What's the easiest way to manage multiple libraries?

[mr wrong]

Just looking for some suggestions using multiple iTunes libraries. I was wondering if there was a way to be presented with a list of available libraries when shift-starting iTunes.. Right now it only brings up the last used library..

What do most of you here do?

Thanks..

 

[cjmnews]

I use 1 library and have everyone sync to their own playlists. Very easy that way. 6 iPods all different content.

 

[rockmyplimsoul]

I use 1 library and have everyone sync to their own playlists. Very easy that way. 6 iPods all different content.

Just curious, how do you handle play counts, last played date, and rating changes resulting from multiple devices? I suppose its fine if no one plays or rates others' music, but if there's any commonality that can become a problem. My wife will leave her Classic playing hours on end, which causes her played songs to skip the rotation schedule from the smart playlists I use for my iPhone. She also rates songs differently than I do (as well as listens to crap I can't stand )

I was wondering if there was a way to be presented with a list of available libraries when shift-starting iTunes.. Right now it only brings up the last used library..

If you're using multiple libraries, you've probably structured things such that each library's .itl file is using the default name and is located where each libraries native files are located. But you don't have to do things that way -- you can give each library's .itl file a unique name (e.g. "Jennifers Library.itl") and you can put all the .itl files in the same folder, separate from their respective media folders. That way, when you Shift-start iTunes and select "Choose Library", the last location it looked will have all the .itl files available to choose from. Doing this will not re-organize the libraries' native media files.

Also note that you can ignore the .xml files, those are created by iTunes automatically but not used by iTunes.

 

[cjmnews]

Just curious, how do you handle play counts, last played date, and rating changes resulting from multiple devices? I suppose its fine if no one plays or rates others' music, but if there's any commonality that can become a problem. My wife will leave her Classic playing hours on end, which causes her played songs to skip the rotation schedule from the smart playlists I use for my iPhone. She also rates songs differently than I do (as well as listens to crap I can't stand )

I only use playcounts for Podcasts and Audiobooks. We just ask if anyone is listening to the book (or check the Read Audiobooks playlist) before syncing. The podcasts I adjust my playlist to account for the number of people listening to it. So if there are 2 of us, my playlist will retain the podcast until the playcount is 2 or higher.

For the ratings I created a playlist for each rating. So I have a 2 star, 3 star, etc.

For shared music, I have a playlist that captures those songs. I allow those songs to rotate more often than non-shared songs.

Of course I use Code Monkey's nested smart playlist setup to shuffle more randomly than the iPod can do it. That of course has an exclusion playlist, which stuff I don't want to hear gets put into.