iTunes, iPod, AppleTV - Which PC to store it all on?

[mark-itguy]

Here's my situation. I have a Windows PC at home with a 2nd drive for my iTunes library on it. I sync my iPod and AppleTV to it. I am about to buy a new MacBook or MacBookPro. I'd like to transplant my iTunes collection to the laptop. That way, all of my content would be available to me whether I'm at work, on a bus, hotel, etc... Also, I can download TV shows I have a season pass for while on the road. Sounds like a simple plan, but...

Then when I get home, what about the AppleTV? If my content was less than 40GB, sure, I'd sync & then shut down the laptop. But do I really want to leave a laptop running all weekend to stream to my AppleTV?

There must be others in this scenario. The only option I considered was using iTunes on my laptop for music only, and keeping my old PC up at home with iTunes for video only, demoting it to more or less just a streaming server for my AppleTV. But I have a ton of videos in iPod format I sync with, so what about that?

Maybe there's a simple solution I am overlooking. Any ideas?

 

[neven]

I believe I'm in the same situation as you.

I have a PowerBook and a PC laptop (for work). My iTunes library is on an external hard drive. When I'm on the road, I use my iPod for music.

My AppleTV settings are: sync 3 new movies and all the new TV shows (this is usually just a few), all photos, all new podcasts, and a smart playlist of music. If I'm just sitting around and wanting to idly watch or listen to something, I'll see what's on AppleTV. If I want to listen to a specific album or watch a specific movie which may or may not be synced to AppleTV, it's really not so much work for me to just open the laptop.

Short of hacking AppleTV with a bigger hard drive, I don't think there's currently a way to have your library 1. portable, 2. large, and 3. synced to AppleTV. My setup lets me watch things I want to watch most of the time easily, and gives me access to everything else with a few simple steps.

P.S. I think you'll soon run into storage problems if you keep your iTunes library on a notebook computer. AppleTV gives you 40 GB of space - does a MacBook really give you that much more, if you store other things on it?