I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
Lance linked to this article on shinking your 160GB Mac Book Pro life on a 64GB MacBook Air.
There are comments around whether the MacBook Air is a companion product for power usesr.
I only want one computer, my life is in the cloud anyway, but this highlights a problem with Apple that has been bugging me for a year.
The Apple Software is designed for a single user and that scenario is just incorrect for many home users. iPhoto and iTunes (to a lesser extent) are the classic example. My wife and I both take photos, I want some of them on my laptop and we want all of them backed up and deduped etc.
With Time Capsule there is a single household NAS for backup. So the hardware and network is in place. iTunes supports an easy-to-use interface for syncing collections down to your iPod and AppleTV so you can manage storage limits on multiple devices - but this is off your library on your primary Mac. The next step has to be an iPhoto and iTunes home server.
Not only is this required for the 2+ user scenario, it is now required by the smaller disk size of the MacBook Air when you cannot possibly hold all of your photos or music.
I think it should work like this.
- iTunes gets a ‘New Media’ section. Photo’s or new Tunes are loaded onto your working Mac as per normal but identified as a collection of ‘New Media’.
- When you connect to your local network, all that New Media is seamlessly loaded back to your central Library. iTunes allows you to categorize and tag it from your local machine.
- Multiple Mac’s can use the same home library. Content is de-duplicated as it is uploaded.
- Just like with an Apple TV you set the sync rules but the central library is the master and your working Mac only gets a subset sync’d down so you can manage the size of files you carry with you.
Sort of like this …
Apple software right now is lagging behind the hardware. What do you think? Is it so obvious they must be working in it?
blog
Nail on the head again, Rod.
I’d settle for being able to make a new iphoto library from a selection of photos (ie, archive them off my laptop onto something else), or merge in a library. But I can’t even do THAT.
So close, yet so far away (and so easy to fix!)
I’ve been waiting for something like this for ages as well. Currently we have a Mac Mini set up as our “Sync Station” where we hook up our iPods so we can sync them. For photos we just have our own collections at the moment which is not ideal.
The one thing I see missing from your set up is the iPod. What I would like to see is that no matter what Mac you hook your iPod up to it ‘phones home’ and syncs with the server. I listen to a lot of podcasts and while on trips there is no way to update them as my iTunes library is stored on a machine at home (not on my laptop). It would be good to have “Back to my Mac” style of system where it goes over the internet and gets the latest updates.
I’m not so sure about totally obvious, but it is the logical next step & Apple at the moment really seem to be delivering what’s required with good momentum, seems to me your server is the next device to follow the time capsule.
There are a number of third party applications which already support this (for iTunes). One of the better ones can be found at this link:
http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/tuneranger/index.html
For only $29 US it’s not too badly priced. But no doubt this is something that Apple will address in future updates (we hope)
Thanks Matt. That still looks more Peer to Peer than a NAS type model to me.
Perfectly described need Rod.
Currently I run two iPhoto databases, and switch between them using iPhoto Buddy. It is less than optimal as transferring from one to the other is very painful.
I suppose I could hook my HD to my airport extreme, and use that as the iphoto and itunes server. It would be nice to access it over the net as well.
I want this set up now :)
Rod, check out this link
http://blogs.technet.com/seanearp/archive/2007/12/02/hp-mediasmart-as-an-itunes-server.aspx
He talks about using HP MediaSmart Server on both a Mac and a Windows PC.
I have an iPod in my car setup on my home computer and a Touch which was setup on my notebook. What I find annoying is if I plug the Touch into my home computer it seems to want to erase everything on the iPod and start again.
Why cannot Apple understand that people may have multiple portable devices plus multiple computers - work desktop, notebook, home computer.
Like Glen - we use a Mac Mini as a media server for the house, wirelessly networked to my wife and my laptops plus legacy PC’s that the kids are using for their work. Music, photos and video all centralised and hooked up directly to a hungry 62″ flat screen. As an Apple newbie, the “it just works” has certainly played out for me in this setup but agree that a method which requires less manual intervention in terms of syncing would be great.
[...] biggest pain is the ongoing lack of an iPhoto or iTunes server. Can’t believe no one has done this [...]
[...] hope there is a seamless iPhoto Server coming soon. The hardware and network is in place for it. Trackback uri | Name:(required) [...]
[...] side cracked as well. Nuts. Yet there are some holes. Like iHome that Lance notices and I’m hot on. Would be nice if Apple fixed their home beachhead before heading to the Enterprise. There are a [...]
I’d suggest that it would be nice to have a variety of server capabilities on a TimeCaspule. One I’ve not seen mentioned previously would be iCal.
iPhoto/Tunes could do with better handling of multiple libraries - given a relatively common scenario of several people in one household/workplace why not make it easy to set iPhoto/Tunes to know of several libraries concurrently. A private one (or more) on each machine and one (or more) shared on the server. Make it simple to move items from one to another.
