Can itunes library file be shared or copied between two macs?

I have two macs that use the same networked hard drive for iTunes file storage. One is acting as a server front-end as it syncs with my AppleTV. The other I use on a daily basis, syncs with my iPhone and roams around the house. Ultimately I'd like to have both computers with iTunes show the same videos, music, ratings, play count, and other material. That way, if I download some music on the Macbook roaming laptop, it will sync with the Server computer and recognize when a file has been changed.
If I use automator to copy the latest itunes library file to both computers, will this doe the trick?
Any suggestions?

Yes - store the files on the same drive as the tune files - nest them in the same order as if they were on your computer.
I usually rename the Library file to reflect the tunes - ie: I have a HD that has a iTunes library file named 'Really Big Music'. I do this so I don't accidentally delete the wrong library file. When opening iTunes -open with the 'option' key held down and the follow the dialog box and select the library that you want to open.
MJ

Similar Messages

  • Can Lion server keep my photos in sync between two macs?

    can Lion server keep my photos in sync between two macs?  Where should I keep them, we have Aperture 3 and my wife still likes iphoto '11.  I've already tried plenty of 3rd party solutions with little success.  I simply want my MBP to "mirror" the imac with the exception of iMovie footage.  Is this what the server app can do?  I am bad enough with computers, but even thinking about a server gives me migraines!

    discussing this right now at this link...
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1473705#1473705

  • Can iTunes Library read  from or rather consist of two different folders?

    Here is my situation...I have about 100 gb of music in my iTunes folder. Then I bought an apple tv and figured out how to start converting my 400 disc dvd collection to H.264/mpeg4, then import into iTunes, and then stream or sync with apple tv. I also would like to convert my music collection to apple lossless (only about 25% is lossless at this time). On average each dvd takes up 1.75 to 2.25 GB in iTunes following compression and H.264 encoding. I have a 750GB Hard drive dedicated for itunes media.
    So my question/problem is that when you do the math (after converting to lossless and putting all my dvds into itunes, and then any future content I buy/add, etc...) I am going to run out of storage soon. When this happens can I just add another drive with an additional itunes folder? If so can iTunes access both, keep both organized, etc....? If so how do I set this up properly?

    What's happening is iTunes thinks you want it to copy all the music from those drives and place it inside your "iTunes Music" folder. You can turn this preference off. It's on the Advanced tab of the Preferences window.
    Now you can either use the Import menu or just drag/drop music from any and all drives to the Library window, and they will become part of your library. You must stay connected to those drives in order play the songs, of course. It's not quite so easy to manage the files when they are located on multiple drives, but you can always press Ctrl-R on any song to be shown the file.

  • Can someone help me on how to sync between two mac?

    I am using a macbook and recently purchased a new imac. First. I want to know how can i transfer a copy of all my file/music/photo into the new imac?
    and how can I transfer the whole itune library and keep both computer in sync?
    and finally.. is there any software or easy way I can keep both document in sync between 2 computer? I have around 80G data in total ( music/ doc/ pic/ application)
    Many thanks.

    I have chronosync installed in my macbook since I use that for backup into external harddisk.. will that work if i connect my imac to my macbook?
    I'm not familiar with the program. If it offers synchronization between folders then it should work: you need to decide which folders you sync, of course (don't try to sync the whole computer).
    and how about itune libaray.. if I copy the whole itune library to imac.. when I start the application, will all the songs loaded up properly? or will I need to manually load all the songs again?
    I would expect that if you synced (user)>Music>iTunes it would work provided both versions of iTunes are the same. However I would advise testing it: move this folder somewhere else temporarily on one machine, and copy the same folder from the other machine into the same position, and check that it works OK. If it doesn't you can always replace the original folder. If it does then syncing ought to work.
    and can my Ipod and iphone only allow to sync with 1 computer?
    In theory yes, though you might get away with it if both computers have the same name and the user name is the same. You might like to ask in the appropriate forums, someone may have tried this.

