2 Macs with one iTunes shared library? How?

[BoonDockSaint]

Hi guys

I was wondering how it is possible to have one shared library on a remote disk connected to our time capsule?

Can i rip our CD´s with my iTunes to that library with the possibility that the music can be seen and used with our other mac?

If that´s possible, witch CD ripper will you recommend?

I really hope you can help us :-)

Best regards

[GGJstudios]

Understanding Home Sharing
iTunes: How to share music and video

[QuarterSwede]

You can. My iTunes library is on an external hard drive that also houses
my Time Machine backup. That's connected to an old 12" PowerBook that acts as a file server. All of it works over my network.

Move your iTunes library to the TC (I'd assume you'd have to partition it) and point both Mac's iTunes to that library. The advantage of this over sharing or home sharing is that both Macs can manage the library.

[obsidian1200]

Originally Posted by GGJstudios

Understanding Home Sharing
iTunes: How to share music and video

Home sharing is definitely one way to go about it, but I'm not sure if you can set it up on a remote disk like the OP wants.

Originally Posted by QuarterSwede

You can. My iTunes library is on an external hard drive that also houses
my Time Machine backup. That's connected to an old 12" PowerBook that acts as a file server. All of it works over my network.

Move your iTunes library to the TC (I'd assume you'd have to partition it) and point both Mac's iTunes to that library. The advantage of this over sharing or home sharing is that both Macs can manage the library.

From what I understand, you cannot partition the built-in hard drive of the TC (easily, anyway; you can fudge it using a disk image, but depending on the size of the image, that might be a pain). However, this won't be a problem to the OP.

To the OP, here's one suggested route to setting this up:

1. Open iTunes while holding down the alt/option key. A window will pop up with three choices.
2. From the window, select "Create Library..." and navigate to your remote disc.
3. After step 2, your first mac will automatically connect to this library.
4. To connect the second mac to the library, open itunes on that computer while holding down the alt/option key.
5. This time, select "Choose Library..." and navigate to the library you created in step #2.

And viola, one library on a remote disk feeding two macs. All you'll need to do is move your media into your library, assuming you already have media to move into it. You can either do this using the import feature of itunes, or a manual copy with finder. I'd suggest just using the iTunes import feature, since it's easier and takes no more time than manually copying your content to the new drive.

[BoonDockSaint]

Thx

I will try, and see how it works

Best regards

[mrfizzed]

what if i had my itunes library point to a library file on a usb drive (where my entire 56gb itunes library folder was stored) and any time i wanted to use it on my mb pro i simply plut that drive into the mb pro, but then if i wanted to use it on imac or sync iphone with it on imac just plug it into imac? wouldntt that work and in essence be 1 drive?

[flynz4]

Originally Posted by QuarterSwede

You can. My iTunes library is on an external hard drive that also houses
my Time Machine backup. That's connected to an old 12" PowerBook that acts as a file server. All of it works over my network.

Move your iTunes library to the TC (I'd assume you'd have to partition it) and point both Mac's iTunes to that library. The advantage of this over sharing or home sharing is that both Macs can manage the library.

So if your external drive fails... you lose your iTunes library and your backup?

/Jim

[chrfr]

Originally Posted by mrfizzed

what if i had my itunes library point to a library file on a usb drive (where my entire 56gb itunes library folder was stored) and any time i wanted to use it on my mb pro i simply plut that drive into the mb pro, but then if i wanted to use it on imac or sync iphone with it on imac just plug it into imac? wouldntt that work and in essence be 1 drive?

That works fine.

[robpow]

Originally Posted by QuarterSwede

Move your iTunes library to the TC (I'd assume you'd have to partition it) and point both Mac's iTunes to that library. The advantage of this over sharing or home sharing is that both Macs can manage the library.

What happens when you open iTunes on both Macs, won't they try and write to the same library at the same time? I can see the library getting corrupted easily unless iTunes has some smarts to prevent this.

[flynz4]

Originally Posted by robpow

What happens when you open iTunes on both Macs, won't they try and write to the same library at the same time? I can see the library getting corrupted easily unless iTunes has some smarts to prevent this.

Correct. Most "libraries" (iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, etc) are designed to be "private" to one user. In the case of iTunes... Apple included the "home sharing" option which is nice.

Whenever I see people complaining about corrupted databases, lost music, lost pictures, etc... I always wonder if they are either poking around in the libraries with finder... or sharing their libraries across multiple accounts/users.

Personally... my data is too important to me to do any of this.

/Jim

[chrfr]

Originally Posted by flynz4

Correct. Most "libraries" (iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, etc) are designed to be "private" to one user. In the case of iTunes... Apple included the "home sharing" option which is nice.

Whenever I see people complaining about corrupted databases, lost music, lost pictures, etc... I always wonder if they are either poking around in the libraries with finder... or sharing their libraries across multiple accounts/users.

Personally... my data is too important to me to do any of this.

/Jim

These are replies to messages from 2011...

[QuarterSwede]

Originally Posted by flynz4

So if your external drive fails... you lose your iTunes library and your backup?

/Jim

iTunes Match and Google Music. Always have at least one off site backup (in my case, two).