Greyking
04-14-2006, 01:56 PM
I've been on a mission to get my music folder to synch over multiple PCs, and Itunes to automatically update over the same files. This is all with an eye for when I mod my old xbox and use Xbox Media Center - which will read Itunes and stream music into my home music center. Essentially, what I want is a perfect copy of my music library in multiple places, Itunes synched, and the xbox to read it.
I was SOSTINKING close today - and I'd appreciate any advice on getting me over the last mile.
I created a music folder outside of Itunes:
MyDocuments > MyMusic > ITunes > [no music in here, just the XML file architecture]
MyDocuments > MyMusic > Music > [all music stored here]
I tell Foldershare (foldersharedotcom) to synch 1) the Music folder, and 2) the ITunes folder. This creates a perfect copy of both the music and the XML file that tells ITunes where the music is located.
The next thing to do in each copy of ITunes is to go to Edit>Preferences>Advanced Tab. Inside ITunes Music Folder Location, I re-directed ITunes on both PCs to: C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\Music
This worked almost perfectly, as whenever I made a change here at work, it would make the same change at home - both to the file library and the playlists/library. The only problem was when I first ran the synch over the XML file, it created a duplicate listing in the main library of Itunes for each MP3 file. Inside the playlists, it was fine, and the actual file was only saved once.
However, outside of going through and manually deleting every other file in my over 7,000 file ITunes library, I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the multiple ITunes listings.
Today I had an epiphany. There is a field you can add to your ITunes View called "Date Added to ITunes". I put that in, and now I can sort the whole library by the date added. So, I select everything that was added on the day that I first ran the synch and hit delete.
Well, a bright man would have tested this out on a few files before jumping off this particular cliff. I, unfortunately, am not that man.
Usually, when I delete something out of Itunes, it deletes the ITunes link to the file, not the file itself. Today, it nuked my entire library of music files itself and sent it to the recycle bin. I went there, and hit 'restore files to prior location' and they disappeared into the ether. :eek: :confused:
I'm not totally screwed, the whole library is backed up at home. I just shut down Foldershare as fast as I could so it wouldn't delete the files off home. Using LogMeIn, (logmeindotcom) I hit my home PC, and logged back into my work PC via FTP. I'm currently copying my library back onto my work PC manually. It says it will be done in 11 days, but I hope it will be done later today.
Anyway, I've been trying to get this all to work for quite some time. If and when I figure out the final solution, I'll post it in case anyone wants to try something similar. However, in the meantime feel free to have a laugh at me being such a ####### as to delete my entire 35GB library off my PC today voluntarily.
If anyone has any info what I did wrong
- why did Itunes delete the file itself instead of the Itunes link to it this time?
- is there another way to get rid of duplicate Itunes references to the same files in this scenario with linked file architecture?
Thanks for any advice!
I was SOSTINKING close today - and I'd appreciate any advice on getting me over the last mile.
I created a music folder outside of Itunes:
MyDocuments > MyMusic > ITunes > [no music in here, just the XML file architecture]
MyDocuments > MyMusic > Music > [all music stored here]
I tell Foldershare (foldersharedotcom) to synch 1) the Music folder, and 2) the ITunes folder. This creates a perfect copy of both the music and the XML file that tells ITunes where the music is located.
The next thing to do in each copy of ITunes is to go to Edit>Preferences>Advanced Tab. Inside ITunes Music Folder Location, I re-directed ITunes on both PCs to: C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\Music
This worked almost perfectly, as whenever I made a change here at work, it would make the same change at home - both to the file library and the playlists/library. The only problem was when I first ran the synch over the XML file, it created a duplicate listing in the main library of Itunes for each MP3 file. Inside the playlists, it was fine, and the actual file was only saved once.
However, outside of going through and manually deleting every other file in my over 7,000 file ITunes library, I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the multiple ITunes listings.
Today I had an epiphany. There is a field you can add to your ITunes View called "Date Added to ITunes". I put that in, and now I can sort the whole library by the date added. So, I select everything that was added on the day that I first ran the synch and hit delete.
Well, a bright man would have tested this out on a few files before jumping off this particular cliff. I, unfortunately, am not that man.
Usually, when I delete something out of Itunes, it deletes the ITunes link to the file, not the file itself. Today, it nuked my entire library of music files itself and sent it to the recycle bin. I went there, and hit 'restore files to prior location' and they disappeared into the ether. :eek: :confused:
I'm not totally screwed, the whole library is backed up at home. I just shut down Foldershare as fast as I could so it wouldn't delete the files off home. Using LogMeIn, (logmeindotcom) I hit my home PC, and logged back into my work PC via FTP. I'm currently copying my library back onto my work PC manually. It says it will be done in 11 days, but I hope it will be done later today.
Anyway, I've been trying to get this all to work for quite some time. If and when I figure out the final solution, I'll post it in case anyone wants to try something similar. However, in the meantime feel free to have a laugh at me being such a ####### as to delete my entire 35GB library off my PC today voluntarily.
If anyone has any info what I did wrong
- why did Itunes delete the file itself instead of the Itunes link to it this time?
- is there another way to get rid of duplicate Itunes references to the same files in this scenario with linked file architecture?
Thanks for any advice!