Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Update iTunes in both Windows and OS X

Sesshi

Sesshi

macrumors G3
Original poster
Is iTunes for Windows / OS X capable of updating the same library file so that library status is preserved while using Boot Camp and iTunes both both Win/Mac?
 
As far as I know, no. While iTunes will be able to convert the library file when moving back and forth, I'm almost positive actually sharing it (aside from the location issues, i.e. the Mac library file cannot be on an NTFS disk, while the Windows file needs to me in My Documents).

This has come up in Apple's Discussions before, and IIRC, that's been the answer.
 
Oh I foresaw that issue: The Windows partition is formatted as FAT32. I don't believe the OSX side seeing the Windows library file will be an issue. Bearing that in mind, what are my options?
 
How are the locations not an issue?

The Windows file needing to be in My Documents is an absolute. The only hack to that is the fact that My Documents is a shell folder, which can be changed. If there is no iTunes Library.itl in My Music, then iTunes creates a new one.

On the Mac, even though normally moved/renamed files will automatically be followed, the iTunes library is one the exceptions, and is treated identically to the Windows version.

So, short of that, you may have to keep separate libraries (data-wise. The actual music files can be anywhere on any FAT32 disk, but the ratings, playlists, etc cannot be dynamically updated from one to another AFAIK).
 
If the two machines are on the same network, how about some kind of synching software like Chronosync that would monitor the two library files and update both each time one of them is updated
 
Hudgie said:
How are the locations not an issue?

The Windows file needing to be in My Documents is an absolute. The only hack to that is the fact that My Documents is a shell folder, which can be changed. If there is no iTunes Library.itl in My Music, then iTunes creates a new one.

On the Mac, even though normally moved/renamed files will automatically be followed, the iTunes library is one the exceptions, and is treated identically to the Windows version.

So, short of that, you may have to keep separate libraries (data-wise. The actual music files can be anywhere on any FAT32 disk, but the ratings, playlists, etc cannot be dynamically updated from one to another AFAIK).
Click to expand...

I'm confused. Can't you set your Mac library to whereever you want on the computer under the Advanced menu in Preferences? You then should just be able to set the library as the location on the Windows FAT32 partition, no?
 
The library listed there is the music, not the database files, unless I'm mistaken. On Windows, that's definitely the way it works. When you change the folder, it's where music imported (or, if iTunes manages your folder, music already imported) goes. But the .itl and .xml files stay in My Music (or Music on the Mac).
 
Am I being obtuse? Excuse me if I'm not being crystal clear.

The Mac partition is not visible to Windows. However, the Windows partition is visbile to the Mac as it is formatted as FAT32.

I am after a way of having iTunes (Mac) access the common library files as the Windows library. By library, I mean the file(s) that the iTunes library data is kept in, not the music files themselves (which reside on an external bus-powered drive formatted as FAT32).

If this can't be executed as a settings change or as an application tweak, I am after a way of making the Mac read the Windows partition and comparing / copying / converting over the Windows iTunes library files on startup, as well as copying back the changed iTunes library file(s) to the Windows partition when shutting down.
 
Hudgie said:
The library listed there is the music, not the database files, unless I'm mistaken. On Windows, that's definitely the way it works. When you change the folder, it's where music imported (or, if iTunes manages your folder, music already imported) goes. But the .itl and .xml files stay in My Music (or Music on the Mac).
Click to expand...

If that's the case, you're going to need some third-party hack which may or may not exist (sorry, I like to keep my Mac free and clear of plugins and stuff like that)...

Either that, or stick to using iTunes only on one machine.

I suppose you can also do a psuedo-sync by overwriting one .xml+.itl file with another at regular intervals, but that sounds like a pain in the arse.
 
If it's merely a matter of copying the library files, it's not that hard to automate it to happen upon startup and shutdown of OS X.
 
It doesn't seem to be quite straightforward. There's a library rebuild triggered when I copy over the Windows library files over to Mac.
 
Sesshi said:
It doesn't seem to be quite straightforward. There's a library rebuild triggered when I copy over the Windows library files over to Mac.
Click to expand...

So the library files aren't set up identically on the two OSes? Eek. Sad to say, but this is starting to sound like more effort than it's worth.
 
Sesshi said:
It doesn't seem to be quite straightforward. There's a library rebuild triggered when I copy over the Windows library files over to Mac.
Click to expand...
I don't have Windows available, so I can't investigate into the differences between the files. <snipped> I suspect it's the paths that are different. For instance my Mac library files contain paths like this file://localhost/blah blah/iTunes%20Music/Aimee%20Mann/iTunes%20Originals%20-%20Aimee%20Mann/02%20Nothing%20Is%20Good%20Enough.m4p. They'll obviously not be the same on Windows.

Hm, the .xml file should be possible to convert, but there's also a binary database file. It'll be too large of an undertaking if that one needs to be changed, too.

Edit: I've investigated, and it seems like a move needs changes to the binary file, so it'll not be easy to make a conversion tool to avoid the library rebuild.
 
The paths are slightly different, because Windows needs a drive letter, not just 'localhost'.

When you move from one to another (or at least from PC to Mac), iTunes rebuilds it, and replaces the paths correctly.
 
So which brings me to the next stage of the question: Is there a third-party tool which can accomplish this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back