Hey people
I'm trying to figure out a better alternative to my current solution, sharing an iTunes library on the local network.
Here's my current setup:
I've got an external drive connected to my Time Capsule, which I share on the network to my iMac, Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro.
All my iTunes media is stored on the external drive in a regular iTunes media folder structure, and all machines are setup to use the same iTunes media folder. iTunes on all machines are also set up to manage the media library, so changes only need to made once.
I'm using DropBox to share the actual iTunes Library on all machines, which keeps the playcounts, album art, playlists etc. in sync.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the setup, because it lets me manage my music on any machine, keeping the others in sync. It also makes it possible for me to sync my iPhone on the iMac while my girlfriend can sync her Nano on the MBP.
The problem is that the library files are only updated when iTunes is closed. This means, that if I run iTunes on the iMac and make some changes (i.e. add some music to the library) and iTunes is open on the MBP as well, if I close iTunes on the iMac before closing it on the MPB, the changes I've made won't show because they were last changed on the MPB.
So my questions are:
Do any of you have a better setup than what I'm currently using?
Can I avoid the sync-problem?
Any suggestions of third-party software is very welcome.
Another thing I was wondering also.. Is there a way to iTunes to automatically monitor a folder and update the library from that? I like what they've done with the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder, but I was thinking something more in lines with a folder that both adds and removes files from the library based on the changes in the folder.
Thanks..
I'm trying to figure out a better alternative to my current solution, sharing an iTunes library on the local network.
Here's my current setup:
I've got an external drive connected to my Time Capsule, which I share on the network to my iMac, Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro.
All my iTunes media is stored on the external drive in a regular iTunes media folder structure, and all machines are setup to use the same iTunes media folder. iTunes on all machines are also set up to manage the media library, so changes only need to made once.
I'm using DropBox to share the actual iTunes Library on all machines, which keeps the playcounts, album art, playlists etc. in sync.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the setup, because it lets me manage my music on any machine, keeping the others in sync. It also makes it possible for me to sync my iPhone on the iMac while my girlfriend can sync her Nano on the MBP.
The problem is that the library files are only updated when iTunes is closed. This means, that if I run iTunes on the iMac and make some changes (i.e. add some music to the library) and iTunes is open on the MBP as well, if I close iTunes on the iMac before closing it on the MPB, the changes I've made won't show because they were last changed on the MPB.
So my questions are:
Do any of you have a better setup than what I'm currently using?
Can I avoid the sync-problem?
Any suggestions of third-party software is very welcome.
Another thing I was wondering also.. Is there a way to iTunes to automatically monitor a folder and update the library from that? I like what they've done with the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder, but I was thinking something more in lines with a folder that both adds and removes files from the library based on the changes in the folder.
Thanks..