Merge media libraries from different iTunes computers. A simple trick lets you use two libraries in the new Photos app on Mac. Creating a new library

In this article we will talk about using iPad, iPhone and iPod with one computer. Questions of varying degrees of complexity on this topic are constantly asked in the comments. In the instructions I will give examples of the most obvious and common situations. Previously, I sent this topic to Apple help, but now I wanted to focus on the problem and voice the topic in a little more detail, plus, on our website there is always the opportunity to ask questions and get answers.

Multiple devices - 1 owner

Let's consider the simplest case. One person owns several devices. In this case, there will be no difficulties. You connect your iPad, iPhone, iPod to your computer, launch iTunes and can synchronize any content, choosing what exactly will go to both devices from your media library.

As you can see from the screenshot, the devices coexist perfectly in iTunes when connected at the same time.

Multiple devices, multiple owners. One shared computer

But most often people are interested in the special case when the owners of these devices are different. That is, for example, in a family there is only one computer for everyone, an iPad belongs to one relative, an iPhone belongs to another... Similar questions constantly come in the comments, so I couldn’t just ignore them.

For example, I recently received a question from a girl who doesn’t want her music to be next to her mother’s music (even on iTunes). This is understandable - different taste preferences. The solution, in general, sounds simple: users need different media libraries in iTunes. But how to achieve this? Read on.

Method 1. Accounts

Use different accounts on your computer. This is the most obvious and competent solution. Well, firstly, a personal computer is called personal because it is a personal thing, and that’s what accounts were invented for. Secondly, it's safe! Even from the point of view of Apple devices, using different accounts in the system, you can be sure that someone will not accidentally delete your favorite album, someone will not pump any nonsense into Podcasts and you will synchronize them without noticing, etc. .p.

This solution is a huge plus for owners of computers running OS X. Many applications from iOS 7 (notes, reminders, messages, etc.) are also available in OS X. If users of a shared computer have different Apple IDs, then creating a separate account in OS X , automatically guarantees non-overlapping content. Everyone has their own notes, everyone has their own reminders... When you create an account, you can attach an Apple ID to it.

Method 2: Separate iTunes Library

If suddenly users of a shared computer are satisfied with the shared account on the computer, as well as a common Apple ID (for example, they are husband and wife who trust each other), then, as an option, you can create a separate iTunes library for each user.

1. Close iTunes.

2. Press the Shift key (for Windows) or Option key (for OS X, or Alt if there is no Option button) and launch iTunes.

3. A window like this will appear in which you need to click “Create”

4. Give the library a name and save it to the desired location.

5. Apple Help recommends unchecking the “Copy to iTunes Media folder when adding to library” checkbox.

Let me explain in detail what this means using the example of Music. If you do not uncheck this box, then all content will go to your media library, therefore, if content is duplicated in different media libraries, you will have copies of the same files in media libraries. If your content has little or no overlap (for example, one user listens to rock and the other listens to chanson), then there is little point in unchecking the box. But still when general use computer, I would dump all the content into some kind of shared folder, and from there I would add it to iTunes. For example, music is stored on drive C in the Music folder. If the above checkbox is unchecked, then you simply drag the desired albums into your iTunes library. In this case, the files themselves will still be physically located for both users in the Music folder.

Bottom line: after all these manipulations, you can synchronize each device with your media library. Just remember that to switch the media library you need to:

1. Close iTunes.

2. Press the Shift key (for Windows) or Option key (for OS X, or Alt if there is no Option button) and launch iTunes.

3. A window will appear in which you need to click the “Select library” button.

Solution without iTunes library!

Finally, we can give an example of a solution that will not use the iTunes library at all. We use a third-party program iTools (there are also analogue programs, for example iFunbox, but the essence is the same).

Scheme of work in general view looks like this:

1. Connect any iOS device to your computer.

2. Turn on iTools.

3. Add content from your computer to your iOS device.

4. Disconnect the device from the computer.

The obvious advantage of this solution is that everything is very simple! The downside is that iTools deprives us of such a function as synchronization. This means there is a possibility of losing data from iOS in case of any serious problem.

