@Thread: The largest iTunes library I've ever had was around 150 gigs. (Of constantly cycling music, never kept the bulk of it in there for too long.)
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iPod Largest iTunes library
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iTunes Music Library.xml = 479 GB (on SSD boot drive)
[Edited - couldn't edit title - should be 479 MB not 479 GB]
I hope to find some way of improving iTunes performance or a better solution than iTunes for managing my large music collection.
I have iTunes Music Library.xml = 479 MB (on SSD boot drive)
Song Files (mp3) = 216,903 (on 3TB internal Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 via SATA 3.0Gb/s on MOBO)
Latency is a very big problem for me.
I have tried many things:
+ Upgraded to faster PC, more RAM
+ Defragmented hard drives
+ Switched to SSD boot drive to speed up read/write of iTunes Music Library.xml
+ Disabled 'live updating' in smart lists
etc.
Nothing really helps very much.
Seems like I've spend half my life waiting for iTunes to handle mouse clicks - then when it finally responds, it sometimes handles mouse clicks in the wrong order. Miserable.
I would almost be willing to switch (back) to Mac (ditched it and switched to Windows back when OS 9 couldn't support long file names) but I notice that Mac users with big libraries seem to have the same latency / scrolling problems that I have.
I know the problem is the size of the library xml file but that is partly because I'm an obsessive catalog freak: I research data constantly, adding details of all the sidemen on each track, etc.
My guess is that iTunes is hopelessly doomed.
XML is probably the problem - a scalable library app probably should run off of a separate dedicated database.
[Edited - couldn't edit title - should be 479 MB not 479 GB]
I hope to find some way of improving iTunes performance or a better solution than iTunes for managing my large music collection.
I have iTunes Music Library.xml = 479 MB (on SSD boot drive)
Song Files (mp3) = 216,903 (on 3TB internal Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 via SATA 3.0Gb/s on MOBO)
Latency is a very big problem for me.
I have tried many things:
+ Upgraded to faster PC, more RAM
+ Defragmented hard drives
+ Switched to SSD boot drive to speed up read/write of iTunes Music Library.xml
+ Disabled 'live updating' in smart lists
etc.
Nothing really helps very much.
Seems like I've spend half my life waiting for iTunes to handle mouse clicks - then when it finally responds, it sometimes handles mouse clicks in the wrong order. Miserable.
I would almost be willing to switch (back) to Mac (ditched it and switched to Windows back when OS 9 couldn't support long file names) but I notice that Mac users with big libraries seem to have the same latency / scrolling problems that I have.
I know the problem is the size of the library xml file but that is partly because I'm an obsessive catalog freak: I research data constantly, adding details of all the sidemen on each track, etc.
My guess is that iTunes is hopelessly doomed.
XML is probably the problem - a scalable library app probably should run off of a separate dedicated database.
Last edited:
Am I missing something? your sig says your boot drive is 180gb. Then you say you have your iTunes XML file(479gb) on the same boot drive?
Am I missing something? your sig says your boot drive is 180gb. Then you say you have your iTunes XML file(479gb) on the same boot drive?
Woops.
Edited - couldn't edit title - should be 479 MB not 479 GB
Other than itunes not performing well with such large libraries check the speed at which your drives are spinning.
iTunes doesn't seem to like big collections. I have 38k songs. Most at 320kbps. Some lossless/flac conversions and done really bad low kbps. Then then 300 movies which I encoded at 1gb each for ease of management on my iPad. I'm going to take on a new project to up then to full res as times change. I currently run it all off of a 4th drive and back up to another monthly along with iPhoto's files.
My iTunes Library folder currently sitting at 5.46TB
1,547 movies
2,355 TV episodes (33 series)
11,600 songs
1,547 movies
2,355 TV episodes (33 series)
11,600 songs
6.4 TB iTunes Library folder
36,439 Songs, 95 days, 227.16 GB
1,124 Movies, 84.5 days, 3.41 TB
93 TV Shows (5,054 episodes), 94.2 days, 2.76 TB
36,439 Songs, 95 days, 227.16 GB
1,124 Movies, 84.5 days, 3.41 TB
93 TV Shows (5,054 episodes), 94.2 days, 2.76 TB
5921 songs, 19 days, 127.49 gb (451 albums) in Apple Lossless
I haven't tallied up my iTunes purchases which are separated on another laptop.
