Syncing iTunes between two remote computers
For some of you this might not seem like a big deal... but for a very long time I have had my music library at work and one at home. Sometimes I'd rename id3 tags at work but not at home and vice versa. Sometimes I'd buy music online and add to my home iTunes library and then the process of taking that to work usually meant I'd copy the new music to my memory stick or a portable hard drive etc... then the iTunes xml and info files would be out of whack and I'd have to reimport all the files to get it going... FINALLY those days are over for me!
I now simply use FolderShare which was semi-recently purchased by Microsoft to use with Vista. It allows syncronazation of two remote pc's files. There's been other's: some free and open source..but none in my opinion come close to the power of Folder Share. I'm behind a rather heavy duty firewall at work and it still works.
Ok. Using folder share now means that when i add or make a change to one file, it automatically happens at the other coumputer too - as long as FolderShare is on. The kicker was finding a a fantastic app called iTlu short for iTunes Library Updater. Once installed, if you add files to your iTunes library, the xml and info files are updated...thus, you no longer have to import or drag and drop etc... Combine this program with Folder Share and I NEVER have to lug music back and forth and can rename and delete or add in confindence that when I get home or back to work the same files will be there. And when i open iTunes, I just see the new files as the most recent in the library without any effort. I LOVE this and wanted for a long time. Of course Briefcase is smiliar but not very network remoting friendly. All the other ones I tried had problems too. I've heard about FolderShare crashing, but after two weeks...it's fine. Today I did the same with my photo collection.
Perhaps MAC has had this feature for a while, i dunno...but for the PC, this has been long overdue.. I hate having two frequently used PCs with different music libraries.. with a lot of music it can get out of hand quickly and you forget what you uploaded when and where.. and forget about renaming becuase you'd have to copy new filenames over ect...
//Michael.
posted by flabbygums @ 10:43 PM
12 Comments:
do you also sync the library/database file with foldershare or just the music folders?
Yes I sync the library .xml and .itl files by just telling Folder Share to share my "My Music" folder which is the main folder for all. At the root I ran itlu.exe (iTunes library updater) so the files are added and itlu updates the playlists and library. I add or rename files at home.. go to work and it's reflected there too...and vice versa. It's really made my life easier.
Sorry for the silly question. Do you install iTLU on both computers and run it on each computer? I use Groove instead of Folder Share - have you tried Groove?
Hi,
You do need to run iTLu on each pc. I have not used Groove and just tried very hard to no avail to answer this simple question: what's the maximum number of files per folder you can sync with Groove. I realized that the number for FS is 10,000 and I reached that with a music collection fairly fast and needed to break up my collection into two subfolders inside my iTunes Music folder...which I'm not happy with because now i cannot let iTunes organize my music because it consolidates back into one iTunes music folder and thus, I'd have more than 10K files per folder again. So, it's working now split up, but I'd try Groove (which might even be using FS technology)if there's no limit on number of files per folder. I know the max single file size is 2gigs. I've been syncing about 50gigs nicely with FS but would love an unlimited number of files per folder. Maybe you can help me answer this? Best, MK
I don't know of any limitation within Groove on the number of files allowed in a folder. I have never seen any type of warning with regard to the number of files. I looked around the Groove web-site but could not find any information regarding your question. My gut tells me that yes you can have more than 10,000 files in Groove. I think you can download 2007 for free - so it might be worth a try.
this sounds like a great solution to something that I've been trying to figure out, but I too had a question - does the "my music" folder need to be located in the same subdirectory, ie, on the C: drive on both computers? I'd like to sync an itunes library with a computer that would have a NAS as its music storage location - would this mean that the .xml and .itl files can't be shared? thanks, mike.
Magnific!
i apologize in advance if this is obvious to everyone that understands how itunes works in a way that i don't...but...i have a question: why is itlu necessary to make this work? if foldershare really syncs the folder of your choosing (in this example, the 'my music' folder), it should bring the latest .itl and .xml files along with whatever other media files are new to one side of the synchronization. can you explain the purpose of itlu and/or help me understand i'm missing?
Hello Mike,
Sorry for your time, just wanted to know if it is possible to enter another computer and look whatever it is shared without the other person knowing, or how can it be tracked.
Thanks mili....
Rosy
Just a note to all using ITLU ...
I'm running version 1.23... it appears to be working with itunes 7.6.19, except when it comes to playlists.. it deletes all the songs from my already imported playlists.. i'm not sure why or how to get around this..
basically.. every time i run the sync.. i have to reimport all of my 20 playlists via itunes, which is painful...
Hey, I have the same question as jma. If you sync the xml and and itl files between the computers, shouldn't the libraries already be in sync (since those are the library files themselves)? Why would you need the iTLU app on top of that? Thanks!
I tried this once before, and it told me I couldn't do it because the folder was too large. I don't know what the limit is, but my itunes folder is about 150 GiB.
I use foldershare (now called Windows Live Sync) for a bunch of other stuff with no problem.
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