Readers. If you have anything to add, write comments. If you have questions on the topic, write comments. :)

Good day, Habr!

Synchronization for money

In order to always have your iTunes music library with you, you need to pay $24.99. For this money, Apple will transfer your music to the cloud and you can easily synchronize your media library with all your iGadgets. I didn’t want to pay $24.99 to sync music from any computer, besides, the iTunes folder can contain more than just music, but I wanted everything to be always (well, almost always) with me.

Free storage

Library synchronization requires storage. There are many services that offer to store your data, but they are all free up to a certain point and, moreover, not all are suitable for synchronization. But everything is in order...

I chose between three data storage services: Google Drive, Bitcasa and SkyDrive.

Google Drive is an excellent service for storing data, but it stores a lot of documents, books, photos and other files, which together with the iTunes library can exceed 5 GB in size and therefore you will need to pay for space additional funds what you don't want to do.
Bitcasa - offers a lot of space for storing data, but, as it turned out, this service can only synchronize data from one computer. Select a folder on your computer and create a mirror in the storage. Second computer - second folder.
SkyDrive is a direct competitor to Google Drive. 7 GB available for free. It’s quite enough to store a media library (for me), but it’s worth considering that the speed of uploading and downloading files leaves much to be desired.

So I chose SkyDrive. I created a SkyDrive folder on my computer, created an iTunes folder in it and moved the entire library into it. All files immediately began to be uploaded to the cloud. Next, I created a SkyDrive folder on the second computer and files were automatically downloaded from the cloud. All that remains is to indicate in the iTunes program the “iTunes Media” folder in SkyDrive.

Setting up iTunes

Despite the fact that all our library files are stored in one place, in the cloud, we need to tinker with iTunes to work with different computers. iTunes stores additional information about the library in the "...\Music\iTunes" folder. There are four files in this folder that you need to pay attention to:

“iTunes Library.itl” - contains ratings, comments, additional information about playlists and more.
“iTunes Music Library.xml” - contains information about the location of media files in the library.
“iTunes Library Genius.itdb” - recorded after launching the Genius function, your musical preferences.
“iTunes Library Extras.itdb” - contains information from the music CD database.

Of these files, we are only interested in two files: “iTunes Library.itl” and “iTunes Music Library.xml”. There is an ID in these files that blocks iTunes from syncing from another computer (wants to replace all files with those stored in the new library). You can change the identifier in each file, or you can simply save the specified 2 files in the cloud and download them when you need to update your media library. These files can be stored in the same SkyDrive, but create a separate folder. When you need to update your library, you will need to copy these files to "...\Music\iTunes", and after updating the library - back to SkyDrive. Alas, I couldn't come up with anything better. Well, perhaps, store these files in Google Drive or synchronize via Bitcasa into separate folders (for each computer). But this doesn't change things much.

Now you're ready to sync!

Everything is ready for synchronization, but one more point needs to be clarified:

When adding "iTunes Library.itl" and "iTunes Music Library.xml" files to the main iTunes folder, the library files may not be found. The fact is that on another computer the files are located in a different folder and the wrong path is specified in the files that describe the media library.
- The solution to this problem is to explicitly indicate the location of the media file when trying to listen to (view) it. iTunes will find the rest of the recordings itself. Well, or you can use AutoCorrect to try replacing part of the path pointing to the media files. I have not tried to do this, since you need to make replacements in two files and, moreover, you need to store a line containing the path to the file on the new computer in order to know what to change to.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that the above method allows you to keep a library of files always at hand (if you have the Internet), but synchronization between devices requires some additional steps. Of course, I would like to do everything in a couple of clicks and not bother with dragging and dropping additional library files, but I haven’t found another solution yet.

I will be glad to receive useful comments, advice and tips. I apologize for indicating the wrong hubs for the post: none of the others were even close to this topic, at least in name.