I haven't tallied up my iTunes purchases which are separated on another laptop.
So 2 questions for those with huge libraries:
1) For those with a lot of music - do you still subscribe to a service like Beats or Spotify?
2) How are you backing up your data - online backup, discs, external hard drives...or a combination?
1) For those with a lot of music - do you still subscribe to a service like Beats or Spotify?
2) How are you backing up your data - online backup, discs, external hard drives...or a combination?
you really spent $15k on iTunes purchases?
Also, will you ever have enough time to watch 1547 movies? or 2,355 tv episodes?
Here are screen shots of
Music
Movies
TV Shows
as reported by iTunes. That said, total iTunes folder size is around 12.6TB, even though iTunes is only reporting around 11TB of media files (need to reconcile this, but don't have the time right now).....
Music
Movies
TV Shows
as reported by iTunes. That said, total iTunes folder size is around 12.6TB, even though iTunes is only reporting around 11TB of media files (need to reconcile this, but don't have the time right now).....
Attachments
My iTunes library currently clocks in at 79.42 GB (and growing, as I still buy CDs) which means that my iPod Touch at 64GB and my old iPod Classic at 80GB have, neither of them, sufficient capacity for my entire library.
For now, my library is capable of being transported, in its entirety, in my iPod Classic of 160GB - a marvellous device.
My computer is not the problem; at present, my MBA is equipped with a SSD of 512 GB - which is more than adequate for my needs.
However, reading this thread, some of my fellow posters have truly breathtaking iTunes libraries; count me seriously awed and shocked, and impressed.
For now, my library is capable of being transported, in its entirety, in my iPod Classic of 160GB - a marvellous device.
My computer is not the problem; at present, my MBA is equipped with a SSD of 512 GB - which is more than adequate for my needs.
However, reading this thread, some of my fellow posters have truly breathtaking iTunes libraries; count me seriously awed and shocked, and impressed.
I will never subscribe to Spotify or Beats. Why pay for inferior streaming sound?
And I prefer to own my music, no data connection needed.
I use iTunes Radio for my daughter but except for that just good ole music.
I have external hard drives to back up my music.
Actually, the answer to question 1) is 'no'. As has already been argued, why pay for an inferior streaming sound?
And, I am with albertfallickwa, also, on the answer to question 2), which is, that I, too, believe that when one buys a CD one can legitimately claim to 'own' that music, (as long as one does not seek commercial gain from this ownership). Therefore, I prefer to own my music, and so, don't use data connection services. At all.
Honestly I don't see people with large libraries using streaming services unless it was to help find new music which still wouldn't be too much of an issue for someone with a large library (how did they get a large library in the first place
). Like people said before, streaming does have noticeable lower quality and does require internet which may not be available.
about to fill up my 2nd 2TB on movies.
just short of 1TB on music
Movies: mostly TV-shows. Very little amounts of movies. All nicely cleaned up and categorized.
Music: I've been collecting digital music since about 15 years (Napster, Limewire, Donkey), copying friends' ipods and mp3 players alike, DJ collections, digitalizing own CD collection. That's the illegal copying period.
Whenever I have spare time I sort them out and tag them.
Since a couple of years I'm following a more legal path by buying the tracks I love on Beatport and iTunes, replacing my old - and mostly poor encoded - music tracks.
Nowadays I just keep the old music collection for searching interesting tracks which I then try to find via the legal circuit. Sure you might be able to find them for free but it's not worth the hassle. Buying guarantees quality encoding and it's cheap.
just short of 1TB on music
Movies: mostly TV-shows. Very little amounts of movies. All nicely cleaned up and categorized.
Music: I've been collecting digital music since about 15 years (Napster, Limewire, Donkey), copying friends' ipods and mp3 players alike, DJ collections, digitalizing own CD collection. That's the illegal copying period.
Whenever I have spare time I sort them out and tag them.
Since a couple of years I'm following a more legal path by buying the tracks I love on Beatport and iTunes, replacing my old - and mostly poor encoded - music tracks.
Nowadays I just keep the old music collection for searching interesting tracks which I then try to find via the legal circuit. Sure you might be able to find them for free but it's not worth the hassle. Buying guarantees quality encoding and it's cheap.
You might be the winner. 6.4 TB holy sh**t and I am thinking my 600gb is quite a lot already.