In an older post, I showed you how to share your iTunes library between computers. In another post, I talked about the virtues of the syncing web service, Dropbox.
Now, iTunes & Dropbox join the ranks of Great Combinations, rubbing elbows with the likes of Dungeons & Dragons, Beavis & Butthead, and Nuts & Gum (Together At Last!)
Well, at least it has the potential to be a great combination. By using Dropbox instead of an external hard drive, it’s feasible that you could eliminate the need to carry your music collection with you. I’ll tell you how you’d set up sharing your iTunes library using Dropbox, but since I no longer use a PC at home, I can’t test this first-hand.
The idea behind this modified method is the same as before. The difference is that you’ll be saving your iTunes library to your Dropbox folder. DO NOT save your music folder to your Dropbox. I’ll say it again: do not save your music folder to your Dropbox. For one, it would take a really long time to sync. For another, you only get 2GB of online storage. You only want to copy your iTunes Library.itl file to your Dropbox folder.
Once you do this, you’ll have to redirect iTunes to look for your library in this new location. Hold down the Shift key (Option on a Mac) while you launch iTunes. Keep holding it down until you see the Choose iTunes Library… option box. Select Choose Library… and find where you saved it in your Dropbox. iTunes should launch normally, with all your ratings and play counts intact.
As soon as you do this, go into the Preferences (Edit » Preferences) and click the Advanced tab. Make sure the iTunes Music folder location is pointing to wherever you have your collection. It should not be pointing to your Dropbox; my iTunes changed this automatically when I chose to use the library in my Dropbox. Be wary of this, otherwise any music you add will be put into your Dropbox.
Now this is where the potential of this setup could soar, and where I can’t test it (yet.) Theoretically now, you should be able to save your music collection directly to your local hard drive on each machine, instead of your portable external hard drive.
This could be a fantastic setup if it works the way it does in my head. The biggest advantage would be that you could share an iTunes library between two computers without having to lug around an external hard drive. You would have synchronized play counts and ratings, and it would be (almost) completely transparent.
The disadvantage, however, becomes apparent when you add new music to your library. While the iTunes library will recognize it without problems, you’ll have to physically copy the music file to each computer that’s sharing the library. For example, if you buy a song from iTunes at home, it gets added to the library and all is well. But when you go into work the next day and want to listen to your new song, iTunes won’t be able to find it. You’ll have to carry the song on a flash drive and copy it to the collection on your work computer. If it’s just a song or two, you could save it in your Dropbox to sync, then move it when you get in to work. So, depending on how frequently you add new music to your library, this could be a big hassle. If you find yourself constantly copying music back and forth, you might be better off going back to saving your library on the external hard drive.
Another thing you’ll want to keep in mind is that because iTunes is constantly updating the library file while the program runs, so too will Dropbox be syncing that file. My iTunes library is about 4.5MB with about 2700 songs, and the corresponding XML file is about 10% bigger. So be aware of this if your network usage is monitored or if you have a slow connection.
As far as I know, this will not work between Windows and Mac, since the two operating systems use different folder structures. If you can try this between Windows machines, or between Macs, I’d love to hear how well this works; leave a comment so the rest of us can benefit from your great wisdom!
I love tech, but don’t have as much time or money to spend on it as I’d like. I get what I need to sustain my Geek vicariously through other sources and pass it along to you.
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Hey,
I run a dance studio and we have our central music library on a mac at our studio. But we have a number of instructors who work for us and need to make their own playlists based on the music in our library (or even add their own music into our library). Would it work if we just have 100GB dropbox and then invite our instructors to have access to the folder with the iTunes library in it?
Thanks!
David
@david – If you’re not syncing the actual music over Dropbox, then it should work fine for multiple instructors. Just have them install Dropbox on their computers, and follow the instructions above.
If you are syncing music via Dropbox, as long as you have enough storage and don’t mind the bandwidth it might suck up, then it should work.
In either case, just keep in mind that the library file can only be accessed by one user at a time.
Thx for reply Chris,
To be more specific: When the instructors play their chosen music, they use their ipods connected to our PA system (not connected to any computer system). Would this setup allow them to create playlists on their personal ipods from the music on our studio computer that we invite them to access from their home computer via dropbox?
David
David: I imagine you could get this to work, although it’s not exactly what David is talking about. You actually want to do the opposite of what he is saying. The setup I imagine:
Music files are stored on Dropbox in a folder that is shared with each instructor (each instructor will have to have 100+GB of Dropbox space, or equiv to however much music you have, I think). Each instructor has their own iTunes library on their computer that is NOT stored on Dropbox. They add your shared Dropbox music folder to their individual music libraries. Then they can create playlists that they can sync to their iPods. This makes it so they can also have their own music in their iTunes library, beyond what is in your shared folder.
Hope this helps. Cool idea.
Sorry, I mean not exactly what CHRIS is talking about. :)
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