As you already know, you can simultaneously synchronize iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad using standard methods using only one iTunes library on one computer. What should you do if you need to synchronize your iOS device with two or more iTunes installed on different computers? How to synchronize an iPhone with several Macs and PCs simultaneously without losing content, read “under the cut.”

To avoid the illegal distribution of content (music, video), Apple has prohibited the synchronization of one iPhone or any other iOS device simultaneously with several iTunes libraries at the software level. This means that your iPhone is linked to only one iTunes library at a time, and if you try to synchronize it with iTunes installed on another computer, all content on the iPhone will be deleted.

iPhone contacts, calendar and personal settings are not affected, all this data is safe. When on another computer, all the music and videos on it will be replaced with those downloaded to the iTunes library.

Fortunately, there is a way to sync an iPhone with two or more iTunes installed on different computers.

How to Sync iPhone with iTunes on Multiple Computers

iPhone is “tied” to the iTunes library using the so-called Library Persistent ID key, if this key in the iPhone library and iTunes with which synchronization occurs do not match, a warning appears:

iPhone “Device name” is synced with another iTunes library to “Name of the computer whose library the iPhone was previously synced with.” Want to delete iPhone content and sync it to your iTunes library?
iPhone can only sync with one iTunes library at a time. Erase and sync replaces the content on your iPhone with the content in your iTunes library.

If you replace the Library Persistent ID key in the library, iTunes will “think” that the synchronization is happening with the library with which the iPhone was previously synchronized. In other words, in order to synchronize an iPhone with iTunes on two different computers (PC or Mac), it is necessary that the Library Persistent ID key in both media libraries be the same.

How to Sync iPhone with Two or More Macs (OS X)

On the computer to which the iPhone was “linked”, run Finder, in the menu " Transition» select the item « Go to folder" or press the keyboard shortcut " Shift+Command+G«.
In the window that appears, enter " ~/Music/iTunes" and click "Go". You can do without entering the address, in Finder follow the path: ~/Users/Username/Music/iTunes .
Extremely We recommend making duplicates of all files in this folder, to do this, select them and copy them to another location on your hard drive, they will be a backup copy just in case.
Using a text editor TextEdit open the file iTunes Music Library.xml and in the line " Library Persistent ID16 characters" select a key consisting of 16 characters and the shortcut " Command+C» copy it to your clipboard. Create a text file and paste the copied key into it.
Go to the computer with which you want to synchronize your iPhone at the same time and repeat steps 1-3 (create duplicate files from the ~/Users/Username/Music/iTunes folder) with iTunes closed.
Delete all files with the extension .itl in a folder Previous iTunes Libraries. If your Mac doesn't have this folder, skip this step.
Open the file iTunes Music Library.xml and replace the set of 16 characters in line Library Persistent ID(located between tags 16 characters) those that were copied from the source file in step 4. Save changes to file.
Open the file iTunes Library.itl, delete all its contents and save the changes.
Open iTunes, a warning window will appear:
It is possible that the file "iTunes Library.itl" is not a valid iTunes library file. iTunes attempted to restore your iTunes library and renamed the file to “iTunes Library (Damaged).”
Don't worry, that's how it should be. Click OK. Ready!

Now you can sync iPhone with two Macs without any errors or warnings, all content (music, video) stored in iPhone will not be deleted when synchronizing with these Macs.

If you need to sync your iPhone with another computer, follow steps 5-10 on that computer.

How to sync iPhone with multiple Windows computers

On the source PC to which the iPhone is “linked” Windows Explorer follow the path: C:/Users/Username/Music/iTunes/.
Create duplicates of all files from this folder just in case.
Any text editor ( Notebook) open the file iTunes Music Library.xml, find the line Library Persistent ID(around line 12), highlight 16 character key between tags And save them to a text file.
On the second PC with which you need to synchronize the iPhone, repeat creating a backup copy of the files along the path: C:/Users/Username/Music/iTunes/.
In a folder Previous iTunes Libraries delete all files with the extension .itl.
In the root folder of iTunes, open the file in Notepad iTunes Library.itl and delete all its contents. Save the changes to the file.
Open the file iTunes Music Library.xml And insert the key from the file created in step 3 with 16 characters into the same line Library Persistent ID between tags . Be careful not to make any further changes to this file. Save your changes.
Launch iTunes. An error warning window will appear (this is normal) and click on "OK".

