Multiple PC's sharing singel music library and playlists

[felixrosbergen]

Hi All,

I want to have my music collection on my server and played from there through itunes to the whole house audio system (Nuvo MP to Nuvo E6G, but it should be irrelevant to the topic at hand).

However i will not be downloading or purchasing new music or creating playlists while setting at the server.

Can i have the itunes version on the desktop PC use the library on the server such that when i purchase music and download it via the desktop PC itunes i will also show up on the server?

Similarly i would want playlists created on the desktop PC itunes to show up on the server itunes.

Itunes built in library sharing function doesnt seem to do what i want here since new music would not go to that location.

From the research i have done so far it appears the playlists and such are stored in the iTunes Library which is essentially a database file. My concern is that if the desktop PC and the server are both accessing this file things may get ugly.

Any suggestions?

The problem is that the wife needs to be able to go buy a song and then be able to play it through the whole house system with having to move the file after she buys it or having to remote desktop into the server and use that iTunes to buy the song.

 

[DavidL]

quick read...I think you are asking can you have one library and play those songs on another PC using iTunes? Answer is Yes...share the folder where the music is stored to the other PC that iTunes is sitting on.

The "database for iTunes isn't a database but an XML file. That sits on the PC iTunes is running on.

If you are trying to do more sophistication than the basic play music on one PC...forget iTunes and check out J River MediaCenter 13.

 

[felixrosbergen]

This seems to take care of maintining a single media library. It doesnt allow me to create playlist on the desktop PC that then shows up in the server itunes. I suspect this woudl required the sharing of a xlm file which is likely to be impossible.

I just removed all the music from the desktop and pointed the desktop itunes to the server music location....that all works..desktop itunes still has it's own library xml file and so does the server.

Since in the end the player has to be itunes or Windows Media Player I don't think J River is an option.

EDIT: this didnt work that well at all...looks like i need to readd the file to the library in the desktop machine now.

Also found setting to Export and Import playlists...maybe it s possibly to export the playlist from one machine to the other and have it work...but the export/import woudl still be a manual process which reduces the WAF.

 

[DavidL]

"Since in the end the player has to be itunes or Windows Media Player I don't think J River is an option"

Why is that?

With J River...you index all your music on PC A....you install J River also on PC B....on PC B you point J River to use PC A's library. Easy. Add the music once and both can render (play) the song.