One Library, 3 Macs ?

Hi,
We have 3 macs at home. How would we go about sharing the same iTunes library among them ?
Any advice appreciated !

check this read.
also, there is _*Home Sharing*_.

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I have movies, events, clips, etc. scattered over three macs, and would like to consolidate them in one place, hopefully in ONE library on an external HD. How, please!

I have movies, events, clips, etc. scattered over three macs, and would like to consolidate them in one place, hopefully in ONE library on an external HD. How, please!

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I created two iTunes libraries on my mac mini and would like to merge them into one library. What is the easiest way to do this?

I created two iTunes libraries on my mac mini back in the day. I would like to consolidate them into one iTunes library. What is the easiest method to do this? I do use i-Match to access all my music from iCloud, if that makes any difference. Thanks. Mark

Thanks for the reply. When I created the 2 libraries years ago I would hold down the options key and had 2 library names to choose from. Now it just shows a lot of files when I do that, With over 7,000 songs I think I will just look for the few songs from the original library I used to use that still interest me, if they don't show up in my default current library. Thought there would be any easy was to integrate all my music files into one library. I am definitely not going to spend days manually doing this, but thanks again.

Best Practice: One Library, Multiple Macs ?

Despite searching, I've yet to find a definitive answer to this one - so any advice would be appreciated....
Having downloaded the trial, I very much like Aperture, but my decision to purchase and continue using it hinges very much on whether or not I can access the same library from multiple machines.
Here is the scenario:
My 'studio' currently has a Quad G5 (soon to be upgraded to a MacPro), with ample Firewire storage, including 2 new 500Gb Western Digital MyBook drives. I now also have a MacBook Pro to allow me to work away from the studio.
So far, I'm using one of the 500Gb drives to hold everything I need - 'work in progress' documents, images etc. etc. with this being SuperDuper! smart updated daily to the second drive. This allows me to take drive 1 away at night and work from home, our go out of the office with the MacBook Pro and have all my media to hand, and 'synchronise' upon return the next day or whenever.
I think what I'd like to be able to do, is set up Aperture on the G5 and get all my images sorted and stored into a new library (out of iPhoto and various Finder folders etc) stored on FW Drive 1 along with the rest of my stuff. This would semi-automatically be backed up to FW Drive 2 as mentioned above.
However, I want to be able to access this library with Aperture on the MacBook Pro when I'm not in the office - will this work? I appreciate that I'll need 2 licenses of Aperture (one for the desktop, and one for the laptop) but my concern is whether or not both copies of Aperture can use the same library....... I wonder if the Aperture prefs would prevent this from working or screw it up completely.
If this ain't gonna work - what other options do I have !?
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Not sure this will help but this is what I have decided to do.
System: MacBook Pro and a G5. Storage: 2 Western Digital 160 GB USB 2.0 Passport Portable drives, 1 OWC 160 GB Firewire 800 (for back up of my internal drive on my MacBook Pro), and 5 500GB Western Digital MyBook Pro FW drives (attached to my G5). One Aperture library resides on my MacBook Pro internal and a yearly (like 2006) Aperture resides on 1 500 GB WD MyBook Pro
In studio, I shoot wirelessly and transfer by ftp to the MBP and using Aperture Hot Folder move the images into Aperture to show the client at the end and during the shoot. They are managed, but sadly the files are not named by studio convention. Once the client leaves, I delete the temporary project, and reimport the pictures, renaming the pictures using the studio format and they are managed. At this point the picture reside on my internal drive of my MBP.
I do the majority of the clean up of the images at this point (contrast, exposure, saturation, sharpening, leveling, blemish corrections, etc, keywording). Once done, I export the project to my primary WD Passport drive and then using the old fashion network strategy of walking, take the WD Passport drive to the G5 and import the project in G5 library converting them to referenced files so I have Finder based architecture for all my RAW files.
Once I know the the files are on the G5, I go back to my MBP and convert the managed pictures to referenced pictures in the process moving them off my internal drive and on to the WD 160 USB 2.0 drive in a Finder based architecture. This keeps my library on my MBP pretty small and allows me to carry 160 GB worth of pictures that I can work on at any time or place. [Actually, I will probably pick up a 3rd 160GB Passport soon, like this weekend, so I will be able to carry 320 GB of pictures with me.
Now it gets nasty because I have two sets of pictures, one on my MacBook Pro and one on my G5. Again using old fashion strategies, I decided that the work flow could only go one way... from MBP to G5 and never (or very rarely) the opposite direction. The other nasty is how to deal with changes made after the first transfer of the project to the G5. The vast majority of those changes go through Photoshop and by default they become managed files. So for a particular project when I start to do additional editing, I bring those images into an album (let's say "Selected pictures") for that project and edit away. Once I am really done, I generate a new project (Original project is 070314 and the new project would be 070314 Update) and I drag the album to the new project. The nice thing is the primary pictures remain in the original project when I move the album. I then export Project Update consolidating images and import that into the library on the G5. Lastly, I relocated masters of the managed files to the WD Passport drive. I pay the penalty of having a few replicates of a couple of pictures and the architecture of my G5 library is not identical to my MBP library, but I have all of my primary images plus CS2 changes available to my MBP and my G5.
OK..... my library on my MBP internal is backed up to the OWC drive using Superduper so I always have a current replicate of that library. The library and pictures on the 500 GB WD Mybook Pro are backed up 2-3 times per week to a second 500 GB WD MyBook Pro.
In case my GS fails, I can address the library by simply attaching my MBP to the firewire chain and double click on the library icon. This forces Aperture to open the library on the 500 GB WD Mybook Pro drive. In case my MBP fails, I can boot my MBP or G5 off the OWC drive.
Principles: A one library solution will never work, because eventually, even with referenced images it will become too large for a single drive. So start now with a strategy of smaller libraries structures. I use a yearly system, but others are possible. My yearly system consists of my library plus referenced images on one 500 GB drive plus a second drive to which I back up. If I run out of space, I will buy two more drives, perhaps moving TB drives.
Don't try to store very many images on your internal drive of any computer. Develop a methodology of keeping the images on external (FW or eSATA) drives where capacity can be readily expanded.
Keep your MBP library pristine by regularly moving managed files over to referenced files on a bus powered portable drive.
Make sure you regularly back up both systems.
Hope this helps.
steven