Now you can sync iPhone between these computers without losing content.

Note:

This procedure was tested between two media libraries on different MacBook Pro based on OS X Mavericks. The process should work on earlier versions of iTunes, just use HexEdit instead of TextEdit. Don't forget to back up all your files, this will help avoid problems and data loss.
After deleting the contents of the iTunes Library.itl file (step 8), an error notification window will appear when you launch iTunes. This is normal, just click “OK” and the error will not happen again, your iPhone will sync with another iTunes without replacing the content.
You perform all the steps described above at your own peril and risk. The site administration is not responsible for your actions.

If you have any questions, problems or suggestions on the topic, welcome to the comments, we will try to help you and will be grateful for your responsiveness.

If you actively use iPhone, iPad and iTunes at home, work or anywhere else, you are probably one of those who are interested in the issue of syncing devices with multiple computers. Besides the fact that this is possible, it is also quite simple.

First you need to decide what solution you need:

synchronization of iPhone, iPad with one iTunes library on two computers;
synchronize iPhone, iPad with two different iTunes libraries on two computers.

In fact, it doesn’t matter at all whether there will be two different computers or several - three, there could be five of them... The principle is the same.

Sync iPhone, iPad with one iTunes library on two computers

I would like to start with the fact that the ability to synchronize music with any computer is available to users of the iTunes Match service. Apple wants $24.99 a year for this feature, but it only allows you to sync music. Therefore, this option is not suitable for us at all.

Most optimal solution is to store the iTunes library in cloud storage, fortunately today there are a lot of cloud services that provide a sufficient amount of disk space.

If you haven’t used them yet or haven’t decided on your choice, I can advise you to focus on the market leaders:

Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud services. The amount of disk space can easily be increased thanks to various promotions and social activities.
Mega is the most ambitious cloud service. Provides 50Gb for free.
Yandex.Disk is a domestic service, inexpensive and very easy to use
Google Drive - a cloud service from the search engine giant
SkyDrive is a direct competitor to Google Drive. Owned by Microsoft.

Of course, the choice is yours, but I highly recommend paying attention to the excellent Mega in every way.

Now that you have created a folder on your computer for the cloud service you like, you need to create a folder in it into which you want to move the entire iTunes library. The library is located in the following directories:

On Mac: ~/Music/iTunes;
On Win: C:\Users\username\My Music\iTunes\.

The files will begin to be uploaded to the cloud.

Now, it’s a small matter, you just need to tell the iTunes program the path to the new location of your media library; this is done by holding down the Shift key (Alt on Mac) when starting iTunes. From now on, to access your iTunes library from any computer, you only need to connect your cloud storage folder.

Sync iPhone, iPad with two different iTunes libraries on two computers

Syncing your gadget with multiple iTunes libraries is not difficult at all, but first you need to do a little work with the library files on your main computer. Otherwise you will see a warning:

“iPhone is synced with another iTunes library on PC. Want to delete iPhone content and sync it to your iTunes library?

In the iTunes library, we are interested in two files “iTunes Library.itl” and “iTunes Music Library.xml”. These files have a special identifier that binds iTunes to one computer and does not allow synchronization. That's why you see this warning.

Close iTunes on all computers;
Make backup copies of all four iTunes Library files;
Opening the file iTunes Library.xml on the first computer;
We look for the string Library Persistent ID XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and save/remember/record it;
On the second computer in the iTunes library, delete all the contents of the Previous iTunes Libraries folder and make a backup copy of all four iTunes Library files;
On the second computer, open the iTunes Library.itl file and delete all its contents;
We launch iTunes and see the error message “The iTunes Library.itl file is probably not a valid iTunes library file. iTunes created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to iTunes Library (Damaged)." Click "Ok".

