For quite a while, having a large iTunes library and being slightly OCD about hyper-organizing it presented a unique problem for me: how do I consolidate down to one library, accessible from both my work and home computers without having to go through the inconvenience of manually syncing and/or utilizing 3rd party software to get the job done. While on the surface this may seem like simple laziness I am a firm believer that a process, any process should involve as few steps as possible to be truly useful (my method, once set up is a 0-step process). I decided to approach the situation in the same way I expected results— simply, and you are going to be surprised just how. This method syncs podcasts (it even remembers if you have only played part of an episode), ratings, play count and playlists, none of which I have seen other methods be able to do. You also have the added benefit of being able to *cough cough* back up an album or two to a friends computer.

First off, one small caveat. I have not tried it as of yet but I do not believe this method will work between macs and pcs. It SHOULD work with two of the same class, but due to the differences between the way the system creates file paths I doubt it would work across platforms. If you have tried this between a Mac and PC and found this method to work, please let me know. Be warned that I have not tried this method on a PC. BACK UP ALL FILES BEFORE DOING ANYTHING! I am not responsible if you screw something up!

1. Get an external HDD. I got the WD Passport 120Gb. It is only a 5400 rpm drive, but it runs off the USB2.0 bus power, handy if you have a laptop as I do.*
2. Make sure both versions of iTunes are of the same version. I am not sure this is a necessary step, but you never know what kind of discrepancies the two libraries will have when running two different versions of iTunes. This is a necessary step.
3. Set up iTunes. On my work machine which I use more often, I have the “Keep iTunes folder organized” checkbox checked, and at home I don’t. No need to have them both doing the same thing. I have “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library” box checked on both machines. We do after all want to have all our music in one place!
4. Have iTunes on your main computer organize your files if you haven’t done so.
5. Close iTunes.
   
6. Move your iTunes Library file and all songs to the external drive. You can find it by looking in your iTunes prefs. under the “Advanced” tab. By default this will include the “iTunes Library” file. Don’t change anything here! Keep all folders named the same thing!
7. Make an alias(shortcut on a PC) of the iTunes Library file you just moved. This file is called “iTunes Library” and is by default on a Mac located in the root of the “Music” folder, but on a PC it is in the “iTunes ” sub folder.
8. Move your alias to the original location(the one where iTunes looks). Go ahead and throw the original file(the one still on your PC, not the one on the HDD) in the trash, and rename the alias “iTunes Library.”
9. Fire up iTunes. If all went well, you should see the HDD light flashing for a second or two, and iTunes will open as it always has. I have noticed that on my home computer, when I start iTunes after having it on my work comp, it has to go through an “updating” phase when you launch.This should take a minute or so depending on the drive speed and how much music you have. I assume this is updating the “iTunes Music Library.xml” file, which can be used as an automatic backup of sorts.
10. Rock out.

The way this works is when you fire up iTunes, it will look for the “iTunes Library” file, which is a shortcut pointing to the version on your external drive, which is used by both computers. When you shut down iTunes, it updates the “iTunes Music Library.xml” file, giving you a very recent backup should something go wrong. As always, make sure you back up your music often! There have been a few scary “this drive was not properly ejected” moments where I thought I had lost my entire library. Don’t let a half-second of stupidity ruin a lot of time building a music library.

Hope this works for everyone as well as it has for me!

—d

*WARNING: I discovered this the hard way, but my PowerBook did not have enough power going through the bus to properly power this drive. I was forced to buy a powered external hub to get it working properly at home. I don’t believe this is an issue for the new MacBooks and MacBookPros.

Links

• OmniNerd: Extended iTunes Ratings
• Andrew Escobar: How to set Half-Star Ratings in iTunes
• Download iTunes