Multiple Macs one library

I'm not a Aperture user, I'm just trying to figure out which program to use. I tried iPhoto, I've used iView for several years (but don't really like it), I looked at Adobes program, and now I'm playing with Aperture.
There is however one thing I haven't figured out yet. Can I use one Aperture library on two Macs? I can see how I would normally use a MacBook but once in a while I would like to be able to use a MacPro, is there some way this can be done (note: not at the same time)?

First off, whatever you do is just keep the vault on a separate external drive.
A vault is simply a non-directly usable backup of the Aperture library that would need to be used to rebuild a library. (actually there is a way to change a vault into a library, but that is a bit over the top here....)
A simple way for using two computers and one library would be to have the Aperture Library on a FW800 drive. Just plug it into whichever computer you want to use at the time.
A second way (if you insist on having the library on the slow MacBook Pro internal drive) would be to use Target Disk Mode to mount the MacBook Pro hard drive onto the MacPro and use the library from there.
A third way (if you insist on having the library on the slow MacBook Pro internal drive again) would be keep the library on the MacBook Pro, ethernet the two computers together and mount the MacBook Pro's hard drive on the MacPro, then open the Aperture Library with the MacPro. Just be sure to NEVER use the library on both computers at the same time. The problem with the final way is it is the slowest way, but still usable.
My choice would be #1.
Finally you could go with SATA drives and cards for the fastest speeds but this is an expensive option.