  • Sharing iPhoto libraries between two Macs

    Hi,
    I've got a Mac mini set up in the living room on which I store videos, music and photos.
    The photos are organized in iPhoto and arranged in 'Events' with the file name format being "YYYY MM eventname"
    My wife would like to access those photos from her MacbookAir.
    When sharing the iPhoto library, the photos come up in her iPhoto under 'shared' but all 25000 photos are in one big folder and no longer sorted the way they are on the Macmini.
    Is there any way accessing the structure of the Mac Mini's Library via a sharing device?

    Make Albums of those Events - which you can do just by dragging the Events to the Album heading in the left pane. Albums don't use any extra disk space.
    Regards
    TD

  • Sharing podcast information between two Macs

    Hi, everybody!
    I'm currently copying my iTunes library between my PB and my mini (syncing my ~/Music/iTunes/ folder via rsync). I'm only using one library at a time, so I'm using a one-way synchronization only. All the metadata (like play counts, last played etc.) are still correct after synching.
    But I have a problem with the update of podcasts. All downloaded podcast episodes are there. But if I hit the "Update" button in the upper right corner iTunes displays all episodes that are in all the RSS feeds again. Even the ones I already loaded.
    Does anybody know where iTunes stores the up-to-dateness information of the individual podcast feeds? It doesn't seem to be stored in the library files itself. Otherwise I should'nt get that update problem as everything else works great that way, should I?
    Thanks for your help,
    Markus
    PB G4 15" (1.67 GHz), Mac Mini (1.66 GHz Core Duo)   Mac OS X (10.4.5)   iPod color 60 GB, iPod nano 4 GB, iPod shuffle 1 GB

    Mmh, I somehow solved this problem myself:
    I wrote an AppleScript that removes all podcast episodes that weren't downloaded into the iTunes library. This has a little drawback in ease of usability but it works:
    First I have to hit the update button in the podcast playlist on one maschine so that I have a current library. After that I download all episodes which I wanna have in my library. Then I close iTunes and synchronize the library to the other Mac (via rsync). After I started iTunes on the other Mac, I just have to run my AppleScript and everything is set to normal.
    I have to mention here that I don't use the automatic downloading episodes feature of iTunes anymore. Otherwise I wouldn't have any "not-downloaded" episodes.
    Okay, it's a hack but it works for me currently...

  • Sharing canon i9900 between two macs

    I am having difficulties connecting the one printer between the two macs. Both are iMacs, and one is using Leopard while the other still uses Tiger. The printer is directly connected to the Tiger iMac, and is connected wirelessly to the Leopard. I can print from the Leopard but cannot access any of the settings for the printer (eg. quality and media, paper selection, marks and bleeds, etc.)
    Is there an easy fix to this problem?
    Thank you!

    There are two things you need to be aware of.
    The first is that Leopard by default has a minimised print dialog, meaning that only the printer queue and presets menu is seen. To view the additional driver settings when you print, you need to expand the print dialog by clicking the triangle tab next to the printer menu. This will then show the additional Canon menus.
    The second item is that the Canon driver has to be installed on both the local Mac (the one sharing the printer) and the client Mac (the one connecting to the share). If the client Mac doesn't have the same driver installed as the sharing Mac, then it will get only the default Apple driver menus, such as Layout and Scheduler. Or, if the Gutenprint drivers are installed on the Mac, and the same model is supported, then it could default to the Gutenprint driver on the client Mac. Your best approach is to delete the current queue on the client Mac and then install the same version of Canon driver onto the Leopard Mac. Then when you add the queue again, it should default to Canon IJ Printer.
    PaHu

  • Sharing Keynote documents between two macs.

