comparing iTunes files on different macs

[cambridgehank]

I am running four Macs in the house, a Mac BookPro, an iMac and two mini's

Each shows a different number of songs in iTunes.

I have to much time on my hands, thanks to the pandemic and no golf outings.

I would like to compare the four library files.

I thought I could start with the lowest number and create a smart playlist (without digital books).  Exporting the playlist to the next computer and running a dougscript comparing two playlists.  Does that make sense or is there an easier way ?

Thanks for all replies.

[DougAdams]

You are suggesting that the files from all libraries be combined on each machine??!

 

You don't want to do that. I am unaware of an easy way to compare track entries from different libraries. In fact, I'm not sure this venture will provide any meaningful information. I mean, what happens next?

 

Turn on Home Sharing an any tracks not on the local machine will be available that way.

 

 

 

[cambridgehank]

Thanks, but no, I am suggesting that some tracks might be missing from the lower numbered libraries and I would like to know which ones. And add them into the iTunes library.

[kirkmc]

Turn on Home Sharing on each Mac. Choose the library that you want to ensure have all the tracks. One by one, load the other libraries on that Mac in Home Sharing, and choose to only display files Not in This Library. You can then select them all and import them. 

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/music/mus56cd6f5/mac  

 

Once you've got one Mac with all the files, you can repeat the process on the other Macs, copying the files from the main Mac to them. 

 

But my question is why do you have four Macs with music files? You can use one, turn on Home Sharing, and access its music on the other Mac. Then you only have one library to manage.

[cambridgehank]

Good question Kirk and I will try to explain.

1 is a mini and connected to my home AV receiver and TV.  I use this for whole condo entertainment.  It  only has the music app and my iTunes library.

 Next is another mini that travels with us to the winter home in Florida, connects to Sonos system and is still Mojave.  It is the computer I use there.

Then there is my MacBook Pro, running Catalina, my in laws in Vermont have no TV, wifi or radio.  The laptop keeps me sane and entertained in VT.

Finally, iMac is for the home office and connected to it's own speaker system and Bose headphones, so while I work from home and write I listen to it.

The first paragraph in your link explains why when I purchase an iTunes album it is downloaded to the other three computers.  

Thanks for the advice and I will try it after backing up the computers.

[kirkmc]

Hank, that's all very complicated. 🙂

 

It really sounds to me like you're the ideal person to use a cloud solution for music. With either Apple Music or iTunes Store, you could have all your music in the cloud, accessible from all your devices. You'd have just one library, and you wouldn't need to hassle to keep other libraries up to date. Even if, like me, you don't want to mix your main library with Apple Music music, you could create a second library just for the cloud (that's what I do), where you put some or all of your existing music. 

 

Or, you could use Plex, which would allow you to access the music from the Sonos app on any device. 

[GregWormald]

I have 3 macs and 3 iTunes libraries, all in the same house. I use home sharing to keep them all current, and think of the redundancies as backups.

[kirkmc]

6 hours ago, GregWormald said:

I have 3 macs and 3 iTunes libraries, all in the same house. I use home sharing to keep them all current, and think of the redundancies as backups.

 

That's a sensible approach. 

[cambridgehank]

I tired following the Apple Support article https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/music/mus56cd6f5/mac  and could not follow these steps. 

Import items from other libraries using Home Sharing

1. On the Mac you want to import from, turn on Home Sharing and open the Music app .

2. On the Mac you’re importing to, make sure Home Sharing is on, open the Music app , click the arrow  next to Library, then choose a shared library.

3. Click the Show pop-up menu at the bottom of the Music window, then choose “Items not in my library”.

4. Select the items you want to import, then click Import.

In step 2 do I select the other Mac's library?  When I did it imported the music on that Mac.

In the Music window, I get "Show All" not "items not in my library"?

[kirkmc]

In step 2, you click that little arrow and select the other Mac (or one of your other Macs). That won't import anything unless you select music and click Import at the bottom of the window. 

 

At the bottom off the window, there's a menu. It says Show: then the menu offers two options: All Items or Items Not In My Library. 

 

Just a suggestion for the future; when you run into issues like this, take screenshots. If you press Command-Shift-3, your Mac takes a screenshot of the full screen. If you press Command-Shift-4, then press the spacebar, you can click the window you want to capture. In both cases, screenshots are saved to the Desktop. 

[cambridgehank]

Thanks for the reply Kirk.  When I select Library the arrow does nothing, Show does not show not   in my my library.  I am up to date, and not sure if there is something in preferences stopping the process.  I added screen shots, 

 

[kirkmc]

Hank, you want to hover over Library in the sidebar; when the arrow displays, click where it says Library and you'll see your other libraries. 

[cambridgehank]

Kirk that worked.  Now how do I find "Not in my library"?  The music window only shows "show all"

[cambridgehank]

Never mind, I found it.

[cambridgehank]

Kirk, I found all the macs on line and was able to see the library on each.  I put the largest on the computer with the least, show not on my computer  and ran import.  It found only 7 not on my computer.  As you can see from the screen shots the difference is reportedly larger (16,515 vs. 16.131). And the 7 were already on the computer. I ran Dupin to check for duplicates on the larger library and none were found. Good thing we are on stay at home here as I have time to explore these issues.

 

[kirkmc]

So across all your Macs, there are only 7 tracks not on all of them? That's pretty good. 

 

Remember, you can always use this to compare libraries and import tracks that aren't on one of your Macs. 

[cambridgehank]

I promise, this is the last question in this discussion.  I have learned how to compare the library on my computers.  But, the difference in the numbers is still bothering me.  The desktop iMac's Music App shows 16, 515 songs and the MacBook Pro's Music App shows 16, 131 a difference of 380 songs.  I loaded the iMac library onto the MacBook, then selected show songs not in my library.  Music App showed only 7 songs.  Which should I believe? And how do I compare the two?

[kirkmc]

Just a wild guess, but on the Mac in the top screenshot, in the View menu, is All Music or Only Downloaded Music selected? 

[cambridgehank]

Both computers are on All Music

[kirkmc]

Hmm... I'm stumped here. Could the Mac with more files have files purchased from the iTunes Store with another Apple ID? In that case, they might not be compared. 

[cambridgehank]

If you're stumped, imagine how I feel?  lol

We are stuck here in the house, so I have plenty of time to review both libraries.

Thanks

[kirkmc]

1 hour ago, cambridgehank said:

If you're stumped, imagine how I feel?  lol

 

 

🙂

 

You might want to look at the two libraries by genre; see if both have all the same genres, then select each genre and compare the number of tracks. That might give you some clues. 

[cambridgehank]

My other thought was to create a playlist on each of all the songs.  Then run Doug's compare two playlist and see what comes up?  Your idea seems like more fun.

[cambridgehank]

I meant computers, not songs.