[ p l a c i d c h a o s / A M ]

OK, so maybe not, but after an agonizingly long night I did figure out how to sync my iTunes library between Mac/PC operating systems on my Mac Pro running Boot Camp.

Thanks to the untimely demise of my PC, a few months ago, I purchased a Mac Pro and have since been searching (to no avail) for a way to share the same iTunes library on both the Mac and PC side of my machine. This way if I import CDs while booted into Tiger, or change ratings and create playlists while in XP, any changes will be automatically reflected in the iTunes library on the other operating system.

I knew, when originally formatting my Mac Pro's drives, that this was something I was going to want to do so I created a FAT32 partition for my music library to reside on. This would allow both Tiger and XP (still waiting on my Vista disc to arrive, hello Microsoft...) the ability to read/write the same files. I then thought that all I would have to do is change the iTunes Music folder location on both OS's to a folder on the FAT32 drive and that iTunes on both OS's would read/write the same library file on that drive. Ha, to be so naive.

It turns out that the PC version of iTunes cannot, by default, read the library created by the Mac, and vice versa. Rather than use the library created by the other OS, iTunes creates a new (and empty) library file. This was very frustrating and so for a month or so I gave up trying because:
A) I was busy with work and Christmas stuff
B) I'm not much of a hacker/programmer

Lately, though, this has really been grating me as I'm constantly listening to music and I'm obsessive compulsive when it comes to my music being organized; so with all the work I have to do this weekend I decided that the best way to procrastinate would be to figure this out.

After playing around with a bunch of different ideas I discovered that, low and behold, iTunes on the PC could read the Mac created library if I added the .itl extension to the library file, and the Mac could read the PC created library file if I removed the .itl extension. Score!

Now that the biggest obstacle was hurdled all I had to do is figure a way to copy the library file from the Mac side to the PC side and again... vice versa. Since I don't know jack about DOS programming except for basic commands this part took longer that I'd like to admit but after some trial and error I managed to create a solution that works flawlessly. The best part is that since I'm smart (or lazy) I created two batch scripts that run automatically, one at Windows startup and the other at Windows shutdown, so I never have to touch anything to keep them synced.

If you're interested, here are the steps...
Caution: Proceed at your own risk, I take absolutely no responsibility for any loss of files or life, or any other undesirable consequences that you may incur when attempting these instructions. So be smart, use your discretion and have backups of everything on a separate disc/partition.

1) Format a FAT32 partition large enough (including growth room) for the iTunes Music folder containing all your music files. This will allow both the Mac and PC to read/write the music files and also to the iTunes Library file.

2) In iTunes' Preferences, under Advanced > General, set the iTunes Music folder location to the Fat32 partition. Make sure that you have 'Keep iTunes Music folder organized' and 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library' both checked. Do this step on both the PC and Mac side.

3) Since the batch scripts are executed in Windows, the Mac library file needs to be on a Windows accessible drive. I have my Mac iTunes library file set to reside in the iTunes folder on the FAT32 drive rather than the default location in the Music folder on the main Mac drive. The PC library resides in its default location.

4) Set your library up on the Mac side of things and get it the way you want it, we're going to start the whole cycle by copying the Mac library file over to the PC.

5) Here is the code for the script that runs on XP startup:

copy /Y "E:\iTunes\iTunes Library" "G:\My Music\iTunes\"
ren *. *.itl
copy /Y "E:\iTunes\iTunes Library.xml" "G:\My Music\iTunes\"
cls
exit

This copies the Mac created iTunes library file and XML file from the FAT32 disc (E:) and pastes it in the iTunes folder on the PC side (G:) and then adds the .itl extension to the pasted library file so that the PC version of iTunes can access it.
Normally the path to the XP iTunes library file would look more along the lines of...
C:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
... but I have my G: drive set to be my 'My Documents' folder.

Once this script runs, iTunes in XP can read the library and any changes that were made to the library on the Mac side will be reflected on the PC. Excellent, but only half the battle. For the Mac iTunes to be constantly updated we need a script that will copy the PC iTunes library back over for the Mac to read.

The code for the script that runs on XP shutdown:

ren *.itl *.
copy /Y "G:\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Library" "E:\iTunes\"
copy /Y "G:\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.xml" "E:\iTunes\"
cls
exit

This cuts the extension off the library file in the PC folder and then copies it and the XML file back over to the FAT32 drive for Mac iTunes to use.

I have both scripts saved as .bat files in the PC iTunes folder with the first one set to run automatically at XP startup and the second at XP shutdown, effectively ensuring that regardless of the OS you boot into the iTunes library file you have is the most current.

It should be noted that I'm actually not a genius and there may be a better or more efficient way to accomplish synced iTunes libraries across different OS's on the same machine, but this is the only way that I've found to work flawlessly and automatically for my 10,000+ song, 50GB library. If you find a better way please leave a comment, otherwise enjoy!