NAS, a Mac and a PC

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Level 1

54 points

NAS, a Mac and a PC

I've just implemented a Western Digital World Book NAS drive on my home network.

After royally messing up my library (by not searching this forum on how to move my library to the new location) and a week of painstakingly re-linking a lot of my files on my Mac, I've got everything working well.

It's slower than I'd like, but I realize that it's a tradeoff to be able to share the songs across multiple computers in the house.

After getting my library "fixed" - I went to add the library to my wife's Toshiba PC.

That all worked well.

The next time I opened iTunes on my Mac - there were broken links again ⚠

I realized that it must have something to do with the length of the file names - because the vast majority of broken links were for tracks with long album titles or song titles. (example: "A Love Supreme: Part 1 - Acknowledgment")

My guess is that my wife's computer - being a PC - shortened some file names which in turn broke the links for my Mac iTunes. I disabled her setting for "Keep Files and Folders organized" and I'm slowly going back through and fixing the tracks with broken links ⚠ .

I wanna be sure that I've isolated the source of the issue before I do all of this again and find out that I still have the same problem.

I plan to use the Mac as the entry point for any new music into the library.

I'm experimenting with disabling the "Keep files and Folders organized" on my mac - but i've just added a few individual tracks from unrecognized promo singles and had to manually add the songs to the correct artist folders.

Should I Keep Files & Folders Organized on my Mac only?

Any help or discussion about this issue would be great.

Thanks in advance.

20 iMac G5 / 80GB iPod (but waiting for full screen iPod w/o phone) :)

Posted on Jun 6, 2007 7:17 AM

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Answer 1

Cander

Level 3

850 points

Jun 6, 2007 7:28 AM in response to Jason Junker

You could avoid as these issues including having to update the library on all computers when you add new songs by using 1 computer as the base library and use iTunes sharing to stream to the other iTunes on other compuers.

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Answer 2

Jason Junker Author

Level 1

54 points

Jun 6, 2007 7:37 AM in response to Cander

I tried that before investing in the NAS drive, but I couldn't sync her iPod on her computer with her musical tastes.

I'd be all for syncing all iPod's in the house on my Mac, but I don't want to manage the syncing manually - I use the "sync all checked" option.

And I can't have my daughter syncing my explicit content files on her iPod and I don't want her Hillary Duff tracks on mine... and my wife doesn't want the majority of my 80's music!

I figure the easiest way to do it is to have a master library containing everyone's music (that I put in with my mac) and using My wife's compuetr to sync her ipod, my computer to sync my iPod etc...

My wife's iTunes would have only her favorite tracks checked - Mine would have my favs checked - and I've not even gotten around to messing with my daughters yet. I might manage her's manually through playlists on my computer to control the content better. (she's 8 btw)

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Answer 3

Cander

Level 3

850 points

Jun 6, 2007 7:40 AM in response to Jason Junker

Ahh I see. Ok well, then yes to your question. Just keep 1 computer set to Keep file organized, and the rest uncheck it and you should be fine.

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Answer 4

Jason Junker Author

Level 1

54 points

Jun 6, 2007 8:00 AM in response to Cander

Thanks Cander.

I've been syncing my iPod this way since I first got my 3Gen iPod a few years ago (i'm on my 4th ipod) - and I know they've made improvements to iTunes.

Is there a better way to achieve what I wanna do with just 1 computer?

Is there a way to manage 2 or 3 iPods on 1 computer using seperate "itl" or "xml" files for each iPod's library?

As it is now, I still have to go to My wife's computer and "add files or folders" to her library to get the newest tracks to add to her library - and over the network, it could take a full day If I did the whole library. Instead I write down what I've added on my Mac and just go through on her computer and add those folders.

I've read some things about holding down a "shift" or "command" key to select a library on iTunes startup... (part of my discovery on how I F-ed up my library when moving it in the first place)

Would this be the way to achieve that?

Can I have 3 seperate data files that manage the preferred tracks for 3 different iPods?

Would I have to update all 3 data files or would they all stay current when I added tracks?

EDITED - well wait...!

I'm reading this:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300432

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Answer 5

Jun 6, 2007 7:52 AM in response to Jason Junker

The next time I opened iTunes on my Mac - there were
broken links again ⚠

This can/will happen if the network volume is not mounted when you open iTunes. iTunes will reset it's music folder location to the local drive, causing it to 'lose' the stuff on the network drive. Check the iTunes preferences to verify this. If it has changed, just correct it and iTunes will go through the library and correct the links again (doesn't take too long.)

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Answer 6

Jason Junker Author

Level 1

54 points

Jun 6, 2007 7:54 AM in response to Mike Evangelist1

thanks!

I did read something in another thread about someone who had written a script to mount their drive on startup... so I'm careful to be sure mine is mounted before opening iTunes.

Thank you.

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Answer 7

Cander

Level 3

850 points

Jun 6, 2007 8:00 AM in response to Jason Junker

"I've read some things about holding down a "shift" or "command" key to select a library on iTunes startup... (part of my discovery on how I F-ed up my library when moving it in the first place)"

Yeah I do believe you can do this. I have never tried it but did hear it was added in itunes 7. That would be a good way to have a seperate library for each iPod user in the house for syncing purposes.

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Answer 8

Jason Junker Author

Level 1

54 points

Jun 6, 2007 8:07 AM in response to Cander

Thanks again Cander.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300432

It looks like maybe "Method Three" might be my solution.

Does anyone else know if each library file will automatically check for new music added into the library while the other music libraries were active?

man - this is getting confusing.

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Answer 9

Cander

Level 3

850 points

Jun 6, 2007 8:14 AM in response to Jason Junker

I am pretty sure you will have to manually update each library. iTunes doesn't have any discovery features as of yet.

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Answer 10

Jason Junker Author

Level 1

54 points

Jun 6, 2007 8:17 AM in response to Cander

so it sounds like I'd be doing the same thing on 1 computer as I'm doing on multiple computers.

I might try setting up a sepreate library on my wife's computer for my daughter's iPod to see how it works.

Her play counts are all still at 0 and aren't as important to her if I mess something up!

🙂

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Answer 11

Jason Junker Author

Level 1

54 points

Jun 6, 2007 8:46 AM in response to Jason Junker

btw - my original question has been answered.

Thanks.

If anyone can shed more light on the multiple iPod's on 1 computer topic - that's great.

I'll report my expierence after trying to create a new library on my wife's computer.

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