One Library, 2 Macs Questions

Hello all,
I've got a PowerMac G5 and a PowerBook G4. I like to keep my iPhoto library synced between the two of them. Until recently, I simply ran Synchronize Pro after a trip or import or edit session, etc. and all was good. I've two questions about this method now, and I'd like some feedback.
1. I've started using Photocasts, and I like them (although they're buggy atm). Does anyone no if you can maintain one Photocast from two separate Macs? I think probably not, as this would ultimately confuse the .Mac account, but I'm not sure how to turn off the Photocast on one Mac, while keeping it on on the other using this synced library method.
2. I got a new 5g iPod for Christmas, and keep all (roughly 5,000) photos on it from my iPhoto library. The iPod is synced to my desktop which has lots of hard drive space, but not to the laptop. The iPod photo cache folder is over 4 gb itself, and I don't want to keep it on my PowerBook since it's useless there. I delete it without problems apparently, but then of course it re-syncs every-time I do a sync with the desktop. Has anyone come up with a better solution for this given that the iPod can only link to one Mac?
Overall, I'm trying to come up with the best method for the desktop/laptop sync scenario, given the new technologies of Photocasting and the iPod photo. I've done a great deal of work with my library in terms of organization, dating, keywords, etc. and wish to maintain that across both Macs. Your feedback and suggestions is greatly appreciated.
All the best...
KBeat
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5, PowerBook G4 Al 15" DL Mac OS X (10.4.5) iLife '06. iWork '06. 60 Gb 5g iPod.

Hey guys,
Thanks for the replies. Keeping the library on the network isn't a practical solution, as I want the photo library with me when I travel, which is often (and where I usually do my photography). That is, however a great method for sharing one library amongst various Macs in one household or a small office.
The library manager program seems interesting, but I couldn't find any specific information related to Photocasts or iPods looking through the documentation on their site. Currently, I have one library that is identical on both my PowerBook and my desktop. I created it on the G5, and copied it over to the PowerBook. This worked fine in the past, and with Syncronize Pro, keeping them identical was easy. Until iPhoto 6 and the iPod photo that is, it was easy. When I copy or sync the library now, it shows both Macs photocasting the same albums to the same .Mac account, which seems to cause problems, especially when updating. Apple hasn't addressed this directly, but they've posted a KBase article saying to only manage your iWeb sites from one Mac, and the technology is very similar, so the problems would seem to be the same.
I think with photocasting and the ipod photo, the libraries need to become totally independent of one another, so only one Mac updates my Photocasts & my iPod (only problem with the iPod is the cache being a wasted 4 GB of space on the PowerBook), but the photos on each library should be the same. So I'm more or less trying to duplicate my G5 iPhoto library to my PowerBook, keeping the keywords, names, edits & originals, dates, etc. but not moving the Photocasts and the iPod Photo Cache. When I return from a trip, I want to move the new photos with all their info from the PowerBook back to the desktop. Does that all make sense?
If iPhoto Library Manager can achieve this, my money is happily theirs, however I couldn't find definitive answers.
Thoughts?
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5, PowerBook G4 Al 15" DL Mac OS X (10.4.5) iLife '06. iWork '06. 60 Gb 5g iPod.

I have three versions of itunes backed up between 2 different external hard drives and a macbook pro. I recently got a new macbook pro and want to consolidate all music into one library on my new computer. How can I do this?

Because each library is named "iTunes Music" anytime I go to bring one library on to the same external harddrive as another it asks me if I want to REPLACE one library with the other. I don't want to do this because each file has different variations of music files. Ideally, I'd like all three "iTunes Music" music files to live on the same computer or at least the same external harddrive. Thanks for the help!

Hello cmc313,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information on this, take a look at:
iTunes 10 for Mac: Consolidate your iTunes library
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph990
You can consolidate all the files in your library in the iTunes folder so that, for example, it’s easier to move your library to a new computer.
Best of luck,
Mario

How do I move photos from one library to another?

I have moved my 34gig iphoto library from my MBP to an external drive. I have now created a second library on the MBP with the intention of keeping just a smaller selection of my photos in this ready to edit.
Is there an easy way of importing photos from the old library on the external drive to the new one? Do they link up in any way, or, will I need to export a selection from the old library to a new folder on the desktop and then import from there?

