How to synchronize iTunes on 2 computers?

[riceforlife]

Hi everyone,

I have a PowerBook and a G4 Tower. Is there any way to maintain an identical music library on both of these in iTunes? So, when I add a new song, I'd like it to appear on the G4 (or at least appear automatically in some amount of time), and vice versa. Even trickier, I'd like for when a song is removed from one machine, its also removed from the other (so the next sync doesn't return it!).

I've been thinking rsync, but I fear this might need something even more clever than that.

Has anyone solved this problem before?

Thanks!
-LAD

 

[crees!]

You can just turn on shared libraries so both computers can access all music over the network. That sounds like the easiest thing to do. Or just keep all music on one computer and have the other access it the same way.

 

[phiberoptik957]

I am also very interested in this.

 

[crees!]

In all practicality why would you want two copies, of everything? It's like having two copies of all the photos on your computer. I could see having all the music on the desktop then having only the current music you listen to on the portable for when you're on the road.

 

[riceforlife]

Hi Crees

The G4 is going to be acting as a server and as a music station, connected to a nice Hi-Fi system.

Problems:
1) I am often not on the server's LAN, so simply turning on sharing is not an option.
2) I like music. As a result, I'd like to have my music with me when I'm on the go, and listen to it when I'm at home as well. In addition, whenever I put new music onto my laptop, its a real hassle to then get it onto the iTunes library on the server machine.

The server's IP is connected to a dyndns system, so I can find it no matter where I am.

 

[Thirteenva]

You could use something like ChronoSync.

I use it to sync my Mac at work with my Powerbook at home. But you could probably use it to sync your itunes library also.

 

[riceforlife]

You could use something like ChronoSync.

I use it to sync my Mac at work with my Powerbook at home. But you could probably use it to sync your itunes library also.

How do you like Chronosync? For a student, $30 is much more than just $30. Its about 6 chinese food meals!

 

[sonofslim]

www.slimdevices.com

check out their SlimServer -- it's a streaming mp3 server that uses your iTunes library and a web-based interface. meaning once you set it up (a total snap) on computer A, you open up a streaming mp3 in iTunes on computer B. you then use your web browser to control the music. it offers a pretty decent set of features: full search; browse by artist, genre, album, etc; play your iTunes playlists or create and save your own; etc. i use it to listen to my iTunes library (i mean, the one in my apartment) while i'm at work, so that i don't have to maintain 2 libraries.

it's the same piece of (open source, totally free) software that powers the SqueezeBox and Roku devices.

 

[decksnap]

I am also looking...

For the simplest way to do this- one library at work, one at home. To whomever said 'why would you want two copies of your music?'- I say, why wouldn't you? In fact, I think it's necessary to have two copies of everything you value in the slightest- each residing on a different drive. ALL hard drives will fail at some point. It takes a long time to acumulate a nice music library, and its value is arguably very, very high.

 

[riceforlife]

has anyone tried using rsync before?

 

[Thirteenva]

How do you like Chronosync? For a student, $30 is much more than just $30. Its about 6 chinese food meals!

Love it. And they give free updates. I didn't pay a dime to upgrade to 2.x from 1.x

It was worth every dime. I even sync over the internet with it (It's a bit slow that way but works great).

 

[riceforlife]

Does anyone know what files need to be synced? Obviously, the mp3's, but will the .xml playlist files need to be transferred as well? Are there any other files I'm missing?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Does anyone know what files need to be synced? Obviously, the mp3's, but will the .xml playlist files need to be transferred as well? Are there any other files I'm missing?

Two files, and one folder, all in the iTunes folder inside the Music folder of your home directory: iTunes X Music Library (where X is the major version number of iTunes, i.e. 4 for iTunes 4.6), iTunes Music Library.xml, and the folder iTunes Music, which contains your music files (not just MP3s, but also AACs, AIFFs, and any other formats iTunes supports).

 

[DHagan4755]

I have done this before...Here's what I do and it works great!

1. Connect both Macs together with a Firewire cable.
2. Boot the computer you're copying to into Firewire Target Disk mode by holding down the "T" key after the startup chime.
3. Quit iTunes on the computer you're copying from.
4. On your desktop should appear the hard drive of your other computer. Double-click on it and go the Music folder in your home folder under Users.
5. On the computer's HD you're copying music from, go to the Music folder in your home folder. Edit > Select All, then drag the entire contents into your firewire drive's Music Folder. If it says there are files that already exist, replace them all. Technically, it might be easier to delete the contents of that folder before you do the copy.

Let it copy. When it's done, put away the FW Target mode Hard drive, turn off the FW Target computer. Start it back up. When you launch iTunes, it should have copied everything over (even the Itunes folder) so that all playlists and music will appear in your library.