Post by: Raven on March 31, 2010, 10:21:24 PM
I've transferred all files from an eMac to a G4. Both use OSX10.4.11.
All the glitches have been resolved except one... how to transfer iTunes 9.0.3.
I read Paddy's article from ilounge.com on how to do that...
Transferred the whole iTUNES folder using Target Disk Mode to the G4. There is ONLY music.
Then according to instructions, it said "copy entire iTunes folder... to corresponding folder on the new computer".
Did that, but the songs don't show up in the iTunes window. The window says I've got 41 songs. There should be 1000+!
Yet, the iTunes Folder gives me a 4 gb file size, which suggests that ALL the songs are in there.
I rebooted and relaunched iTunes to no avail.
Here's what I think the problem is... I may have too many extra folders?!
Here is the path... USERS/NAME/MUSIC/ITUNES/ITUNES MUSIC/MUSIC/COMPILATIONS/SONGWRITERS folder.
The last folder has 4 gb of songs in it.
When I go to Preferences - Advanced to change and reset the Media Folder location, it cuts back to the iTUNES MUSIC folder and goes no further. Is that why the iTunes can't find the songs?
Can I just delete some of those excess folders?
OR would I copy the entire original iTunes folder again?
If it's the last, I'm a bit unclear what it means by "copy"... Just dragging the new iTunes folder on top of the old one?
I don't want to screw this up much more.
Post by: krissel on March 31, 2010, 11:10:20 PM
Here is what my iTunes looks like:
[attachment=1830:itunes.jpg]
Post by: Raven on April 01, 2010, 09:50:11 AM
Tried that...
[attachment=1831:Picture_1.png]
[attachment=1832:Picture_2.png]
But nothing/no music shows up in the iTunes window.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on April 01, 2010, 10:51:38 AM
<And another.> Found these using the Search function at TS, BTW.
Maybe something we could add to the "Tips" page?
Post by: Raven on April 01, 2010, 12:55:48 PM
See my post above.
Any ideas why iTunes can't find my music?
Post by: Paddy on April 01, 2010, 02:28:35 PM
Post by: Raven on April 01, 2010, 06:13:05 PM
Yes, I've done that several times. But I think I've been seriously messing this up by trying so many things...
iTunes Prefs - Advanced is looking for an "iTunes Media folder location" which is found in USERS/VB2/MUSIC/iTUNES folder.
But there is no music there.
The music files are actually now in home computer (house icon) - USERS/VB1/MUSIC/iTUNES/iTUNES MUSIC.
Except now it has the wrong user name and I can't change it back! Each time I change the name to the original,"VB", it makes a duplicate and says that VB has already been taken. So I give it another name.
I've now got 3 USER folders - VB2, VB3, VB0 (the original little house icon with all music files) and VB (which is what the original should be called!
I'm hoping you can help me out of this mess. I started this whole file transfer process almost a week ago. Don't berate me too badly! ;-)
Post by: Paddy on April 01, 2010, 08:12:59 PM
Various instructions on sharing music between multiple accounts:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203
However, I suspect that you actually want to get rid of the superfluous accounts...
Do you have an external HD? If it was me, I think I'd just copy all the music to an external drive (make sure it's all there, safe and sound) and then delete anything on the home drive, then make sure I was in the correct account and then import it all back to where it should be - using the IMPORT function so you don't lose it! Of course if you have playlists etc. that you want to preserve, this would not do that.
You say you've got three user folders named VB2, VB3 and VB0 but no VB1 and yet that's where your music is? How can that be? I'm a little confused. If there is no User folder VB1, then how can the music be there?
Anyway - I think you risk a real mess if you keep fiddling with the users. Get that music copied somewhere safe and start over. Delete any users that you don't need - keep the primary one and work from there.
You do have an external HD, I hope? (Everyone should have at least one complete backup of their main HD....)
Post by: Raven on April 01, 2010, 10:40:45 PM
The iTunes path is again the same as shown in the screen shot above:
USERS/VB/MUSIC/iTUNES/iTUNES MUSIC folder with all 1000 songs located in artist folders.
However, the iTunes Preferences Advanced asks for "iTunes Media folder location". Is the operative word "Media" vs "Music"?
There is no MEDIA folder.
I have changed the correct path to the current MUSIC folder. Reset it. Nothing is different.
Quit iTunes and relaunched. Still nothing.
I have a copy of the complete iTunes Folder from our eMac saved on a Backup Partition. Shall I delete all artist folders from the current Music folder and Import them again from my backup? Or try something else? I'm getting gun shy to experiment any more!
Post by: krissel on April 02, 2010, 04:31:13 AM
Most likely the data file is screwed up so if changing to the above path doesn't help, do this:
Open iTunes, go to File/Add to Library. Navigate to the folder that has the songs (iTunes Music) and click on Open. Let iTunes reimport all the songs. It may take a while so go get a cup of something.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on April 02, 2010, 10:01:32 AM
The whole "Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" part of the path is automatically created by iTunes when it is first run, I believe. Of course, changing it should also be possible...I'd also:
- Quit iTunes
remove all the iTunes.plist files from your Preferences folder
- (just put them on the Desktop, for now)
Check the Preferences folder and see if it even knows where to create those plists
- If it does, see if you can now "explain" to it where your music library is
If not, you have deeper problems
Post by: Paddy on April 02, 2010, 10:18:44 AM
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.a...82&seqNum=4
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1410
Apple doesn't fully explain why you'd want to use case-sensitive - the only real reason would be that you're sharing files with a UNIX system or developing for UNIX. And there are some applications (notably Adobe CS apps) that will NOT start up on a case-sensitive volume.