To move all the versions, metadata and photos from one Library to another use iPhoto Library Manager.
Exporting from one and then importing to another will not get all the metadata (Faces, for instance) nor will it get the versions.
Another way to achieve what you seem to want to do:
1. Quit iPhoto.
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the external drive.
Now you have two full copies of the Library. To choose between them: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
3. On the Internal Library, remove the pics you don't want with you all the time.
Now you have one full library on the external and another smaller sub-set on the Internal.
A couple of comments:
a. The external disk needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
b: When you're removing the unwanted pics from the Internal Library you need to delete them in batches of about 100 or so. Trashing more at one time can cause problems with the database.

I have a new iMac and i created two libraries on iTunes. how do i copy songs from one library to the other?

I have a new imac. I created two libraries, one for me, one for my kids. how do I copy songs from one library to the other library?

Not easy unless you're just content with adding some files to the other as new files but lose playlists for those files, and playcount, and ratings, etc. If you're okay with that, you can drag the media folder from one library to the other. If you use default settings and want to duplicate the media, just drag it. If you want to add the media but leave it where it is currently located, hold down the option key while dragging to the library window.
Otherwise:
PowerTunes - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powertunes/ (commercial software)
syncOtunes - http://homepage.mac.com/oligrob/syncOtunes/syncOtunes.html

How do you transfer playlists from on computer to a new one, library has already been transfered

how do you transfer playlists from on computer to a new one, library has already been transfered

- Why not just copy the iTunes computer folder to the new computer?
- You can transfer iTunes purchases to the computer by:
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer
- You can transfer non-iTunes purchased music by using one of the third-party programs discussed in ths previous discussion:
Best iPod to PC
- Unless you can move/copy the iPod backup file from your old computer to the new one and restore from backup, you will have to restore to factory defaults/new iPod and thus loose all app date. The iPod backup file is located:
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

My wife and I have separate Ids but all our music is in one library. How will this work with iCloud?

My wife and I have separate Ids but all our music is in one library. How will this work with iCloud? i'm trying to download past purchases from her id, but itunes is saying that I can't because the computer is associated with my apple id. Can I associate the computer with both ids for the purpose of identifying all of our music with both or just one of our ids? Is there a good way to do this? I'm sure we're not the only people with this problem...
Using 2 iphone 3gs, ipad, mac mini, appletv, itunes for windows, macbook, and imac.

iTunes- How to share music between different user accounts on a single computer
You cannot merge two separate libraries across user accounts. Photos does not have the function of merging different Photos.library files. If you have Aperture then you can merge the two before migrating over to Photos.

I would like to use one library but with multiple ipods, but because they are my kids Ipods, and they each have their own gift cards, I'd like to be able to add money to their "profiles" without them having their own account - what is the best way

So here is my delima - I want one Ipod account - because I only want one library - since we all like the same music - but my kids, who have their own IPODS, have gift cards, who want to be able to keep track of their balance without the other child affecting the balance - meaning - each gift card should be seperate and not totalled to the single account - Beacuse the library is fairly large, having three libraries of large amounts would be a waste. I would also like to restrict their purchased to the gift cards only and not my credit card on file. Does this make sense? Once this is resolved, I'm assuming they would use their own playlists to copy their favorites to each Ipod. Or would I set up an account for each child - which I dont want to do, because I dont want them having access to my Credit Card, and only gift card balances. With multiple accounts, I'm assuming that would also build seperate libraries? We also have multiple computers, but I share the library to those computers -
What is the best way? I'd like to be able to add credit to a specific child (birthdays, etc) without the other child being able to access that credit. For simplicity sake.
We are new to IPODS and lack any MAC skills.
Thoughts?

Not going to happen the way you want it to.
When you add a gift card balance to the Apple ID, it's available for the Apple ID.
Probably best to create unique Apple ID's for each... this will also make things easier in the future as purchases are eternally tied to the Apple ID they were purchased with.

More than one library (on the same computer) open?

