itunes keeps its library in an xml file. there is no need to export it. it is located at
~/music/itunes/itunes music library.xml
on a mac
and
c:\documents and settings\username\my documents\my music\itunes\itunes music library.xml
on windows.
this is one feature i would die for. if this was implemented i'd just die. this is where the tivo home media option is very catchy.
since this file can be quite large, 8 megs for me, thats over 600 albums, it would be nice to have a way to parse it using a button on xbmc. having this file download and parsed everytime i browsed my music could get cumbersome. i'd like to just parse it every once in a while and have xbmc cache the files paths.
the xml file has everything you could possibly want to know about the song files, even ratings. what would be nice is a way to share this xml file with xbmc so that xbmc could see it and grab it. there are many reasons this would complement xbmc.
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itunes could be the frontend to xbmc's music library one cumbersome thing with xmbc is managing the music, it uses folder views to find things, not only is this old hat, but we'll see this way of managing files gone in file managers of operating systems soon, watch for longhorn and later versions of os x to get rid of folder stucture design patterns.
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itunes is an amazing, proven, application for managing music why sift through your files or make playlists with a remote when you can just make the playlists on your computer in seconds flat, boot up xbmc and hit play.
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itunes is a great "hub" for your music imagine making a playlist in itunes. you listen to it on your computer, you like it so much you have it sync to your ipod for on the go. you're going to a party so you burn that playlist out to a cd. now you can turn on your tv and xbox and have that very same playlist play in yoru living room while you have guests over. all of this from making one playlist.
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the afformentioned smart playlists these are amazing, and if yo uodnt know about them, check them out. they make making best of playlists a cinch after rating your favorite music
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central area for music i think the whole purpose of allowing the xbox media center to stream video/pictures/music to the xbox was so that you could keep all of your media in one place. then xbmc acts as a frontend to play all of that. this has worked wonderfully, except using music. we (itunes users) manage our music on our computers, but when we go to play them on xbmc we have to deal with meaningless folders of music again. using itunes xml file would allow us to change that.
for all of the users out that that are saying, "who cares, itunes sucks" get with the program. download it and try it. as long as you have your tags in order, itunes is the most robust and easy to use and most powerful jukebox out there. its amazing once you give it some time.
xbmc devs, please give this some thought, with parsing the itunes xml file you will be able to sort all of our music just how it is on our computers and laptops. and be able to use our great playlists we have created and been using for so long. no need to do any extra work on the xbmc, we just boot up and see our familiar library. the xml file has all the info you need. go through it, its extremely descriptive. these xml files are what allows os x apps to integrate iphoto, itunes, address book, and everything else together in os x. its quite amazing when you see it all work. all from xml.
if you have any questions, email me at [email="
[email protected]"]
[email protected][/email]
sorry guys! 
