Sharing "iTunes Library.itl" file - can it be done?

[winstano]

Title says it all really...

I've just transferred my entire music library to an external HDD that's attached to my AEBS, to use as an iTunes server for my MacBook, and I've encountered a little bit of a problem...

I want to share the .itl file to make sure that the iTunes libraries are exactly the same on each machine. I've put the .itl file onto the Airport Disk, and I've set iTunes up on both the iMac and MacBook to read the .itl file from the Airport Disk. However, when I go to open iTunes up on both of them, I get an error message saying "This file is locked, is on a locked drive or you do not have sufficient access privileges".

Is it possible to share the .itl file over a network? And if not, is there another solution? I don't really want to have my iMac running all the time to use as a server...

 

[Sesshi]

It doesn't work that way unfortunately.

There are a couple of ways you could get around it: One is to use an increasing number of NAS's which are capable of masquerading as an iTunes Server. However you'd only see it as a shared library, and you won't be able to make any changes to the contents.

The other option is syncing between two Macs - Tuneranger (quite rubbish, but works most of the time at least for Mac-Mac syncing) and another alternative which slips my mind right now allows you to sync the contents of two Macs iTunes libraries, including playcounts, etc.

 

[winstano]

It doesn't work that way unfortunately.

There are a couple of ways you could get around it: One is to use an increasing number of NAS's which are capable of masquerading as an iTunes Server. However you'd only see it as a shared library, and you won't be able to make any changes to the contents.

The other option is syncing between two Macs - Tuneranger (quite rubbish, but works most of the time at least for Mac-Mac syncing) and another alternative which slips my mind right now allows you to sync the contents of two Macs iTunes libraries, including playcounts, etc.

Thanks for the help

I've got a bit of an a*se about face way of doing it, but it works... I'm only ever adding content on my iMac, and I'm not too bothered about the play count being added up by stuff played on the MacBook. I also found that Front Row doesn't like libraries that aren't stored locally, it only reads .itl files that are found in the "music" folder... Which isn't great!

Here's what I've done, it's a lot of steps, but it works


1. Copied all music across to the external HDD
2. Copied the "iTunes library.itl" file over to the external HDD as well, and duplicated it (Duplicate it again for multiple computers)
3. Set iTunes to read one of these library files on each Mac/PC (ensuring they all read different ones)
4. Copied the original "iTunes Library.itl" file, and pasted it back into each Mac's "music" folder. This will ensure Front Row can read the file, and find the music

If I knew the slightest thing about AppleScript, I'd have one to delete the duplicates on the external disc, then re-duplicate the original every time I powered on/added content to iTunes... As it stands, I don't, so I'll have to do it manually...

 

[Sesshi]

You can look at Doug's Applescripts for some possibles to automate the process. Too hokey for me for any kind of regular use, but may work for you.