In the new iTunes 9 it is possible to access several libraries on my home network from the open iTunes window, which is really cool. I wondered if this means it may now be possible to have access to several libraries on the same computer (or connected drives) at the same time. I use 3 different libraries on my work PC and my mac at home and the process of shutting down iTunes, holding down shift/option, reopening itunes, selecting library is rather cumbersome. Having each of the libraries accessible the same way they are for other libraries on the network would be really useful.
Is it possible?

pajagsfan wrote:
Can I create more than one library on the same computer? Just got an ipod for my wife but didn't want her to have to use my library to sync to, so I thought I created another library for her. When I deleted my albums from her library the disappeared from mine. (I think?)
I know it's Valentine's Day, but before you get your wife fixed up the first thing you need to do is recover the deleted albums for your own library. See if the files are elsewhere on your hard drive, or in the Recycle Bin. When you find them, get them back into your own library. Now you are ready to help your wife.
As noted above, you can have two libraries in one Windows user account via the Shift-Start approach, but if you both use your libraries regularly, that becomes annoying quickly. It is better to set her up with her own Windows user account. She can have her own iTunes library there.
Get a copy of your entire iTunes folder to start her off. She can delete stuff she doesn't want without messing you up.

HT1660 i have two independent itunes libraries on my computer right now. how do i consolidate them into one library? how do i get rid of duplicate files?

i have two independent itunes libraries on my computer right now. how do i consolidate them into one library? how do i get rid of duplicate files?

Hello rmunsey,
Thank you for the question. It sounds like you have two separate iTunes Libraries but would like to add the music from one to the other to have one consolidated library.
If you know where the files are for each library, I recommend opening one iTunes Library in iTunes and importing the files from the other library using the following steps:
Open iTunes
From the File menu, choose one of the following choices:
MacAdd to Library
Windows
Add File to Library
Add Folder to Library
Navigate to and select the file or folder that you want to add
Adding music and other content to iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1473
Next, you can search for duplicates:
Choose View > Show Duplicate Items to show duplicate items (matches are based on the song name and artist). If you have multiple versions of the same song (for example, live and studio versions, or versions from different albums) you can hold the Alt or Option key (for Mac OS X) or the Shift key (for Windows) and choose View > Show Exact Duplicate Items. This will show only duplicate songs having the same name, artist, and album.
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2905
This should help you identify the duplicates all at one time so that you can delete the extra versions of songs.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

How do you use Multiple Hardrives with ONE Library in iTunes 7?

I have a large (approximately 3000 CD music collection) and I want to archieve it in Lossless format on several harddrives. I want iTunes to veiw the collection over several HD's as one Library.
Any Suggestions?

Hi jdmass,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
The article below may be able to help you with this.
Click on the link to see more details and screenshots.
iPhoto Help: Print your photos yourself
http://help.apple.com/iphoto/mac/9.5/#pht6e15dbdb
Select one or more photos.
Choose File > Print.
In the print options, select a theme (Fit, Fill, 8” x 10”, 5” x 7”, 4” x 6”, Custom, or Contact Sheet) from the list on the right.
Image of the options, showing the print themes
The preview area on the left shows how your photos will look when printed.
With some themes, such as Fill and Custom, you can click photos and use a scaling control to resize the photo in the frame. You can also drag the photo to reposition it within the frame. You may also be able to use other options, such as for resizing, choosing an aspect ratio, or setting margins, that appear depending on the theme you have chosen.
Select any necessary printer settings.
Click Print.
Specify print options in the Print window, and then click Print.
Cheers,
- Judy

IMovie 10 - how do I move an event from one library to another?

Greetings,
I have updated all of my projects and events from iMovie 9 to iMovie 10.0.1. They now all sit in different libraries on different external HDDs.
How do I move an event from one library to another library in iMovie 10? How do I copy an event from one library to another library in iMovie 10?
Thanks,
John

Simply drag and drop from one library to another. See: http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov3fa25bae7
Geoff.

One Library, 3 Macs ?

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