iTunes library on NAS shared with all Mac's

Moved the iTunes folder with everything onto the NAS under Music/iTunes

Held down ALT-Key when starting iTunes and then I choose the Music/iTunes and then it took a few minutes and computer asked if it should copy all the files

so I said yes here.

This does not sound right. It should not need to copy anything. When you started with the alt/option key held down it should have asked you if you wanted to create or use a different library. You then select the iTunes Library.itl file inside the iTunes folder you just relocated on the NAS. IiTunes will, byt hte way, forget this location if you do not have the NAS up and running before starting iTunes each time.

Once you mention NAS then anything erratic in the behavior of iTunes is valid. People love the idea of a NAS for the very sharing you think you are doing (more on that later) but browsing this forum will reveal no shortage of posts about NAS issues with iTunes which people cannot explain.

Realize that while any computer can access this library only one computer can do so at a time. Because you have it set up so there is only one copy of the library file that file can only be open by one computer at a time. If that works for you then fine. If not there is no ideal alternative. You can make it so each computer has its own copy of the library file and only media are shared but then if you add an item using one library the others will not know about it and you will have to remember to add (or delete) the item from all the other libraries..

There are many different ways to share media and libraries on a local network but not the way you desire. If you have a multiple user situation I suspect being able to personalize a library is desirable. You also have to trust the other people not to rename or accidentally delete media.

See Make a split library portable for some general background on ideal library structure. As Limnos has said switching libraries shouldn't cause any prompt regarding copying files. 😕

A workaround might be to have the library in the portable shape but then copy the library files out to each individual machine. Use one as the master library for making edits and then copy its version of the database and album artwork folder to the others after making a change. You wont be able to keep a central record of playcounts, but you should be able to access the media from more than one machine at a time.

tt2

If you don't think there will be any collision of interests then do as turingtest2 describes in his second paragraph. One way is to put a copy of the entire library on the NAS as you have done and run one computer as the master computer using that copy of the library file. Copy the iTunes folder from that master library but omit the media folder -- just everything else. Put a copy of this trimmed folder on each computer and start iTunes using this library (alt/option key etc.). Hopefully it should look for the media on the NAS as long as the NAS is mounted. If it does not then it may be necessary to get the library to search for media on the NAS by finding one the file one broken link should use, then let iTunes find others.

This may be decidedly obvious and not useful but have you tried setting up home sharing. Though i'm not a fan of the concept generally, I've got a similar set up as you, although my media is far less organised being held in multiple drives/directories etc.... but the home sharing thing generally does work at a basic level from what i've seen. I do know i can access media on computers other than my own MBP if they are on the network.... it can be a little clunky, but it works. Option B, one that I took ages ago is to get Plex.... it seems to work reasonably flawlessly across multiple devices without any of the iTunes trauma.

I seem not to get it right. I bought a Mac and all of my mp3's are on a NAS. I had the library on my mac mini. I was able to copy that library (ITL) to my new mac, but iTunes simply came with exclamation marks for all the songs. The songs point to my nas. They are still there. The only way I can get it working is to manually select all of my 5000 plus songs and point them to the NAS or to have all songs copied to my new MAC. Neither solution makes sense. Why would I want all of my songs copied ? I have been struggling for hours and reading a zillion posts, but this seems a common problem. Anyone any ideas ?

The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.

Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case.

In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info, or when playing a track, but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.

If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:

1. The location of the media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced
2. The location of a sample missing track shown under Get Info > File > Location that begins file://localhost/
3. The true path to the file whose details you gave in 2

tt2

TT2, first of all: thank you for your quick reply. I had already read your article about a split library and that seems what I have or want to have. I have everything backed up, so there is no issue there. My NAS is ethernet connected. It shows as shared in Finder, not as device. In iTunes preferences I have under advanced "/Volumes/iTunes Bibliotheek op WD/iTunes/iTunes Media". That is not the NAS, that is an additional external harddisk. On that volume only resides the library. The actual mp3 files are on the NAS, " afp://Cloudy._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Muziek/Sonos Muziek op Cloudy. I could easily create a new library, but then everything shows as created today etc.

Do you recall what the setting for the media folder was on the previous computer? At a guess it should probably be //Cloudy._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Muziek/Sonos Muziek op Cloudy but I'd like to see actual values for 2 & 3 to be sure.

tt2