Filed under: Multimedia, Software, iTunes
Take command of iTunes with PowerTunes
PowerTunes is iTunes management software from Fat Cat Software, the developers who produced the popular iPhoto Library Manager (we've written about iPhoto Library Manager before). Its purpose is to make somewhat pesky tasks easy.You can use PowerTunes to create multiple libraries. Perhaps you and your spouse have very different tastes in music, as well as separate iPods. Hey, I can relate. My wife's Paul Simon and 10,000 Maniacs collections keep butting heads with my Marilyn Manson tracks. Can't we all just get along?
Perhaps you'd like to keep a library for different settings; one for home and one for work. PowerTunes makes it easy. That the main interface makes the iTunes quite a bit larger, so understand that it will consume a lot of screen space when running.
Other spiffy features include an option to merge libraries, move your library off your main hard drive and cleanup orphaned tracks.
It will cost you $19.95US for a single license. Sure, you can do all of these tasks manually (read: free), but the convenience of "click and it's done" is nice. Plus, many users (not the geeks like you and me) couldn't be bothered with the manual method. If that's you, check this out. It's a nice piece of software.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Neil said 2:35PM on 7-09-2008
Wow, what a mess someone's Applications folder would be if they bought these crazy apps.
Out of interest, does anyone actually buy things like this? I was under the impression iTunes did a great job of managing its own content.
Reply
Scott said 2:36PM on 7-09-2008
I am confused. What is it about keeping different libraries that different playlists can not handle?
Plus, I tried to visit their website to see if the software did anything else... it wouldn't load.
Reply
Ajay said 2:47PM on 7-09-2008
My thoughts exactly... what does this do that a playlist doesnt? Also, you can sync your ipod with only the playlists you want, that way you can keep the unwanted stuff out! $20 for nothing special!
Kev Orng said 3:13PM on 7-09-2008
y'know, I might not want my wife to know that "Go West" is one of my most often-played tracks.
Seb said 3:05PM on 7-09-2008
Has any body ever heard of user accounts? Setup a new user account get a new iTunes library!
Scott said 3:19PM on 7-09-2008
If you are keeping things from your wife, iTunes libraries are probably the least of your problems. ;)
Jon said 11:22AM on 7-12-2008
There a variety of reasons for multiple libraries. Laptop users like to have one (usually small) library on their internal drive and a another one on external drives which may not always be available.
People who have very large libraries find that splitting your music into multiple libraries can greatly speed up iTunes.
Others have reason to have different libraries for their music and their videos...
As you can see there are a wide ranging reasons to utilize the multiple library capability of iTunes. The only feature I saw on the website that made this of possible interest to me was a mention of having different preferences for each library, which you can't automatically do if you just use the built in iTunes multi-library solution.
Ian said 2:51PM on 7-09-2008
*sigh* Give me an iTunes addon that allows me to add songs to my iPod/iPhone from both my work and home computers and I'll be very happy.
Heck, I'd probably pay $30 for it, too.
Reply
Kev Orng said 3:12PM on 7-09-2008
Agree, if my iTunes library at work and at home were in sync, and my iPod could charge/sync from whichever one was convenient, i'd be very happy.
On the other hand, it's less of a problem since I got the iPod touch. I used to buy music and get my single of the week while at work (and therefore thinking about music), which I would then have to ship home one way or another to load onto my iPod. Now I use iTunes at work to browse music, but I use the iPod to buy tracks.
ER said 3:22PM on 7-09-2008
I, for one (and it seems the only one on this post), am happy to see this app. Just today (+ last night) I was looking for a way to copy my backed-up iTunes playlist on to my newly reformatted MacBookPro. You see, I wiped my system to install Leopard and I'm only restoring certain documents from my Tiger backup, rather than just copy my entire Home directory. While I don't want to lose all the ratings and playlists from my old iTunes Library, I now do not have enough room to store my 60gig library on my laptop.
I needed a way to copy some of my old content (including the playlists, counts, and ratings) from my external HDD to my laptop (not to mention my other laptop or PC. I'm already tried a number of apps that were designed to do this, including Syncopation, Slingshot, myTuneSync, or TuneRanger (all mentioned in this Macworld post: http://www.macworld.com/article/133881/2008/07/syncitunes.html?lsrc=mwweek), but none of them would copy or work with an external hard drive.
So, I'm now hoping PowerTunes or SuperSync work. Which ever one does the job, they'll be getting my money.
Reply
nittany4 said 4:41PM on 7-09-2008
I want to be able to have movies and tv shows on an external drive and music on my mac's drive
but have it all appear as one library in itunes
will this allow me to do that?
even better would be an extra bonus of when i add a song into itunes it copies to the mac's drive and when i add a video, the external....
i've downloaded demos before that make a terrible mess of things, so i'm a bit weary to try it
mfa said 3:56PM on 7-09-2008
How do you do it manually then?
Reply
Nick said 6:26PM on 7-09-2008
If you are looking for a free way (and don't mind a few "please donate" popups), Libra is an alternative program. It seems that PowerTunes is more full featured, but if you are just looking for a way to switch between multiple libraries, Libra is all you need. Then you don't have to worry about messing something up doing it manually! ;)
Jake said 5:58PM on 7-09-2008
I dunno. I have their Iphoto library thing and it works well as a centralized switch for a variety of libraries on different disks and computers (2 photographers, 2 macs, 4 disks) on our wireless network. It looks like this one does the same thing. I admittedly could be a moron with $20 in my pocket, but I'll try it.
http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powertunes/Help/table%20of%20contents.html
Reply
kev orng said 7:12AM on 7-10-2008
an iPhoto version, now THAT is something I need. Why won't iPhoto let me put my library on an external drive? I have way more photos than music.
Tony said 8:53PM on 7-09-2008
@nitanny4: Use symbolic links.
Reply