Help With iTunes!

[Jugger Grimrodd]

Hello!

I am hoping that one of you smart folks can help me overcome an annoying problem and develop a working strategy for my library management.

Some facts about my iTunes Library:

• My library contains about 70,000 items.
• Currently it is stored on an external drive (Drobo).
• I keep two copies of every track (128kbps VBR and Apple Lossless). The lossless files are basically used for backup purposes and for streaming to my home stereo. The lossy files are used on my various iPods and are actually the most accessed.

As you can see, I have a very large library. I am sure that you can imagine just how slow the library is for management purposes through iTunes. It is extremely slow, so slow that coverflow has problems keeping up. I am sure this is in part due to the hardware I am using and in part to iTunes.

I am looking to break the two formats up and put my lossy library on my local hard drive (these are the files I use most) while keeping my archival copies on the remote hard drive (which is a Drobo that has problems reading and writing at the same time - more so than any other external HDD I have ever used -but that's ok - it protects the data and that is the important thing). I am hoping that moving the library to a local location will speed things up for me.

I am aware that iTunes allows you to maintain multiple libraries, however, it's not smart enough to allow you to store these libraries in multiple locations and figure out what goes where. You must go into preferences and change the location of the music folder and then sit through the modification of the library xml file. If you tell iTunes not to copy music to the music folder, you still have to go through the xml update every time you add media because I want to burn to one folder and then convert to another.

Is anyone doing the same thing and found a way to manage this better? Am I missing something? Perhaps I should be managing this outside iTunes? Although I would prefer not to, I am not adverse to using Apple Scrips or third party applications. I just need to figure this out.

I am also struggling to figure out how to separate and move the files. I have tried to use spotlight to search for the files, but the sheer volume of files seems to give it problems. The only way that I can see to do this, is to create a second library and delete lossy on one and lossless on the other (I just wouldn't delete the files). I would then move the music folder on the lossy to my home drive (I am not sure what the difference between "Consolidate Library" and moving the folder. I think consolidating the library physically moves the file, while moving the folder will result in the files being in both places. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I can only dream that one day, Apple releases "iTunes Pro" or updates iTunes to allow for more advanced options and smarter library management.

Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

[Jugger Grimrodd]

Ohhh! What if I created another profile on the computer and kept separate libraries that way? AIEEEEEE! Anyone doing that?!?

I would have to rip CD's twice - or find the files - but that might work.

[Galley]

There is a "Convert and Export" script that you can use to convert the lossless files to AAC, and then copy to another folder.
Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes ♫ Managing Files

[JediKeri]

Hmmm, are they making external hard drives Wi-Fi capable yet? I was thinking if one is out there...put it on your network just make sure it's password protected so only you can get into it and get what you need.

[baseballboy828]

WiFi has not been, and will likely never be done. Ethernet connectivity (NAS) is widely available.

[Raven]

Jugger - do not, I repeat, do not create two libraries/ profiles. I did that, all in innocence, since I've got a very large library myself. I wanted to put a smaller, better-loved collection on my MBP's internal HD, while maintaining the full library on my external drive.
I have no problem switching from the library on the internal drive to the library on the external. However, every time I switch back, iTunes loses track of all the files in the internal library, and I then have to re-add them. Poof! and I lose all the downloaded artwork, play counts, and gapless info (and an hour while it all re-adds). End result: v. angry Raven and an internal library that thinks I acquired 30Gb of music last week.
If you figure out a better solution, I would be very interested to hear it. In the meantime, I too am awaiting iTunes Music Geek.

[Jugger Grimrodd]

@Raven - I took action before reading your post. So far, I have not had any issue. Perhaps you are referring to multiple libraries under one user account?

I made an entirely new User account. So I log out of my main account and log into my "Music Archive" user account, which has it's own iTunes preferences. I am never changing any preferences or moving library locations.

It seems to be working and I am not losing any information or finding mysteriously added tracks.

The process looks like this.
1) Buy a new CD.
2) Log into the "Music Archive" account, launch iTunes and insert CD.
3) Tracks are ripped to the lossless archive library (stored on the external HDD - Drobo).
4) I use the Apple Script Galley suggested (thank you). It drops the down converted (128kbps VBR) files to a folder in the shared folder (part of the script). It also removes the down converted tracks from my lossless library, eliminating another headache - duplicates!.
6) I then log into my regular user account and drag the tracks from the shared folder to iTunes, adding them to the lossy library (stored locally)
7) I then delete the files in the shared folder (they were copied when added) and I am done.

It's not as painful as it looks. Better than losing my ratings or dealing with the multiple library issues.

Anybody got any better ideas? Thanks guys!

iTunes needs location profiles. I am just sayin' is all. I am betting that iTunes 8 will make us very happy.