# 2 separate music collections on 1 computer (Mac)

**URL:** <https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/2-separate-music-collections-on-1-computer-mac/71174>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [May 11, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/2-separate-music-collections-on-1-computer-mac/71174 "2015-05-11T05:33:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Man\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6bbea6/32.png) [@Man\_One](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/Man_One)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/2-separate-music-collections-on-1-computer-mac/71174/1 "2015-05-11T05:33:21Z")

</div>

**2 separate music collections on 1 computer (Mac)**

Does anyone have a good solution for managing 2 different music collections from 1 computer (Mac)?

I have 2 large collections, one for DJing which is currently on my laptop HD and I manage with iTunes.  
Then I have another collection of personal music, albums etc which lives on an external HD and I manage with iTunes on another Mac.  
The second Mac is off to a new home soon so I want to manage all my music from 1 computer but I don’t want my entire collection on my internal disk and I rather not manage both collections through the same iTunes instance as I’ll end up with way too much music to go through when searching.

Anyone have the same problem or can recommend an alternative to iTunes that will run along side and manage my personal music collection?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![c0nsul](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.djtechtools.com/c0nsul/32/16285_2.png) [@c0nsul](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/c0nsul)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/2-separate-music-collections-on-1-computer-mac/71174/2 "2015-05-11T19:35:18Z")

</div>

You can run 2 iTunes libraries.  
Hold ALT key when opening iTunes. Then you can create a new one and/or switch between libraries.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vzk](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.djtechtools.com/vzk/32/16168_2.png) [@vzk](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/vzk)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/2-separate-music-collections-on-1-computer-mac/71174/3 "2015-05-12T11:21:32Z")

</div>

I use Swinsian as a full iTunes replacement. iTunes is now only used to manage the music on my iPad/Phone.

> **[Swinsian](http://swinsian.com/)**
>
> A powerful and flexible music player for macOS

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![julianpetric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@julianpetric](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/julianpetric)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/2-separate-music-collections-on-1-computer-mac/71174/4 "2015-05-19T02:34:56Z")

</div>

I personally manage all my personal music (as you said, albums and what not) on iTunes and keep all my DJing tracks on a separate folder which is managed by Traktor.  
I have iTunes set to copy the tracks I add to its library folder, so I can do different backups for each library (some of the tunes may be duplicated of course, but its not big deal) without worrying if any song was on the other folder.  
That’s what works for me!