    I am Sharing Keynote documents between my two macs via wi-fi, so my question , is there a potential problem of data lost when going back and for from one computer to the other. It is very important that no possible problems may happen for important lectures.....
    Thanks

    Ok that sounds good, Both computers should have all the fonts, no music at the moment.
    I was wondering that I had data lost when transferenig keynote documents using usb memory sticks, lost of pictures, the trick that avoid that was compressing the document before placing it into the usb memory stick.....I undertood that was because of the memory stick format. So going from computer to computer through wifi should be fine...just does recomendations that you were saying. Right ?

  • What is the best strategy for sharing iPhoto libraries between two macs?

    I have an iMac and a new Airbook.  I want to keep my iMac as the"main" iPhoto location, but want to also keep copies of the photos on my Airbook. 
    I could copy the library from one to the other to get the photos into the Airbook initially, but then how would I get subsequent ones in there?  Is there a way to sync these two computers so that the photos flow from one to the other?  One-way syncing would be ok...
    Thanks.
    Oh - and I use MobileMe if that helps.

    There is an application that can sync two iPhoto libraries.  It's SyncPhotos
    Here's how it works: 
    1 - it compares the databases and/or album.xml files of Libraries A and B. 
    2 - the files in A that are not in B are imported into B by copying the original files from A into B's Import folder.  
    3 - it then does the same for B. 
    4 - metadata is not copied nor are Faces or Places. 
    It can be used to just copy from A to B and not sync both ways if desired. It will work with 2 libraries that are different versions, i.e. between an iPhoto 08 and iPhoto 09 library.
    If you want to copy selected Events or Album from one to the other and keep the metadata, faces and places intact, you can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager.  You would have to manually select the event/album to copy from A to B and do the same for B to A.
    OT

  • Sharing address book between two macs

    I have a powermac g4 agp and a titanium powerbook. I want to have the same contacts on both machines. How do I transfer the address book info from the powermac to the powerbook?

    I went to the above message and it answered the question. I also found out that you can export vcards. You can export the entire contents of the address book and save it to the desktop then transfer that file to the address book of the other computer. Just go to edit/select all/file/export vcard. That will export all the files in the address book to wherever you want to save it. I saved to my desktop and then trasfered the saved files to my powerbook. Then you just have to import the vcards.

  • Sharing internet connection between two Macs

    I would like to enable my wife's new MacBook to share an internet connection ( wirelessly ) with my iMac G5. Both machines run OSX 10.4.8 and both have Airport cards installed as standard. I have a DSL broadband connection via a USB modem on my iMac. From what I've read this is reasonably straightforward and doesn't require any extra kit, ie create an Airport network and set the appropriate Sharing preferences etc.Is it as simple in practice? Has anyone got a similar setup working? Is there a step by step guide to achieving this?
    Would greatly appreciate any help.
    G5   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

    Hi,
    I seem to have 'solved' the problem by turning off the firewall on my G5. Entourage is on my wife's laptop. However, I originally had the Personal File Sharing and Personal Web Sharing boxes allowed with the rest of the firewall on and this enabled my wife to access the web but not Entourage. It was only when I turned the firewall off completely that she was able to use Entourage OK. Is there another box that I should check that would let her use Entourage without me keeping the whole of the firewall off ( its not obvious which one to set )?
    Thanks again.
    G5   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

  • Sharing a project between two Macs?

    Is it possible to share an un-finished iMovie project between two different Macs?
    And if yes, how?
    And is it possible to share an iMovie 08' project with an iMovie 09' project?
    Thank you for your help :'D

    Hi
    I think an intermediat external hard disk
    • FireWire
    • Mac OS Extended formatted (MUST BE)
    Storing material and project on this should make it "Share-ably" but not
    in same time of-course. One at a time.
    and
    • iMovie'09 on both Macs (I would go for exactly same version no. and same regarding
    QuickTime and it's version no.)
    (Heart of iLife and FinalCut it's the real motor doing the job. iMovie is just an interface to it.)
    Yours Bengt W

