iTunes 12.9 (Mojave) and external old iTunes libraries (i.e. El Capitan)

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iTunes 12.9 (Mojave) and external old iTunes libraries (i.e. El Capitan)

Hello all,

I'll try to be clear enough with my question:

I'm using my MacBookPro (Mojave installed) as a main computer and an old MacPro (El Capitan) as a server.

Since I'm using the iTunes 12.8 (El Capitan) library (.itl) from my MacPro to play my music on my MacBookPro, there is no real issue here. The main issue is that the new library, which is modified by the iTunes 12.9 (Mojave) on my MacBook Pro cannot be read anymore by iTunes 12.8 on my MacPro (you follow? 😕)

With the old versions of iTunes, the compatibility between a library and another was fine but not anymore between Mojave and other old OS X versions. I don't have any issues of loosing music as I'm always saving the last .itl file so I can revert but it's not the solution.

Is there any workaround to have both iTunes libs 12.8 and 12.9 working together?

Many thanks for your support

Cheers

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2012), macOS Mojave (10.14), MacPro with El Capitan (Server)

Posted on Sep 27, 2018 11:48 PM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

278,079 points

Sep 28, 2018 8:02 AM in response to enrico100

You can maintain two sets of library files in the same iTunes folder. Make a split library portable. You can take your El Capitan version of your library and rename it as iTunes Library Old.itl then option-start iTunes to open it. Each system should remember its default library. You'll need to manually replicate certain changes, or find suitable scripts at Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes, or be hapy to let the two versions of your library drift apart slightly over time.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

278,079 points

Sep 28, 2018 7:35 AM in response to enrico100

No workaround, There are times when the internal structure of the iTunes database is altered from one build to another. When that happens your only option if you want to use two different versions of iTunes is to maintain two sets of library files.

tt2

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Answer 3

enrico100 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 28, 2018 7:40 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks a lot for your answer, let see...

I will try the solution with 2 different hard disks synchronized together except the .itl files but it's not really "economic".

Thanks again

Cheers

Enrico

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iTunes 12.9 (Mojave) and external old iTunes libraries (i.e. El Capitan)

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