Sharing iTunes Library - Best Way?

[LastLine]

I'm popping this in here as it seems the best place. I'm not sure it's strictly a server question but it's definitely networking.

I've got two Macs on the same LAN, one of which currently hosts the following:

iTunes Music on it's local HDD
Movies and TV on an external HDD
iPhoto Library on Local HDD.


My wife syncs her iPhone on the machine with the local storage, and it works much as you'd expect.

I want to sync my iPhone on a separate Mac. I know I can home share my library to my second Mac and do this currently to view my media on it, however (to the best of my knowledge) I can't sync via Home Sharing.

So what I figure I need to do is to add the files via Network sharing to the library on my second Mac (thereby leaving the originals on Mac1 but in the library of Mac2) which would allow me to sync happily. Problem solved, right?


Sadly not, the problem there is when we add something to the library on Mac 1 I've still got to add it to the library on Mac2 - it's anything but smooth and elegant. While it can work it's not really what I'm looking for.

Has anyone got any ideas on how I could set this up? I have access to Mavericks server if that'll solve the problem but I'm not sure it's the answer and don't want to install it unless I need to.

 

[Aragornii]

I was in the same boat. For me signing up for iTunes match solved my problems. It's not a free solution, but for me I think the $25 is well worth how convenient it makes managing music across multiple devices and family members. As a bonus you now also get ad-free iTunes radio along with it.

 

[LastLine]

I was in the same boat. For me signing up for iTunes match solved my problems. It's not a free solution, but for me I think the $25 is well worth how convenient it makes managing music across multiple devices and family members. As a bonus you now also get ad-free iTunes radio along with it.

See I've considered that, and it's not an invalid suggestions but that doesn't unfortunately solve my Movies and TV Show syncing which iTunes doesn't cover.

Thanks for the idea though.

 

[mcnallym]

What happens if you simply point the iTunes Library on Mac2 at the Library on Mac1

http://gigaom.com/2008/10/13/one-itunes-library-on-multiple-computers/

You can only add into 1 iTunes Library at a time, however as you open and close the other machines then will see the updated information in the Library.