iTunes on Mapped Network Drive -> Windows to Mac OSX Migration

[BlueArctos]

I understand questions similar to the following have been asked relentlessly (I would know, as I've been searching through them for awhile), however I believe my question introduces some fresh caveats.

My iTunes library file is located on a Windows XP Pro computer. That is to say that the iTunes Library.itl/iTunes Music Library.xml files are located within C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\. Connected to the network is a Buffalo Terastation Pro with 100 GB of music. The Windows XP Pro machine is configured such that one of the Terastation's shares is a mapped network drive (in this case, \\Terastation\Media\ is mapped as drive Y: ). I've spent over 50 hours properly organizing the iTunes library file (manually adding CD covers, fixing ancient/improper titles, artists, albums, and more). iTunes is set NOT to keep the iTunes music folder organized because I have things in a certain, necessary order.

A new MacBook Pro is on its way. In the past if I wanted to share the library with another Windows computer on the network, I'd simply make sure to map the share as drive Y: on the new machine and copy over the .xml/.itl files. To my knowledge, OSX has no similar system for mapping network shares... more importantly, it does not utilize drive letters.

Is there anything I can do to share my current library with my new MacBook Pro? Am I stuck with a beautifully organized iTunes library only available to Windows machines?

Thanks,
BlueArctos

 

[mad jew]

Well you'll have to start by networking the Mac with the PC. Once that's done, hold OPTION as you open iTunes and select the library on the mounted network drive.

 

[BlueArctos]

Well you'll have to start by networking the Mac with the PC. Once that's done, hold OPTION as you open iTunes and select the library on the mounted network drive.

Wow! And it'll work, just like that? (Just to verify - this is under the assumption that the library configuration file is on the desktop computer while the actual music files are on the TeraStation, right?)

Would it be possible to copy my iTunes library configuration (xml/itl) files over to the MacBook Pro instead?

For example,
Scenario: The TeraStation Pro is online 24/7, but the desktop computer with the iTunes library configuration files (xml/itl) on it is only online a few hours per day. The MacBook Pro is online all the time. The user of the MacBook Pro wishes to listen to music on the Terastation. What does he do?

 

[Cleverboy]

Is there anything I can do to share my current library with my new MacBook Pro? Am I stuck with a beautifully organized iTunes library only available to Windows machines?

EDIT: Ah, looks like MJ had an answer.

~ CB

 

[swiftaw]

Well, what I would do is move the 2 library files to the network drive, and then when you get your mac, connect the network drive, open up iTunes with the option key pressed and then select the library file, and you should be all set.

 

[BlueArctos]

Well, what I would do is move the 2 library files to the network drive, and then when you get your mac, connect the network drive, open up iTunes with the option key pressed and then select the library file, and you should be all set.

How do the XML/ITL files refer to file paths? Because everything is currently prefixed with "Y:\" within the XML file, am I going to have issues?

I just can't believe it's as simple as you've described.

Maybe I need to have more faith in the Mac?

 

[swiftaw]

I have no guarantee it'll work, but it's the simplest potential solution, so it's worth a try before you resort to more complex methods.

 

[BlueArctos]

Hrm, LifeHacker sheds some light on the issue:

Convert the Library.xml file from PC to Mac format

Now, the Library.xml file that you exported on the source contains all your music playlists and ratings, but it contains file paths specific to your PC. Macs and PC's deal with file paths differently; PC's use drive letters but Mac's do not. So in order to make it importable by your Mac, we have to find and replace the Windows paths throughout the file with Mac-friendly paths.

To do so, open the Library.xml file in a text editor. If you have a very large iTunes Library, like I do, this file could be several megabytes (19, in my case), so opening it might take more time than usual. If you can, use a machine with LOTS of memory.

Now, you'll notice that the Library.xml file from a PC will contain, along with a lot of other plain text XML markup, references to music locations in this format: file://localhost/F:/path/to/iTunes/. Using a simple find and replace, change those notations to the destination path using Mac format, for example, file://localhost/path/to/iTunes/. Here's what my find and replace looked like, from the PC's F: drive location to my Mac's external drive named "Media":

Notice the Mac path does NOT include a drive letter, but the PC does. Replace the /path/to/iTunes/ with the folder's where your new library lives. Save the edited file. (Depending on the speed of your machine and size of the Library.xml file, this may take a few minutes.)

Make sure you double-check that the source path was correctly replaced with the destination path; if this part isn't exactly right, you'll be screwed later on.

In this case, all I'll need to do is mount the Terastation share, do a Find & Replace for the location, and follow with the directions you've given me (option + click iTunes).

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll let you know how things turn out!