Now you can synchronize your iPhone or iPad with two computers without data loss; if you need to synchronize with three or more computers (and maybe even with two iTunes libraries on one computer), then you need to do exactly the same procedure on them. The whole problem is in the identifier, and if it is the same everywhere, then the iPhone and iPad will easily accept any foreign library as their own.

If you have not found an answer to your question or something did not work out for you, and there is no suitable solution in the comments below, ask a question through our

For developers, which is notable because it already includes the Photos app, designed to replace iPhoto and Aperture on the Mac. We have already published a first look at the new application, but there are still quite a lot of questions and we decided to collect them in a separate article.

Will it be possible to import events from iPhoto?

Yes. After importing your iPhoto library, the events will appear in the Albums section and will be available in the iPhoto Events album. Open this album and you will see all your events sorted by date.

What about the rating, is it true that Photos does not support it?

Yes, that's true. Star rating has been replaced in Photos with a Favorites feature. However, the rating data is imported from your iPhoto library and you can optionally use the rating to search for photos (for example, photos with 1 star, etc.). If you want to collect all the photos with a certain rating together, then you can create a smart album by setting the desired photo rating in the parameters.

Is it possible to assign a rating using a shortcut?

Actually, no, but there is a trick to get around this limitation. The Photos app has a keyword feature that you can add to any photo. All you need to do is simply create the keywords “1 star”, “2 stars”, etc. After this, each tag will be automatically assigned hotkey from “1” to “5”, which is what we need. Now, to assign a rating, you need to select a photo, open the keyword manager and press the corresponding hotkey.

Is it possible to assign a geotag to already taken photos like in iPhoto?

As far as I know, no. If the photos you import are geotagged (it doesn't matter whether they were recorded with a camera or manually), then they will be applied and sorted accordingly. A way to add a tag to existing photos, on at the moment I didn't find it.

Can I upload some of my photos to iCloud Photo Library instead of all of them?

No. Selective uploading of photos to the cloud is not supported, at least in the beta version there is no mention of this feature. But even here you can use a trick, if, of course, it triples you. The trick is to create a separate library for photos that you don't want to sync and then simply switch between libraries while launching the application (to do this, you need to hold down the key ⌥ )

Are photos duplicated when imported from iPhoto library?

No, photos are not duplicated, so you don't have to worry about the disk becoming full. Finder does show double size, but that's not actually the case. This can be easily checked by creating a separate partition on the disk, the volume of which will be too small to accommodate two media libraries and import photos - they will still fit.

Will Photos work with AppleScripts?

Yes, just like iPhoto, you will be able to use scripts in the Photos app. However, not all scripts are supported in the beta, so many existing iPhoto scripts may not work in Photos. Additionally, Photos does not currently have Automator support.

Does sharing media libraries with other people on my network work like iPhoto?

This feature is not available in the beta version of Photos (apparently for privacy reasons). It is unknown whether it will appear in the final release, but given the recent events with privacy violations and the leaking of celebrity photos, Apple may not implement it at all.

Will there be a Photos version for OS X Mavericks?

No. The Photos app only works on OS X Yosemite. If you want to use it, you will have to upgrade. Apple will no longer sell iPhoto and Aperture licenses, but existing users can use their own copies, which are always available for download in the Mac App Store.

Is there a replacement for Aperture for professionals?

Many are upset that Apple will no longer support Aperture and iPhoto, considering the Photos app to be a failure because it's not useful for power users.

But let me tell you, Photos is not a replacement for Aperture. It does not have brushes, versions or other advanced features. And a built-in free application cannot be a replacement for a professional tool that costs hundreds of dollars.

Most professionals have switched to Adobe Lightroom, which, unlike other Adobe tools, can be purchased with a perpetual license (rather than a Creative Cloud subscription). IN latest version Lightroom has a plugin for importing Aperture and iPhoto libraries. In this case, most of the settings are not imported, but in any case, switching to another instrument is inevitable and the sooner you do it, the better it will be for you.