share itunes library

dage007dage007
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Current setup is itunes folder on time machine. All my macs itunes folder link to it. Problem is that when one mac is running itunes, it prevents any other mac from opening itunes because the itunes folder is in use.



Does anyone know a way around this? The reason I have it set up this way is because I want any of my computers to be able to add/delete songs in itunes. I also want every mac to have the same playlist etc..



Any suggestion would be great...



David

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    turtle777turtle777 Posts: 27member
    Do you share only the Music iTunes/iTunes Music/ folder, or the whole iTunes folder that includes the iTunes Music Library.XML file ?



    It's recommended to only share the /iTunes Music/ folder and have each iTunes create their own iTunes Music Library.XML file.



    Every time you add music to the library, you would still need to to go into each iTunes, anddo File - Add to Library... and chose your /iTunes Music/ folder, so that the iTunes Music Library.XML gets updated.



    Google is your friend.



    -t
  • Reply 2 of 7
    dage007dage007 Posts: 320member
    in the past I did your suggestion but found it a headache to have to have the xml file updated each time. If one computer was used to make the changes "new music, deleated music", then I wanted it reflected on all the computers without any additional steps.



    I heard somewhere that the HP media library allows the entire folder to be shared and accessed by multiple computers at the same time. That is what I was trying to accomplish.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    kishankishan Posts: 732member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dage007 View Post


    Current setup is itunes folder on time machine. All my macs itunes folder link to it. Problem is that when one mac is running itunes, it prevents any other mac from opening itunes because the itunes folder is in use.



    Does anyone know a way around this? The reason I have it set up this way is because I want any of my computers to be able to add/delete songs in itunes. I also want every mac to have the same playlist etc..



    Any suggestion would be great...



    David



    What about just using the built-in "share library" feature of iTunes?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    dage007dage007 Posts: 320member
    the problem with doing the share library, is that on the other computers you cannot "at least I don't think", add and delete songs from the main library.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    bbwibbwi Posts: 812member
    I don't think Apple allows this due to FairPlay. FairPlay uses some hardware resources to register the song to a particular computer, therefore, only one iTunes at a time can have access to the folder
  • Reply 6 of 7
    dage007dage007 Posts: 320member
    sure would be nice to find a way to remove this. The songs that I have are purchased so in theory, I should be allowed to play any of them on any home system when I want.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bbwi View Post


    I don't think Apple allows this due to FairPlay. FairPlay uses some hardware resources to register the song to a particular computer, therefore, only one iTunes at a time can have access to the folder



    Nope. FairPlay happens on the playback end of things, and songs purchased through a single iTunes account can be played on five registered computers.



    The issue is that you can't have two applications, on two machines, writing to the same file (the iTunes Library data) without them stomping on one another. When one application grabs the file to write to it, it locks other apps out from accessing it.



    The solution would be to have an iTunes Metadata server of sorts, and let *it* be the single application with access to the files, and have the various iTunes copies request data from it/send data to it, and let it manage the conflicts.



    Obviously, that's a little more convoluted.
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