Archive for February 17th, 2011

Today I want to give you a tip on working with Itunes.  You may have already noticed that the folks over at Apple have some pretty strict controls on iTunes and each of its synched devices. 

Mainly, what they don’t want you doing is to create an iTunes library of say, a gazillion songs, and synch them up with your iPod, then take it over to your friends computer and dump those songs into his iTunes library. 

You might remember the problems that Napster had with peer to peer sharing in the 90’s.  Well, iTunes protects their songs a couple of ways.  For one, if you buy a download from the iTunes store, it appears in their proprietary format known as an ACC file. 

This is one way they prevent you from sharing it.  Next they don’t allow your friend to hook up his iPod to your iTunes account or vice verse.  That is why your iPod will only work with your iTunes account on one machine. 

Well, that got me wondering;  since I have an early version of the IPod Touch and I am thinking about getting an iPhone,  will I be able to put songs on both devices out of the same iTunes account? 

I did a little research and found a way to create a separate library.  In method 3 of Apple’s support article called, “How to Use Multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones With one Computer” they recommend setting up a separate library.

To do this, close out your ITunes if it is running.  Now while you re-open it, hold down the shift key on your PC. 

When prompted, click Create Library.  Now you must name the new library with an alternate file name like itunes_2011. 

Now to prevent iTunes from populating your new library with all of the old library media, I find it best to make a change under preferences. 

So, in iTunes click edit and trace down to preferences and click to open it.  Then find the advanced tab and look for a checkbox next to the line that says: “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library”. 

Here, you want to deselect that checkbox if it is already checked. 

Now you are ready to add media to your new library.  Click file> add file to library or add folder to library and choose the songs out of your existing iTunes media folder. 

You can manually drag and drop to make this faster. Once you have gotten the new library just right, synch your device. 

Once done, quit Itunes.  Next hold down the shift key like before, while you open the program.

Now you will be prompted to Choose Library. Here is where Apple’s directions get a little murky.  They say you can switch back and forth by clicking open. 

Really, what I found is that you had to actually find the new library listed under my music > iTunes_2011.  Then click the itunes library file to open iTunes with the alternate library.

To open the original library, follow the same steps but choose the original iTunes folder when prompted.

With the availability of two libraries, you should be able to customize them so you won’t end up with duplicate libraries on two devices unless that is what you prefer. 

Hope this gave you some insight into how to work around the heavy safety precautions that Apple has in place for their products. A second library should help as you add iPods, iPads, and iPhones to your arsenal of media devices.