Post by: Raven on April 02, 2010, 10:19:19 AM
Good news, bad news... :-)
FINALLY, that worked! Imported my wife's songs from the original/backup iTunes Music folder (again) and there they are. And playing! She's happy. But she has to redo her playlists. Well, she's almost happy! ;-)
Except, I noticed the original iTunes Music folder in her eMac was 4 gb in size. So was the iTunes Music folder in the G4 with her songs that iTunes couldn't recognize at first. Now that the songs are playing, that folder is 8 gb in size. Which suggests that the song count has doubled?
Yet, I can only see one song of each. Is there a duplicate that I cannot see?
To reduce the folder size, do I dump ALL the songs and import them again?
Post by: Paddy on April 02, 2010, 11:05:07 AM
You can try having a look at all the invisible files to see if that explains things:
http://www.macworld.com/article/51830/2006...wallfinder.html (simple command line)
You could try consolidating the library first - just in case that works. (File->Library->Organize)
If that doesn't work...
If your wife is going to have to recreate her playlists anyway, you could try the whole thing all over again (in which case she might not have to do that).
Follow these directions, step by step:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
You would have to throw out the entire Music folder first, BTW - and if there are indeed things in there with permissions that are assigned to another user, it's possible that you could have issues doing that.
Post by: Raven on April 02, 2010, 08:59:37 PM
As far as I can tell in Sys Pref, I only have one Admin account.
I deleted all songs from the MUSIC folder. At the bottom of the iTunes window it showed 0 kb. Including 0 kb for MUSIC Folder.
Then I added to iTunes Library from my backup HD Music folder (4 gb).
After importing, the iTunes window shows TWO of each song and it says 8 gb at bottom of window.
But the MUSIC folder shows only 4 gb of songs!
FYI:
The Shared folder has 0 kb of files.
There is a "Previous iTunes Library Jan, 2010" folder.
Consolidating Library didn't change anything.
Trying something in Terminal as the MacWorld article suggests is beyond me.
Can you offer some other ideas, please?
Post by: Xairbusdriver on April 02, 2010, 09:10:23 PM
I don't use iTunes more than once or twice a month, but I thought it had some kind of find and delete duplicates in one of it's menus. Have you looked at all those?
Or
Go back to your original thread and follow the instructions more thoroughly. With a detailed set of instructions it's all the more likely one will be missed.
A lot of that "nine page" document was for Windows users, just delete all that. Trim out the trivia and the "by the way, did you know" parts as well. Those instructions work, apparently, but the text is crammed full of not-needed-to-know info. Once you take the time to condense it to the bare minimum, you will have read it enough to understand exactly what do do and when to do it. What I'm suggesting is starting from scratch, attempting to solve a problem when there is no known cause is one of the hardest type to solve. Start from a known, good position and then work exactingly from there to the end. In the end, you will have a completed set up and probably faster than trying one and then another step, followed by yet another. That's my opinion, anyway. No need to mail the $ 0.000001372. 
Post by: Paddy on April 02, 2010, 11:09:02 PM
See: http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1579/how_to...media_library_/
Since "Display Duplicates" only shows you all the duplicates, and sorting through and deleting every other one could be tedious, you might want to run this script:
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php
I've got 880 dupes in my library/track listing, but most of them are actually not exactly the same track. (still need to sort through it though!)
Post by: Raven on April 03, 2010, 05:29:49 PM
My solution was found here: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/duplicates.php
Case 7 & 8.
Thanks to everyone for helping out. I wanna say how complex and annoying this situation was. I spent some 15+ hours trying to sort all this out and read all the documents and links to finally get it right. Considering that iTunes has gone thru 9 versions, why would Apple have kept this so complicated? The iPhoto process to transfer files was so much simpler. But a 9 page article on "Transferring your iTunes Library"? KISS, Apple!
My only consolation was that there are many people in the same situation trying many different solutions...
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1579/how_to...media_library_/
Aside, in the mid 1990s I was doing some design and consulting work for a new PC store in town. The keen owner wanted me to learn DOS. I wasn't interested. I heard that Macs were easier to learn and I purchased my first one with OS8. The nearest Apple store is still 500 miles away. Macs have come a long way since then, but my argument still stands... I shouldn't have to learn how electrons work along a cable for me to turn on a light bulb. The Mac OS is much more stable today; Migration Assistant worked like a breeze when I needed that recently; I haven't had to use DiskWarrior in a long time; etc. As it all should. But iTunes needs some work to keep it simpler!
THANKS AGAIN to TS and all you people with 1000's of posts who constantly keep helping. Apple should be paying you! :-)
PS. Still a few more questions coming on related matters!
Post by: Paddy on April 03, 2010, 05:33:47 PM
