduced for classical music, which created some new fields. The field that was previously used for Grouping became Work, and Grouping got a new internal field label. Caused lots of confusion at the time.

A trick I use in my library is to create a folder called Cross Checks, into which I put smart playlists that catch inconsistencies in my library that I want to eliminate. For instance you could have a smart playlist that matches any track where Artist begins with "The " or Album Artist begins with "The " to catch The Beatles tracks you mentioned earlier. When my library is in a consistent state with my rules for it the folder will be empty. If there is stuff in it I can check the reason and make the appropriate corrections, e.g. add the missing artwork, or album artist, etc.

It ought to be possible to import your playlists into Plex, either en masse by importing the iTunes Library XML file, or individually by exporting playlists one at a time and then importing into Plex. These should work as long as both Plex and iTunes are referring to files by equivalent paths. If you've tried this and failed, then try exporting a playlist from Plex (if that is possible) and compare to one from iTunes. Perhaps there is some path manipulation that needs to be done to make an iTunes export acceptable to Plex.

tt2