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Right now, All my music is in /mp3 on my synology nas. I have Itunes on my pc organize all my music.
However, I recently got a bose soundbar, and found that to play my music, it needs to be in the default /music folder on the nas to be seen and played. What is the easiest way to move my music from the /mp3 folder, to the music folder, and not mess anything up with itunes and my tags?
Anyone?
Try selecting Preferences under the Edit Menu, and then selecting the "Advanced" icon in the upper right of the preference dialogue.
Beneath the path statement that identifies the location of your current iTunes Media folder, you'll see two checkboxes labelled "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library." Be sure that a checkmark appears in both boxes.
Click on the "Change" button to the right of the "iTunes Media folder location" display to open the popup screen. Use the directory tree to browse to the default /music folder on your NAS drive. With the default /music folder highlighted, click the "Make New Folder" button in the lower left of the window, and enter the same name as you current iTunes Media folder. (Depending on your installation, this may vary, but it's probably best to replicate the name of the folder on the drive where iTunes is currently storing your media files). Be sure your new folder is highlighted, and click OK.
iTunes will move your media files to the NAS device, and continue to manage and organize them there. (iTunes must remain open until the move is complete.) Your PC's registry should be updated to reflect the new location, so the change should be transparent to relevant applications on your system.
Note that iTunes may become unhappy if loaded whenever the NAS device is inaccessible to the computer on which iTunes is installed. Inability to access your newly created iTunes library may cause iTunes to create a new (empty) library in a default location, (which can vary depending on the version of iTunes installed). In light of this, it's probably a good idea to edit any shortcuts to iTunes on your system by specifying the new media location as the start directory for loading the iTunes app. You can do this in Windows XP, Vista & 7 by right-clicking on any desktop icons you may have, (as well as any line items in your Windows Start Menu), and selecting "Properties," where you can enter the full path to your new Media folder in the box labelled "Start In." On Windows 8+, you can hold down a desktop tile and select "Open file location." On the resulting explorer screen, the shortcut to the executable should already be checked and highlighted. Hold down on the shortcut's highlighted filename, select "Properties," and proceed as indicated for versions XP -- 7.
Once you've specified the new library location in the shortcut properties, iTunes will bypass any previously stored media location defaults and zip right on over to the library on the NAS device. If that device is ever inaccessible, you'll be alerted with a warning message whenever you load iTunes from a shortcut specifying the NAS directory.
So right now, This is where my music is that itunes sees. I have it mapped as Y:\ on my pc, and that is what is under advnaced in itunes.
You are saying to make the MP3 directory under the default music folder?
No, if you just rename the folder, iTunes will lose track of the content. The suggestion is that you tell iTunes to use \Music in future, then consolidate the existing content to the new folder that you've chosen. When the process is complete you can delete the originals.
Actually if the media folder in iTunes is declared as Y:\ and Y:\ maps to \\<Device>\mp3 then you can break the map, rename the folder as Music (you'll need to rename the existing one first, or merge the two together) and recreate the map for Y:\ so it points to \\<Device>\Music, otherwise use the consolidation route.
If you don't already have a backup on another drive of both your library files and media folders I would do that too. See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.
tt2
Thanks. So I will have to setup a share for the default music folder on the NAS, and map it so windows sees it.
Also, where is this consolidate feature? I do not see it in the screenshot above.
It depends on how iTunes is connected to the media now. If you can manipulate things so that the files are where the Bose soundbar software wants them, but appear not to have moved paths as far as iTunes is concerned then you can do that, otherwise tell iTunes where you would like it to move the content to and consolidate to that new path, then remove the originals.
In iTunes, File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate files. You may also be prompted to consolidate files after choosing a new media folder.
Note the way the iTunes does it means you need enough room, at least temporarily, for two complete copies of the media folder. If there isn't enough room see my script ConsolidateByMoving. Backup and test on a couple of sample albums first as I haven't had reason/opportunity to check behaviour on as NAS personally.
tt2
Relocate Itunes Library on my NAS - How?
