Trying to set up second music library

[igator210]

Hey everyone. See if I can do something and looking for advice.

I've been using iTunes since the day it came out 10 years ago. And now, my current library of over 10,000 songs is sadly in need of some TLC.

I want to take all my cd's (yes, I still by cd's) and recopy them to my computer. I could wipe out my current iTunes library and start fresh, by I don't have enough ambition to copy over 600 cd's in one day; more likely it will take a few weeks. I would like to be able to set up a new folder and once I get them all copied, delete my current library and switch to the new library. The reason I want to take this approach is that I don't want to lose the ability to sync my iPod Touch until I got everything recopied.

Is it a possible to do something like this within iTunes, or should I be looking at a different program.

Nate

 

[mchalebk]

I don't know if you can do what you want to do, but I don't understand why you feel the need to do this separate from your existing library. In other words, I'm trying to figure out why you think you need to go down this road.

I recently made a concerted effort to get all my (1500+) CDs into iTunes. Many of them had already been ripped years ago, but either as MP3s or s lower bitrate AACs than I presently use. As it turns out, if the album, artist and song titles are the same, iTunes will give you the option to replace the existing files with the updated rips. This was a real bonus for me, be cause I put a lot of effort into tweaking the CD info downloaded when I rip (there are so many mistakes from CDDB). This made the job a lot easier.

Out of curiosity sake, why do you feel the need to do this separate from your present library?

 

[igator210]

Over the years, because Gracenotes isn't always accurate, I've used programs like TuneUp and TidySongs to help keep information straight. And while pretty decent for what they do, they too have issues, especially when it comes to compilation cd's. As such, I now have a lot of orphaned songs. Heck, I even have some songs that are mislabeled because of TuneUp and Tidysongs.

I know its anal of me, but I just want to start fresh. Take the past 10 years of learning and create (and maintain) a better library.

 

[mchalebk]

There might be ways to switch between iTunes library files and pull this off, but I'm not sure how well that would work. This really sounds like something that would be better off being done on a different computer. However, since you probably only have access to one Mac, that probably doesn't help much.

 

[Brian33]

Easy to do!

Oh, this is easy to do! I've done it to re-rip all my CDs into lossless format.

The secret is the startup option: before starting iTunes, press and hold the Option (alt) key. While holding it down, start iTunes by clicking the icon in the Dock (or double-clicking the .app file).

You'll get a small dialog box allowing you to create a new library, or choose among the iTunes libraries already created. So create a new library, give it a unique name (I called mine iTunes Lossless), and you can start over with a brand new blank library.

Each time you Option-click to open iTunes, you'll the the opportunity to choose which library you want to work with. (If you open iTunes without the option key down, it will open in whichever library you last used.)

So, just make sure you're in the right library before connecting your iPod, and you can continue using it as you always have while in the midst of your re-ripping project. Once you're done and happy with your new library, you can sync your iPod to it, and delete the old library if desired to save disk space.

Worked for me. Good luck!

Regards,
Brian33