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More => Old Versions => Media Center 17 => Topic started by: cfelliot on December 13, 2011, 12:32:33 pm

Title: Concurrent Use of iTunes and MC
Post by: cfelliot on December 13, 2011, 12:32:33 pm

I use both iTunes and MC 17.

I have found that iTunes Apple Lossless ripped CDs sound better played in MC.
I also keep another folder outside of iTunes for all my HD files.
I would like to use MC to play all files.
I am fearful of just importing the iTunes folder into the MC library because I don't know if MC will write something back to the files that will cause iTunes to fail.
I don't want to cause iTunes problems because I use several Apple TVs to provide music to different areas of the house.

Comments?




 

Title: Re: Concurrent Use of iTunes and MC
Post by: BartMan01 on December 13, 2011, 03:46:19 pm

Take a look at this:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51734.0

Use MC to manage your library, then use the sync tool linked above to keep that in sync with your iTunes library for iDevice use.

Title: Re: Concurrent Use of iTunes and MC
Post by: cfelliot on December 13, 2011, 04:36:03 pm

Bartman,

I had seen this, but it refers to syncing libraries which implies that iTunes files are duplicated in the MC library.

I really don't want to duplicate 500GB of files!!!!!!

Am I missing something?
 

Title: Re: Concurrent Use of iTunes and MC
Post by: Alex B on December 13, 2011, 04:52:29 pm

MC's M4A tagging is designed to be compatible with iTunes, but you can disable all file tag writing in Tools > Options > General > Update tags when file info changes (uncheck this). MC will then store all tag changes only in the database without updating the physical file tags.

Title: Re: Concurrent Use of iTunes and MC
Post by: BartMan01 on December 13, 2011, 05:56:09 pm

Quote from: cfelliot on December 13, 2011, 04:36:03 pm

Bartman,

I had seen this, but it refers to syncing libraries which implies that iTunes files are duplicated in the MC library.

I really don't want to duplicate 500GB of files!!!!!!

Am I missing something?
 

I use this tool, and both my iTunes library and MC library use the same .m4a files stored in the same physical location.  I also use the 'duplication' method for my other file types (mp3, flac, ac3, dts, etc) using the sync to hand held method and converting non-mp3 files to mp3 in the process.  I might re-consider duplicating the m4a files now that MC can tag them. 

The main reasons for duplication are:
Convert file types to formats iTunes can handle.
Keep the two sets of files separated.  Since MC is the 'master' library, you don't want iTunes doing something like changing tags or reorganizing your file locations and messing everything up just because someone changed a setting accidentally.  HDD's are cheap vs the time it would take to clean up a mess made by iTunes.