Itunes master library and laptop with “record bag” sort of scenario.
Hi all,
Done some searching on the net but struggling to find what i’m after really.
Is there a way i can house my full collection itunes library on my media pc or desktop machine at home but then have a sort of laptop playlist that i can sync with my laptop, but in doing so will actually pull the mp3s to my laptop? So it kind of works like me filling my “record bag” from my “shelves”
Cheers
Gav
really? not possible?
How do you guys manage a massive collection. Not all on your laptop is it?
i went through a somewhat bumpy ride getting 6000+ playable songs from my massive list on my desktop to my new macbook pro. the problem is iTunes doesnt necessarily work the way you want it to (ie syncing machine to machine).
the best i came up with was retain the desktop repository as a backup.
“consolidate” all the files on your desktop to a specific location, then mirror that location on your laptop.
“export” that library, .xml / .itl and all, then re-import on the new machine.
there are a few other steps that i can go into greater detail if youd like, but it doesnt sound like this is the solution youre after.
best bet is get a 2tb external backup, move all your songs there, sync it in itunes, and make your laptop your main rig.
The problem is iTunes period. It really is a turd for lots of reasons.
The external idea sounds the easiest. Or, if you’re not adverse to learning how to script, you could do that but that seems cumbersome.
I’m on mac and I’m not sure it works this way on PC, but I can see my iMac library on the MBP and Vice Versa. You just have to enable library sharing in preferences. When I buy music it’s almost always on the iMac and the iMac is what I sync my phone with so all of my smart playlists are on it. After I analyze new purchases with Mixed In Key I go to the MBP and open the shared library and drag the new songs over. Not exactly what you want, but it’s the closest you can get I think.
Maybe this new billion dollar data center Apple’s building and the rumored itunes in the cloud will get us closer to syncing music with two computers automatically.
When you drag over does it physically copy the actual mp3s to your MBP, or is it just creating a reference and pointing to teh networked shared version of the mp3s on your imac?
It copies them.
This is exactly what i do between my Dell PC Library and my 2 Macbook Pros.
Enable Sharing on all machines.
Each iTunes library shows in the playlist tree. You can see the library of one machine on another machine. On one laptop you select something like “show tracks not in library” and then Import them from another.
You can then export a playlist .xml and import it to another machine and if all the tunes have copied over you have 2 identical iTunes.
Simples.
@Karlos and Photojojo
Are you shring the libraries through iTunes? Also, is it the full library or just certain songs as the OP asked about?
I’ve been trying to work out a way using dropbox by keeping my traktor folder in the “cloud” and synced across the laptop and pc, but it’s a bit of a pain…
I’m not really “sharing” libraries I just have it set up so that I can drag and drop music from iTunes on the iMac to iTunes on the MBP and vice-versa. I don’t do the XML thing Karlos does either although I may look into it. Traktor pretty much only runs on the MPB so I don’t need to sync that. If I open it on the iMac it’s just for testing purposes.
I also use Apples iDisk.
I can put music into my iDisk folder and then if I’m somewhere else say I’m going to my g/fs I don’t need to burn the tracks I can just login to my iDisk on my laptop at my g/fs and grab the tracks.
I guess that’s like a cloud.
Bit off topic though.
I’ve wondered if I could set up a network drive that would watch my iTunes folder on the iMac and update itself whenever I made a change on the iMac. Then have a folder on the MBP watch that folder and automatically change itself whenever I made changes.
Yeah isn’t that what Apples Time Capsule does?
could be wrong.
I’m not sure I can watch a folder on a Time Capsule with the MPB.