leave it defaulting to your mac as your cloud is not always connected…
however you can do the following… (I copied my answer from another post that I made of a similar nature).
What I am documenting here is not the moving of the iTunes Media folder location but rather how I use iTunes as a means of sharing with my Apple TV and also a way to move my complete library into and out of itunes as my needs requires.
First of all, there are a few things to remember
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never use the itune server provided by every NAS. The itune server is a renaisance system that provides only token services.
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under itunes preferences make sure you
a. uncheck “Keep iTunes Media folder organized” and
b. uncheck “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library”
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Under Advanced Preferences, you can leave your iTunes Media folder location on your Mac.
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don’t start up itunes when mac starts as you will need to connect to your Cloud before opening itunes.
Before you start…
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make sure you have a back up copy of your music somewhere else as iTunes will delete and/or move your music around, sometimes leaving you with an empty folder, depending on your preference settings.
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dragging and dropping music folders/music files from your Cloud into itunes will only create a link and it is safe to delete the music in itunes without worries about the actual music being deleted that is on your cloud device.
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make sure you map your drive of your Cloud server using the “Connect to Server” and mapping smb://WDMyCloud/ instead of using any WD software to access and map the Cloud.
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I would not recommend using itunes via WD software mapped cloud access while on the road if you are doing this on a laptop.
So the whole process is thus.
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connect to your Cloud using “Connect to Server”
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start itunes
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drag your folder of music, or albums of music, or just a single music file into “iTunes” Music / My Music and itunes will start to import your music (actually it just creates links to your music leaving all your actual music / movies) on your Cloud.
When it is done, you can group your music, organize your music. Rename your music titles, add album covers etc and it will
affect the music files on your Cloud.
If you delete all your music from the iTunes library (be sure you have a backup copy), theorectically it just deletes your links (however if you allow itunes to copy your music locally it will delete your local copy).
Usage
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connect to your Cloud using “Connect to Server”
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start itunes
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play music/movies
Now if you accidentally open iTunes before mapping the Cloud, you may get music not found. Depending on the version of iTunes, the link can be restored by simply mapping the cloud drive. If you accidentally break the link and the music cannot be found despite that you have re-attached the cloud, shut down iTunes and start it again. If that doesn’t work, delete the music that has lost the links and re-import them by dragging and dropping the same.
Now remember that all your music is just large folders of music files on your Cloud. As long as you don’t let iTunes manage your music and re-organize your music, the folders of music will remain in the same order that you have kept them.
Don’t let iTunes organize and copy your music.
I have since emptied my itunes library and simply drag and drop into itunes, music or movies that I wish to play. However you can leave the links active by making sure you connect to the Cloud before opening iTunes.
Good luck…