Similarly for iCal - yes I know you can publish and subscribe calendars but TC should have calendar server to prove live sharing.
Similarly again for address books; there are household addresses (local police, doctor, eateries) and private ones (girlfriends, toyshops, etc).
When you’re connected to the TC/server the shared stuff should just be there and the relevant apps should simply behave as if it’s all one blob on info. I don’t doubt that a lot of this can be done with this app and that app and fiddle this plist and run this script but the key value of Apple stuff is making it Just Work. They should Just Do It. Next week would be fine…..
Yes !!!
Badly waiting for iTunes, iPhoto Server software for multi-user access over my home network. Apple lags behind Linux and Windows.
This is not needed. We just need read/write access when you connect to a shared iphoto library.
Question: Why would Apple do this if they have Mobile Me? Doesn’t that support this and is truly “in the cloud”?
I think you can do this as I do but it takes me about 10 mins by connecting the macs by Ethernet and transfer the iPhoto file and the iTunes file from one mac to another.
Not sure if you guys have already done this but yes I agree with the topic that Apple should make the TimeCapsule as a HUB and it should know that one mac has changed its iPhoto library or iTunes library and change it on the TC then when the second mac connects it should sync them!
Regards Mike
P.S Apple if your listening, i’m a great Mac fan but sort this out please….
You pictured it perfectly Rod! What a pain. I am in the throws of the same predicament and annoying architecture. Of course, one solution is to go out and buy one of the high end NAS servers like the Synology solution, but then you are getting into corporate type of architecture.
I own a Time Capsule and bought for the purpose of backing up my MacBook Pro and keeping my iTunes Library on there so that my wife and I could share and make life a little more simple. Well, this has been the bane of my existence for the past 8 months and not a single Apple ProCare tech can help fix this.
I finally had to hang a Maxtor Drive off the TC, which was supposed to solve every problem but didn’t. Now my iTunes keeps resorting back to the hard drive on my MacBook Pro as the Music Library, and this happens intermittently. Now, every time I start iTunes, I have go into preferences, and make sure it sees the Maxtor. Most times it doesn’t so I have to go through the process of changing the preference setting and allowing iTunes to re-organize my music. Absolute nightmare.
Apple seriously needs to take a break from focusing 100% on hardware and work through some of these scenarios if they truly want to be the preferred technology for the home or family. I have to say, I wouldn’t have these networking/sharing issues if I was a PC household. If anyone has any ideas about this I am open to discussing: Brian@BrianDavidRealtors.com
It would be nice to see an Apple Snow Leopard Home Server, cut right down and installable on G3s and up, providing a common base just like you suggest. While it wouldn’t suite everyone, with several macs in the house, an Apple TV several iPods and two iPhones I’d save a great deal of my personal hard disk space if I could shift it all over to a “Home Server”!
HELP: Sharing a photo library with a Mac and PC
I’m running a MB pro and my husband is using my old Windows laptop when he’s not in the office.
Our home network is running with a Time Capsule as the wireless router.
Historically, we’ve stored all our photos on the Windows PC, but in the year that I’ve had my Mac, i’ve been downloading my photos via iPhoto and we now have two databases of photos - one on a windows machine and one on a Mac. We want a single database that can be viewed/edited by both the PC and the MacBook - iPhoto wont allow my husband to edit/delete photos without corrupting my iPhoto database and I don’t want to import the entire library onto my already full MacBookPro.
We are researching alot of options, but nothing seems easy/reliable…..anyone got any ideas?
Thanks
Google Picasa works well on both computers, you could try a distributed library like that?
It appears that you have been waiting for this for much longer than I have. Only in the last few months have I considered switching to iPhoto… but I just can’t make the jump without a way for my wife and I to collaborate on uploading and tagging from our own respective macbooks. Currently we have all of our music and photos on a shared network drive (NAS) and we don’t use any library program for photos… and I’m sure our iTunes libraries are out of sync.
Please Apple — we need iPhoto and iTunes Server.
You hit the nail on the head - especially since all of the mac software (pages, garage band, iweb, etc…) are so carefully designed to work seamlessly through the media browsers, but this ONLY works when all of the various libraries are local to the machine. Using the ’share my library’ feature, although you can clumsily view/listen to photo’s/media, doesn’t allow for the items to show up in these media browsers nor display nicely as they would if from a local library (ie. no events view, etc…).
I have a mini we use as a htpc which works great and hosts all of the very large libraries (itunes - 700GB/iphoto 150GB), but it is much more conducive to work on projects such as imovie on my macbook. I am not able to make use of the majority of the features of the mac software since nothing shows up in the media browsers to use in any of the mac ilife/iwork software. Additionally, if I am away from home, I have no access at all to these libraries.
