One of the most common uses of personal computers these days is to manage media, and iTunes is one of the most popular apps out there to use to do so.  As such, the new EX485 and EX487 servers have quite a bit of iTunes integration built in, including a media aggregator and built-in sharing.

When you get your shiny new server, one of the first things you'll want to do it get your iTunes library moved over.  Sure, you can drag and drop the files over to the server, but this will create a lot of problems for you... you'll have to re-download album art, re-create all your playlists, and you'll lose all of your ratings.

With a few extra steps, though, you can move your iTunes library safely and easily to your MediaSmart Server while retaining all your settings.

Before You Begin

Here's a few things to note about this tutorial:

• These steps are identical on both the Mac OS X and Windows versions of iTunes.  The only difference is where files are located and the way the directory tree will appear; the menus and selections you will make in iTunes are the same in both versions.
• A neat trick on the Mac OS X version of iTunes is to hold the "option" key while clcking on the Dock icon to activate the app.  You will be presented with the option to choose which iTunes library you would like to use.  You would use this only if you need to change between multiple libraries.  I've never really used it, but it's a cool trick to keep in your back pocket!

Step 1: Let iTunes Organize Your Content

In order for all of this to work, iTunes must have the ability to organize your content.  This does have a downside in that you cannot manage your folders manually, but iTunes typically uses a sensible approach to organizing your media.  (There are ways to move your library while retaining manual folder setups, but they are much more involved than the scope of this tutorial.)  Make sure that you navigate to the Advanced section of your Preferences menu to ensure the button above is checked before continuing with this tutorial.

Page 1 2 3 Next »