Syncing Itunes Across Multiple Computers (Dropbox or Another Way?)

[newyorkcity]

I read articles about syncing an Itunes Library/files across multiple computers using dropbox but wondering if anyone here has done that?

Is there a better way to sync music across devices?

 

[w0lf]

Assuming they're connected to the net at the same time probably something like rsync.

 

[laurihoefs]

Do you want to sync the library between between Apple devices only, or are any other devices involved?

If you only need syncing between computers with iTunes, and iOS devices, iTunes Match could be the solution. It's $24.99 a year, which I think is reasonable compared to, for example, a large iTunes library on Dropbox.

It has some limitations and quirks though. There's a 25,000 track limit, which is surprisingly easy to hit. The limit does not include songs purchased from iTunes, just the ones you upload yourself, so depending how large your music collection is, and how you have acquired it, this might or might not be an issue.

Occasionally syncing can be a bit wonky when uploading large amounts of songs at a time, and streaming playback on mobile devices seems to require a good connection. In many situations I've been able to use Spotify with high quality enabled, but iTunes streaming has been unusable. But you can also download the tracks instead of streaming.

The streaming is a nice touch though. I don't need to fill my laptop HDD or phone storage with the library, but I still have access to it anywhere.

 

[newyorkcity]

Do you want to sync the library between between Apple devices only, or are any other devices involved?

If you only need syncing between computers with iTunes, and iOS devices, iTunes Match could be the solution. It's $24.99 a year, which I think is reasonable compared to, for example, a large iTunes library on Dropbox.

It has some limitations and quirks though. There's a 25,000 track limit, which is surprisingly easy to hit. The limit does not include songs purchased from iTunes, just the ones you upload yourself, so depending how large your music collection is, and how you have acquired it, this might or might not be an issue.

Occasionally syncing can be a bit wonky when uploading large amounts of songs at a time, and streaming playback on mobile devices seems to require a good connection. In many situations I've been able to use Spotify with high quality enabled, but iTunes streaming has been unusable. But you can also download the tracks instead of streaming.

The streaming is a nice touch though. I don't need to fill my laptop HDD or phone storage with the library, but I still have access to it anywhere.

I think I will go with Itunes Match and then down the line move everything to a portable external HD. If I use Itunes Match does that delete any of my local files?

 

[swordfish5736]

I think I will go with Itunes Match and then down the line move everything to a portable external HD. If I use Itunes Match does that delete any of my local files?

On iOS devices when you enable iTunes match it may erase locally stored music. In iTunes it will do an initial matching to see what music you have apple already has in the cloud, and upload music they don't have. It will leave your local library in tact, but you can remove it if it's a machine you'd like to save space on. It will still be able to stream your entire library and you can selectively download content to be played offline.

 

[laurihoefs]

On iOS devices when you enable iTunes match it may erase locally stored music. In iTunes it will do an initial matching to see what music you have apple already has in the cloud, and upload music they don't have. It will leave your local library in tact, but you can remove it if it's a machine you'd like to save space on. It will still be able to stream your entire library and you can selectively download content to be played offline.

Not only does it remove any previously synced tracks from iOS devices, you also lose the ability to directly transfer tracks from your local iTunes library. Instead, everything has to be uploaded to the cloud library first, and then streamed or downloaded to the iOS devices.

But like swordfish5736 says, the local iTunes libraries will stay intact.