iTunes help, por favor

[stevietheb]

Here's what I'd like to have happen:

I have an external hard drive for my iBook. I'd like to put my entire music collection on that drive, and then significantly smaller portions of the same collection on my laptop. This way I'll have ALL my music at home, and just necessary music while on the road. However, I need iTunes to recognize both so that when I have the external plugged in, I can access that library.

Any ideas how I can accomplish this?

Thanks!
stevietheb

 

[sonofslim]

iTunes->Preferences->Advanced. uncheck 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.' this should allow you to add songs from multiple places, without changing the location of those files.

i'm guessing, however, that if you're going to duplicate a portion of your library, that when you do have your external drive mounted, iTunes will show 2 copies of those songs.

 

[jxyama]

funny, i do exactly what you are trying to do.

sonofsilm is right, make sure to uncheck that option.
i will provide a bit more details on what i do.

first, i use iTunes to rip any CDs. this will create a folder in iTunes organized by artists on the laptop.

then, i copy those artist labeled folder to the external. delete the folder on the laptop.

remove those songs from iTunes library listing. (note: it helps to manually drag the folders to trash before you remove from the iTunes library listing. that way, if you try to erase songs from iTunes list that hasn't been trashed yourself, you will get a prompt asking if you really want to remove music. it's a good way to make sure you only erase what you intend to.)

drag the folder from the external to iTunes. songs will show up on the iTunes list but the source will be the external.

optional: i change the label of the songs and add something so i know it's on the external HD. for example, all the music that's on the external is labeled as "FWHD - Rock" while all rock songs on the laptop would simply be "Rock." i make two smart playlists, one looking for "FWHD" on the label and the other not containing "FWHD" in the label. this way, i know which music i can access easily.

good luck.