How to do 1 iTunes library, 2 Macs and 1 Hi-Fi?

[mr1970]

Hi there

Looking for some advice. I recently managed to persuade my partner to abandon the dark side and buy a Mac . So, we now have two Macs, one old PC, a hi-fi and a shedload of CDs. What we'd like to be able to do is:

- have one iTunes library
- share it between our Macs / iPods
- play it through the hi-fi
- get backup in there somewhere
- maybe (less important) share it into the PC
- finally, and completely ideally, have the stuff that's going through the hi-fi ripped losslessly, but have a lower-fi copy to put on the iPods to save space!

It's a bit of a stretch, I know, but any ideas?

I was thinking Time Capsule plus a NAS, but couldn't see how to pipe it into the hi-fi. Then thought Apple TV and TC, but ATV doesn't have anything like the storage I need (I'd guess 1TB media plus backup). Then thought Mac Mini and TC, but not sure I want to have the Mini on all the time...and so on.

Any thoughts very gratefully received. I have a pal at work who is gleefully informing me that it's dead easy with a Buffalo terastation, a Windows Media Server and a bunch of Xbox 360s round the house acting as media extenders...can't believe this shouldn't be just as easy with Macs...

Thanks

mr1970

 

[netdog]

Put the iTunes library on a Time Capsule or hanging off of a Time Capsule or AEBS. Alternatively, you could share the iTunes library on one Mac with the other (though I would go for the former solutions as the host Mac must be on for the other to access a hosted library).

An AppleTV or Airport Express with AirTunes is the best way to play the music to your hifi from either Mac. With AppleTV, you will also get video streaming if your AppleTV is near your music system.

Hope that helps.