I would like to see 1 of 2 possible solutions, both which would need to change the way the software sees and interacts with the library files:
–1 hardware based home media server as described. Host all libraries on the server/attached storage and allow ipod like syncing preferences to select which material is maintained locally on the client machine (for when not part of the home network) in addition to full streaming type access to the full libraries when connected to your home network by multiple machines simultaneously. The libraries would appear to the software as local and maintain the function of the media browser and then be limited to what was synced to the machine when away from the network.
–2 cloud based solution via mobileme. I hope that this is what the new server farm facilities they are building are for. Allow significant storage upgrade (ie. 250gb-500gb range or more) to mobileme and host all of the library files over the internet. In this manner, any machine with internet connection (ie: iphone/touch/macbook/tablet?) would have full access to all of the libraries as well as the ability to add items from the client device.
Multiple family members should also allow for multiple libraries with the new itunes ‘home sharing’ type solution to includes/exclude items from other family member libraries as desired. This can aide in reducing library sizes by “aliasing” items between libraries.
iTunes 9 has some new functionality which helps this a little, with home sharing. With that, you can set up a number of iTunes libraries as “connected” with home sharing, and then set specific ones to automatically collect missing songs from other libraries on the network.
You could do this by setting up one collect-all library and have a number of satellite subset libraries, or set up all libraries to get all other information.
Yes, you have several copies, but you can have a “master”, it is automatic and most importantly, you end up with a pretty effective redundant backup configuration!
Personally I wouldn’t want a cloud based solution for two reasons: I have many many gigabytes of data and the large majority of it is personal/owned by me.
Ideally a nice hardware solution or option to set a specific library as host would be great; but the home-share system works well enough in the meantime.
In my configuration, I have one headless box with dual redundant disks that collects information from my laptop and iMac. The Apple TV is synced to the headless box, and my iPhone syncs to my iMac.
Is MAC OS X Snow Leopard Server installed on e.g. MaC Mini not an option to serve an iTunes and iPhoto library?
Could the Server version of Snow Leopard installed on a e.g. MacMini with a big harddisk atached to it be an option to solve these problems?
It needs a software solution. Home sharing provides another small part of it but doesn’t solve the fundamental scenario of how multiple related people would like to use iPhoto and iTunes, and what to do when your media library gets substantial and you want to just carry a subset with you on your primary device.
The desire for an iTunes and/or iPhoto syncing and/or sharing is evident in how persistent-over-time comments are to your almost two year old article. Well done!
I know of half a dozen homes and businesses that would employ an iPhoto and iTunes server/syncing solution.
iHome Server please.
We are already doing this with our iphones. We have the ability to choose a subset of data from itunes and iphoto and then sync new data back. We just need to enlarge the scope to where a central home server becomes the point where we collect and store the data and any mac can then be a client like an iphone is now and take from the central server.
I’d love to connect my macbook and choose just a few iphoto libraries and itunes playlists that I want to take with me on my next trip. Then sync anything new when I get home back to the central server.
I have the same issue as I have a 20″ iMac as central storage (device) which is used by my family with 4 personal accounts, shared iTunes Library under /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes and used to sync a iPod nano, iPod Photo, iPod Touch and my iPhone. Additional I use a MacBook which I also attach my iPod Photo and iPhone too. I use Home Sharing between both iMac & MacBook. All data should be in sync but unfortunate it’s not. Additional I have iPhoto Libraries on both which are in Sync as well and need to be consolidated.
I considered to purchase Apple’s TC, but doesn’t do the job as well as a dedicated NAS solution. I consider to use the MacMini Server version of Snow Leopard but when I saw the price that Apple wants for this, not knowing if it would suite my needs is to high in the end.
So solution that Rod is suggesting is the way forward and Apple hopefully should bring this into the field and consider that their customers have left university grown up, married, have a family and are confronted with multiple desktops, users, ipod devices.
My last update should state ” Additional I have iPhoto Libraries on both which AREN’T in Sync as well and need to be consolidated”
This would be exactly what I need - ability to run iTunes and iPhoto off a server…
Apple, PLEASE…
Here’s how you do it with iTunes:
OS X machine that’s always-on (could be a home server) running iTunes 24/7 with home sharing enabled so it automagically grabs music from it’s clients then the clients can see all the music in the home sharing view and grab the songs they want.
Limit 4 clients.
I’ve been pining for this for over a year. Every once in a while I search for solutions and I haven’t found any good solution to this for any operating system or application (OS X, Windows, Linux, iPhoto, Picasa, iTunes, etc).
I was hoping Apple would release iLife ‘10 today with the exactly this functionality. I think adding this functionality was much more important that taking a risk on an iPad.
Hopefully Apple is already working on this. I’ve already seen signs that it might be coming, such as the Mac Mini server and the awesome synchronize mechanism iTunes has for the iTouch/iPhone.
I am also surprised that no third-party hasn’t come up with a solution. Especially with all the upnp media servers and clients there are these days. Oh, and on that note, this iTunes/iPhoto server should also be upnp server.