This has happened to me several times now and I’m wondering if anybody knows why. I keep all my iTunes music on my D drive. I gave it its own massive partition on my computer. For some reason, every so often, iTunes decides it wants to keep my iTunes Library files on the C drive. This file belongs in My Music, it says. Go there. Months pass and then magically it decides that it doesn’t know where the library files are, and gee, can you tell me which of these two libraries you want to use? Fuck you, iTunes. There was only supposed to be one library to begin with. So then I say, fine, go to D, and I realize how much isn’t currently synched. And then I have to rebuild, including purchases from iTunes Music Store (another reason I dislike buying music online — give me CDs so when you screw up, I can fix it myself), and the iPod says “Hey, this library isn’t my library, can I wipe myself and start over?” And I say, “Shit. Yes.”
Inevitably this happens when I’m about to take it on a long drive (like today). It takes about an hour for it to sync so it’s never actually ready in time, and therefore never up and running when I need it most. And the radio in the Bay Area, as I’ve noted, ain’t all that good anymore.
Is this really all that hard? Why does iTunes have a mind of its own in the first place? Seriously — this is the third time I’ve had to rebuild in as many years, and I have changed absolutely nothing in my settings to confuse it. My one and only library is listed in the program’s preferences as D. Anybody got any tips on how to tell this thing to behave?