  • Can't access iTunes Library on a shared drive

    Here is my problem: I want to access my iTunes library from a shared drive.
    Here is my equipment:
    1. Imac running iTunes 10.6
    2. 1 week old Macbook Air running iTunes 10.6
    3. 1 Timecapsule that is 1 day old, bought with the express purpose of putting my extensive iTunes library on it, and was assure I would be able to stream it.
    4. An Airport express hooked to my stereo.
    The concept was that the Air doesn't really have the capability to hold all my music, but I want to use it as a "remote" to select songs through iTunes and play them on my stereo.
    I did NOT want to leave my iMac on at all times and do homes haring that way.
    Therefore, I followed intructions fonund else where and moved my iTunes library from my iMac to the newly installed shared drive on the Time Capsule.
    I went into iTunes on the Air selected preferences, advanced, and changed the location of the Air's iTunes library to that of the one on the Time Capsule. It sees all the music. I close preferences.
    What happens? Nothing. None of the music is listed on the Air
    I've gone over this again and again, and this SHOULD work. What am I missing here? Should I take the Air and the Timecapsule back to the store?

    Uh, I fear you followed some wrong directions. This is what you should have done:
    iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
    do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
    iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
    It sounds as if in part at least this is what you did, at least when you say you are going to preferences and changing things.
    Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.  Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.  Do this with both computers if the shared library file is on the external drive.
    Note, the file can only be in use by one computer at a time.  You will have to quit iTunes on one computer before opening it on another.

  • How can I locate my iTunes library files. When I click on my itunes icon the message appears, "The file iTunes Library.itl." cannot be found because it was created by a newer version of iTunes."

    How can I locate my iTunes library files?  When I click on my iTunes icon rather than my iTunes files I receive, " The file iTunes Library.itl." cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes."  I have already tried to update my iTunes program.

    Had same problem and solved it without having to reinstore any music or movies:
    1. Delete old Library file
    2. Go to the 'Previous iTunes Libraries' folder and copy one of the earlier files - note, they have a date extension, e.g. 'iTunes Library 2011-11-01'.
    3. Paste this file in your iTuners folder and rename file by removing the date extension -  'iTunes Library'
    You should have all your music and paylists in tact, unless it was a really old previous file.

  • I downloaded the Special Edition of 'Avatar' with the included 'Extras'... I use to see them in my iTunes library, but, can no longer locate them anywhere on my computer or in the iTunes library files! What happened?

    I purchased 'Avatar' The Special Edition with the included Extras with a gift card. I had enough money in my account to cover this purchase. I only got to watch the 'Extras' for one or two times, and now, they have vanished! They no longer appear in my iTunes library or anywhere on my computer! Where are they and how do I regain access? The movie, itself, is still in the library...only the downloaded 'Extras' are gone!

    Visibility of the Podcasts section is controlled from within the Edit > Preferences dialog.
    Empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash
    Hopefully it's not been too long since you last upgraded iTunes, in fact if you get an empty/incomplete library immediately after upgrading then with the following steps you shouldn't lose a thing or need to do any further housekeeping. In the Previous iTunes Libraries folder should be a number of dated iTunes Library files. Take the most recent of these and copy it into the iTunes folder. Rename iTunes Library.itl as iTunes Library (Corrupt).itl and then rename the restored file as iTunes Library.itl. Start iTunes. Should all be good, bar any recent additions to or deletions from your library.
    See iTunes Folder Watch for a tool to catch up with any changes since the backup file was created.
    Missing tracks
    Typically this can happen because a file or folder is accidentally shunted to the wrong location. iTunes can also get confused if it expects to be talking to an external drive which isn't there. If will often reset the default media folder location and may have trouble finding files in the old folders.
    Select one of your tracks that is missing in action. Press CTRL-I to Get Info. Cancel when asked to try to locate the file, then look at the location given on the summary tab. This where iTunes thinks the file ought to be? Now find out where it actually is. Post back the two locations for comparison. I should be able to give you some steps to reconnect everything once I can determine which of the things that might have gone wrong is most likely in your case.
    When you get it all working make a backup!
    tt2

Maybe you are looking for