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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location Apps
I have my iTunes library on a remote machine (a SnapServer SAN device, actually). This is all well and good, but if iTunes loses its connectivity to the device, then it silently starts saving files to ~/Music -> iTunes Music -- without telling me that anything has changed. This means I then have to change the library location preferences, and then re-import the files once the device is back online.

What I have done to solve this is to make the default iTunes music folder read only. iTunes fails when trying to copy there now, but I still need to reset the preference. I just don't need to re-import, although it wants to re-index. I wish Apple would be smarter about the prefs for iTunes, or at least warn you before changing your library location.
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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location | 13 comments | Create New Account
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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: filip on Jul 20, '04 10:10:49AM

I have an external drive that has my music library on it. This is for the purpose so both I and my grilfriend can listen to music when one of our laptops is not at home. This is great apart from 2 things.
1. The issue you mentioned which we resolve by consolidating library once we plug the external drive. All new tracks get copied into the main library and we manualy delete everything from the default library.
2. The issue of syncing the itunes database....which i still have to do manualy and i wish there was a quicker way of dooing it.
If anyone has an answer to this it would be most appreciated.



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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: escowles on Jul 20, '04 10:30:53AM

The solution I have settled on is to have the entire iTunes folder reside on the shared disk, and replace the iTunes folder on each machine with an alias to the version on the shared disk.

This means that everything in the database is shared -- new songs, titles, ratings, playlists, etc. (which might not be what you want). But it definitely fixes the synchronization issues.

One proviso: only one user can run iTunes at a time (this works for me b/c my wife only uses iTunes at home to sync her iPod), and every user must be able to write to the iTunes Library file and the iTunes directory (to create a temp file). I ran into some permissions problems with this, so I made a shell script to fix the permissions and launch iTunes.

-Esme



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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: lunarobverse on Jul 20, '04 10:40:36AM

I started doing this as well (keeping my iTunes library on an external drive) and for some reason, sometimes, when I start iTunes, it can't find some of the songs.

It looks like it's being caused by a timeout as the external FireWire drive spins up.

This creates a problem that I have only been able to resolve manually. I have to go through my library (around 3000 songs) and find the ones with the little exclamation marks on them, then re-point the entries to the files.

For now, I try to make sure the drive is spinning before launching iTunes but it's a pain in the fundament. If anyone has any suggestions for a) making sure it doesn't "lose" the files, and/or b) an easier fix if it does, I'd be most appreciative!



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hmmm, I don't have this problem
Authored by: baronworm on Jul 20, '04 04:13:12PM

I have observed that itunes (I'm running version 4.6, I'm not sure if this is true of older versions) will automatically "reattach" a track that it had previously marked as missing, if that track suddenly reappears in its original location.

For example, if I have try to play a track that itunes can't find because it's on an external firewire drive that hasn't powered up yet, I can do the following:

(1) click "cancel" when itunes asks if I want to try and find the missing track
(2) power up the external drive that holds the missing track
(3) double-click this track in itunes (which now has a "!")
(4) itunes finds the track, and the "!" is gone

HTH
rob



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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: jamiefiedler on Jul 20, '04 05:03:28PM

if you don't mind waiting a few minutes for itunes to recatalog your library, simply reimport your library from preferences -> advanced -> itunes music folder location -> change... and reselect the same folder you used before.

you do not need to delete your library first, nor do you need to worry about duplicates, as this will only add/repair items not currently shown as normal (no ! or ?)



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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: jspivack on Jul 20, '04 05:16:13PM

try writing a quick script:
- try open <external drive name>
-on error, dialog "drive not spun up"
-wait 10
-launch iTunes

or something like that, and rename it iTunes and use it instead of the iTunes app itself.



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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: dogboy on Jul 20, '04 11:54:04AM

Attach the "New item alert" script to your internal music folder via folder actions. Then at least you will get a warning when iTunes starts writing to it.



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Consolidate Library?
Authored by: fritztoch on Jul 20, '04 12:09:52PM

I have an external drive with all of music, and an iBook that is not always connected to it. When I accidentally launch iTunes and import a song without it, I then:
1) Quit iTunes.
2) Connect drive.
3) Open iTunes.
4) Consolidate library.
Since I keep all iTunes music in this lcoation, the consolidate is only for a song or two (quick), and painless.
Am I missing something?



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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: jbouklas on Jul 20, '04 12:57:35PM

Can't you just make a symbolic link from Users/username/Music/ to your network storage? Then, when it is disconnected, it can't write anything at all, and when it connects it is seamless.

-Jim



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Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: Andreocean on Jul 21, '04 04:36:23PM

Even an alias will do this. iTunes isn't pretty when it breaks, since it can't even read/write the Library file, but it can't do anything unless the external volume is mounted.



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AppleScript Solution to Mount Remote iTunes Library
Authored by: felddy on Jul 20, '04 05:43:18PM

Here is a simple solution that works very well for me. Create an AppleScript like:

tell application "iTunes"
	activate
end tell

Save it as an application on the same mount that contains your music files. To be spiffy, rename it something like "Launch iTunes", and replace the generic icon with the one from iTunes. Now drag the AppleScript from the remote mount to your Dock.

From now on just use this docked script to launch iTunes. If the file system is not mounted, the Dock will mount it, launch the AppleScript and iTunes. If it is mounted you will hardly notice the delay.

Cheers,
Felddy



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AppleScript Solution to Mount Remote iTunes Library
Authored by: Cameroon on Jul 20, '04 08:18:47PM

You know... I think that's a pretty great hint, along the lines of "It's so obvious, it's brilliant!"

Though, I do agree that Apple should make iTunes smarter. It's entirely half-assed that they provide a way to change the default Library location but then fail silently AND change settings when that location isn't available.

iTunes' behavior is as irritating as it would be for Safari to reset your "Home Page" if the page you had set wasn't available when you started up Safari.



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Yet Another AppleScript to Stop iTunes from saving to default Library location
Authored by: Frederico on Jul 23, '04 10:59:27AM
I also use a network volume to centrally store all iTunes Libraries; I use the following script as an iTunes launcher attached to Keyboard Maestro:

set {musicVolume, serverName, userName, userPassword, disksList} to  ¬
{"name of remote volume", "name of remote server", "your user name", "your user password", list disks}
if disksList contains musicVolume then
	log musicVolume & " is mounted"
else
	try
		mount volume musicVolume on server serverName as user name userName with password userPassword
	on error
		display dialog "The iTunes Music Library on volume '" & musicVolume & "' cannot be mounted."
return
	end try
end if
tell application "iTunes" to activate


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