iTunes Experts - Is there A Way To Create Two or More Libraries?

I have a fairly large collection of music on my iMac. About 3000 titles representing about 45535 individual tracks. The mix is about 75% Pop, Rock, Soul titles and about 20% Jazz and maybe 5% Blues. I'd like to create separate libraries for each so when I bring up the Jazz or Blues stuff, I don't have to sort through all the other genres to get to what I'm looking for. I realize I can create one huge play list of all Jazz titles, etc. but I'd prefer to segregate the Jazz and Blues LPs out in a separate library. Is this even possible? If so can someone give me some instruction? I know I can't be the only one who would like to see their collection better sorted. Any help will be appreciated.

 

From Google

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1589

 

Thanks! I'll try doing this tonight.

 

One other option is to sort by Genres within your existing library.
This is done without creating a separate playlist.

 

I know you really want separate libraries but to see the various genres if you have the Column Browser open then all you have to to is select the Genre of your choice and all the albums/songs in that category will be shown. You don't have to create a playlist.

You have to be in the Songs view. From the toolbar at the top select View>Show Column Browser. Columns for Genre, Artist and Album Title will appear. Select the Genre of your choice and all music in that particular Genre will appear.

 

If the genre field is filled out for all your tracks, you can also just make a smart playlist for each. Click on your smart playlist for jazz (for example) and it's really like its in a separate library.

 

The genre field is a nightmare for me; *way* too much work. I keep it blank. YMMV.

 

I did think about sorting by genre but that field is a mess. I suppose I should take the time to go through and correct it but that will take some time. I created a new library last night but now I need to figure out how to move titles from one library to the other. I will read the article stereoptic posted and see if that helps. Thanks to everyone for tips and suggestions. I wish I had thought of this before I started loading CDs!

 

You could also just add "Jazz" to the comments field and make a smart list around that. I think the last thing I would do is make a separate library for each style of music.

 

Creating a second library on a single computer sounds like a slippery slope to me. Your observation of "figuring out how to move titles from one library to the other" is only the first obstacle to come up. What happens if you at some point want to sync any of this material to an outboard unit, such as an iPhone, iPad or iPod? from multiple libraries? This has all the recipe for becoming more complicated than it needs to be. What happens down the road when you're dealing with 10,000 titles? At some point, I do believe that you will regret this process.

FWIW, I use iTunes with a library of about 14,000 titles. I know this is a small catalog by many of the group here, but I will say that I've never found myself in need of a more refined management process. As mentioned, what you're trying to accomplish is feasible and doable within a single library.

 

Thanks for your comments. I assumed that creating a separate library for the jazz titles would be the best way to get things organized but I certainly don't want to complicate things any further. I simply want to be able to see all the Jazz titles as one group so that it's simpler to pick songs for both random play and when creating a play list. Currently with everything in one library, I have Ahmed Abdul-Malik betwen Aerosmith and Air Supply and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones and Ben Webster after the Bee Gees. It just seems disorganized. And don't get me started on artists sorted by first name! I suspect there are ways to get things in better order. I'm just not sure how. I welcome any and all suggestions. I'm sure I'm not the only one with a growing and diverse collection. It's sure easier to organize physical media!

 

Here is an example of what I am talking about. In the first image I show my library with the Column Browser shown and All Genres selected. The second image shows only the Jazz Genre selected and you can see the list of Artist and Albums at the top and a copy of selections from that genre below. In the third image I created a Playlist called Test in the bottom of the column and selected one song from an album (you can elect multiple songs or entire albums and drag and dropped it into the Test Playlist. The final image shows the song within the Test Playlist.





It pretty easy stuff

 

If just separating your jazz music is the primary goal, I agree with the advice of using genre field. It gets trickier with pop, rock, blues because iTunes is very inconsistent with tags for the same artist. Cleaning up the meta data for your whole library would be be very time consuming, but doing it one artist or one album at a time is not a bad idea.

Where a separate library can make sense is if you start sharing your account with another family member, and they have a separate device to sync with.

 

Yep! The column browser is the best, most under used feature in iTunes!

 

For ease of managing my files I use multiple libraries on a single computer and sync to a number of iPod classics. I have turned off automatic synching to my devices and it works just fine.

 

I've been thinking about creating a second iTunes library this as well. My reason is to start to rip my CD collection to 16 bit/44.1 kHz "lossless" as opposed to 256 AAC. The challenge is do I want to rip in a lossless format that isn't FLAC?

 

Many ways to rip to ALAC (Apple Lossless) available.

 

Thanks BayouTiger. As a iOS, Pono, and potential Sonos user, my goal is to have a lossless file format that will work on ideally all of my audio devices. Seems like ALAC and FLAC are the formats - just trying to make the right choice before starting to re-rip.

 

I untick the options to copy to folder, and drag/drop my music, retick those options, point it to the folder I want output to, and let her go.