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Dave 9:30 pm on January 23, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
Tags: change, cron, cronnix, crontab, file (2), folder, itunes (2), location, mount, network, share, symlink, Technology - Mac (4), track (2), windows (4)
(Updated) How to store your music on a NAS or network share and access it with iTunes on a Mac
I store all my music on an external hard disk which is connected to Windows Server 2003 in a cupboard hidden away. This means my music doesn’t clutter up the hard disk on my MBP and it can be shared to other devices like my Xbox, without having my laptop on. Accessing the server from Windows XP or Vista was fairly straightforward – I’d just map a drive and iTunes was happy. Unfortunately, persistent mapped drives on Mac OS X 10.5.6 (or earlier) isn’t really a feature, so I’d just plug the external hard disk into my Mac via USB.

I needed a way to get my Windows iTunes database onto my Mac, and a way of mounting a persistent network share for iTunes, and a convenient way to add new music to the networked folder and iTunes. (Oh, and I kinda like things being in the right place – you know, documents in the Documents folder, music in the Music folder – so we’ll be creating a symbolic link to make our music appear as though it’s in ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music. Clever, eh?) So, without further ado, here’s what we’ll be doing -
1. Setting up a shared folder for your music
2. Create a symbolic link (& mounted drive) to the network share
3. Creating a crontab entry to keep the network share mounted (alive)
4. Modifying the location of your music files in the iTunes database
(More …)
mattjray, davesawesomeblog, miles267 and 3 others are discussing. Toggle Comments
- davesawesomeblog 10:02 pm on August 30, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
  
  When I execute the above, I had the problem of the iTunes Music folder already existing. I moved that folder out so it no longer exists but now I get this error:
  mount: realpath /Users/dave/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music: No such file or directory
  I can’t win. Am I really the only one with this problem?
  - pbutterworth 3:04 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink
    
    This is great, and makes life a lot easier.
    
    is it possible to create a script that runs when I open iTunes?
    
    Thanks
    Paul
  - miles267 2:34 am on December 12, 2009 Permalink
    
    When I attempt to execute, I too receive this error. What causes this and how to correct? Happens no matter what I try
    
    mount: realpath /Users/Jason/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music: No such file or directory
  - Dave 10:24 am on December 12, 2009 Permalink
    
    The latest version of iTunes has changed the folder structure. I’ll have a look at a fix over the weekend…
  - miles267 3:11 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink
    
    Dave, I’ve attempted a few variations of the command without success. Seems like it may be more a function of the command itself being incorrect than any change in the iTunes directory structure. Just a hunch.
  - Dave 6:08 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink
    
    Hi. I’ve recreated the error you’ve got and it seems to be that you don’t have an “iTunes Music” folder in /Users/Jason/Music/iTunes/
    
    You just need to create an empty folder called “iTunes Music” there, and it should work. I remember thinking that was weird when I first did this, but that’s just the way mount and symlinks work.
    
    I’ve updated the post above, please let me know if you have any more problems.
    
    Thanks,
    Dave.
  - miles267 7:58 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink
    
    Dave, I appreciate the prompt response. However seems that even with the presence of this path:
    
    /users/jason/music/itunes/itunes music
    
    I now get this:
    
    mount_smbfs: mount error /users/jason/music/itunes/itunes music: file exists
    
    Surely getting closer, but still a bit odd. Any help you can provide would be appreciated.
  - Dave 9:56 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink
    
    No probs, only too happy to help. Could you post your full mount command, and tell me what the folder and file structure is on both your Mac and server/NAS please?
    
    The start of your error “mount_smbfs: mount error” seems to indicate a problem at the server/NAS side as it’s mounted locally, but having problems remotely (smbfs). Could you also check you can access your remote share via Finder and smb://yourserverip/share ?
    
    D.
- grimfandango 8:27 am on October 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
  
  I’ve just had a look around for a script to do that, but drawn a blank.
  
  The easiest and quickest solution I can think of is to add a line at the end of the script to launch iTunes. You could replace the icon of the script with the iTunes icon, rename it “iTunes Plus” or something, and put that in your dock. :-/
- davesawesomeblog 8:20 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
  
  Ditto. I had this problem originally, wouldn’t work regardless if I have an iTunes Music folder or not. I figured it was just me. I haven’t tried this in awhile, I’m running Windows 7 on the “media server” machine that I’m trying to share to my Mac now, not sure if that matters.
  - Dave 9:59 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink
    
    Unless you follow the instructions to the letter, the symlink part won’t work because it’s quite finicky. Trying to connect to Windows 7 may add a second complication because its file sharing is considerably different to previous versions. However, if you can access a Windows 7 share from your Mac via Finder there shouldn’t be any reason why this technique wouldn’t work.
- davesawesomeblog 2:39 am on December 14, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
  
  Yup, can still connect fine through Windows 7. I’ve never been able to get the command to work. If I don’t have an “iTunes Music” folder, I get:
  mount: realpath /Users/dave/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music: No such file or directory
  
  If I do have the “iTunes Music” folder, I get:
  mount_smbfs: mount error: /Users/dave/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music: File exists
  - Dave 7:20 am on December 14, 2009 Permalink
    
    Could you help me pin down what’s happening here. I know at least 4 friends who are using this technique without a hitch so I’m keen to track down the problem.
    
    What is the folder and file structure is on both your Mac and server/NAS?
    
    What edition of Windows 7 is it?
    
    Can you access the Windows share from Finder on your Mac? (Go menu, Connect to Server…, smb://yourserver/share)
    
    What version of OS X are you using?
    
    If you’re happy to let a complete stranger (albeit a trustworthy one) remote control your Mac, I might be able to diagnose and fix the problem a lot quicker. Up-to you…
  - mattjray 5:31 am on January 12, 2010 Permalink
    
    Make sure you don’t already have a share with the same name already mounted. I kept getting the file exists error – it was because the Music folder was already mounted on the desktop. If you already have a Music icon just right-click and choose Eject. Then try the command again…
- miles267 1:37 pm on December 14, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
  
  Guys, unfortunately I haven’t had much time to troubleshoot this issue lately, however I think this might be an easier, solution. Editing your .XML file to include the file:// path convention. Seems to have worked great when I tested it in a virtual machine.
  
  http://www.mactimes.info/2009/06/migrating-your-itunes-library-from.html
- davesawesomeblog 3:53 am on December 23, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
  
  Here’s my info:
  
  - iTunes sees the folder as /Volumes/music, the SMB path is smb://DAVESPC/music
  
  - I’m using Windows 7 Professional
  
  - I can access the share via the Finder
  
  - I’m using OS 10.6.2
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