Consolidate iTunes Library
When you consolidate an Have a Perfect iTunes Library, you’re essentially telling a software program to group copies of all music on your computer into one iTunes music library folder. This means that iTunes will be accessing each song directly, wherever it may be on your computer. This also means that iTunes will locate all music on your computer and add it automatically, making the iTunes consolidation process much faster than manually adding music. The iTunes program, as installed on Macintosh computers, is set to consolidate by default. If you’re running iTunes off another operating system, such as a Windows computer, you’ll need to manually set the iTunes library to consolidate. The fine specifics of how to consolidate your iTunes library may vary slightly depending on which operating system and version of iTunes you’re running, but variances from the directions given below should be slight.
Contents
Steps
Get Organized
- Access the main iTunes pulldown menu from your dock or menu bar.
- Select the “Preferences” menu.
- Select the “Advanced” pane of the Preferences menu.
- Click on the “Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized” and “Copy Files to iTunes” options. This should produce a check-mark in the box next to each option. If the boxes were already checked, keep them as is.
Consolidate iTunes Library
- Access the “File” pulldown menu from your iTunes dock or menu bar.
- Highlight the “Library” option. A menu of further options should appear off to the side.
- Select “Consolidate Library.”
Tips
- In reference to screen shot #2 ("Consolidate Library" is not visible here) - Click "show menu mar," which will display a more complete menu bar in your iTunes. Then click file -> library -> organize library.
- If the “Copy Files to iTunes” box was already checked in the “Advanced” pane of your iTunes Preferences dialog, your iTunes library is probably already consolidated.
- Consolidating your iTunes library is an appropriate first step to take before transferring your iTunes library from one computer to another. Consolidating your iTunes library before transferring it is not strictly necessary, but it helps ensure that you don’t miss any songs or other files in the transitions. If you try to transfer your music files without consolidating them first, the aliases to access unconsolidated files will transfer, but without having those files available for access, the aliases will be useless on the new computer.
- The library interface is simply an index for locating iTunes media -- music or video -- on your computer. Just because you can click through to a file from the iTunes library doesn’t mean that it is readily accessible in your iTunes folder; only consolidating your iTunes library will achieve this.
- In iTunes 10.2.1, "consolidate" is found in file>library>organize library>consolidate. Tip-text fully explains the function.
- When iTunes consolidates your library, it will make copies of any iTunes Library files that weren’t already in the consolidated folder. It doesn’t move them. This is beneficial because you can still access your music through its old location, but if you have limited space available on your hard drive you may wish to delete the extra (old) copy and use only the copy in the consolidated iTunes library.
- In some versions of iTunes, you may find the “Consolidate Library” command in the iTunes “Advanced” menu.
Related Articles
- Share One iTunes With Two or More iPods
- Use iTunes
- Duplicate MP3 Files On iTunes
- Organize Your iPod
- Transfer Your iTunes Library from One Computer to Another
