Merge 2 iTunes libraries

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Hey guys,


I want to merge 2 iTunes libraries (an old one and a new one). Most of my Playlists were created with my old library.
How can I merge the audio from my 2 libraries so that I have everything in one place and the songs in my playlists are able to play because the audio is available?
 

chscag

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Have you tried copying the music from one library into the other library? You should be able to just drag and drop the contents of one library into the other. Once the libraries have been combined and you're satisfied everything is working OK, delete the duplicate library.
 
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Have you tried copying the music from one library into the other library? You should be able to just drag and drop the contents of one library into the other. Once the libraries have been combined and you're satisfied everything is working OK, delete the duplicate library.


Many thanks for your reply. I tried copy the artist name folders across to the new library in the way you described but if there is a folder in the old library with the same name as the new library (but with different contents) the copy thinks the folder is a duplicate and ends up missing it out. Is there a better way then this?
 

chscag

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Many thanks for your reply. I tried copy the artist name folders across to the new library in the way you described but if there is a folder in the old library with the same name as the new library (but with different contents) the copy thinks the folder is a duplicate and ends up missing it out. Is there a better way then this?

Don't you have your artist folders broken down by albums? Try renaming the folders to include the album name or if that shows up as a long folder name, you can place a number after the folder. (Folder1, etc.) Example: George Shearing, George Shearing Jazz, George Shearing Easy, George Shearing 1, and so on....
 
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Hey chscag,

All of my itunes folders of labeled with Artist names. I have over 2000 folders so renaming would be a rather long task. Is there another way around this?!

many thanks,
J
 

chscag

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Merging libraries is always a task. I really don't know of an easy way to do it without involving some work, and in your case, lots of work. But we have a lot of clever folks who use our forums so maybe one of them will come up with a better way.
 

Rod


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What version of iTunes are you using? The process of 'Consolidating' libraries is slightly different for each version. Under the iTunes menu check About iTunes for the version number.
 
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What version of iTunes are you using? The process of 'Consolidating' libraries is slightly different for each version. Under the iTunes menu check About iTunes for the version number.



Many thanks chscag..

Hey Rod, I am using version 12.0.1.26

I was thinking maybe I can (find an app to) unpack all my Artist folders into one single folder with all my tracks in it. I could do this with both iTunes folders and then move the old library of tracks into the new folder of tracks. OSX's duplicated detection would then be matching against the more specific Track Title, rather than a non-specific Artist title.

Questions is; if I do away with iTunes standard folder directory will it still be able to locate tracks?!
 
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Hey guys. I was just thinking; instead of clicking on and having to locate each track individually, would it be possible to have iTunes locate multiple songs from a whole playlist, all in one go?
 

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