Owning two (or more) iMac's

[sportage]

How does the owner register two iMacs and set up iTunes? Both under the same registering info? Does that mess up iTunes, both under the same account on 2 different machines?

 

[Ka0t1x]

You should be able to have 5 iTunes authorized machines and .. I believe up to 10? App Store authorized machines, all under the same iTunes account.

The thing you really can't do, is sync an iOS device to multiple computers.

 

[sportage]

So does (or would) all my iTunes media show up on both of my iMac's? How is that done, to mirror the iTunes media between the two machines ??

 

[lokiju]

There are a bunch of ways to sync your iTunes media between the two or you can do iTunes Match and add both machines.

You can either do iCloud and iTunes Match for all your iOS sync/media needs and not sync to a computer directly or you can pick only 1 iMac to sync any iOS devices to.

There are ways technically to use one iOS device on more than one Mac but it requires the files iTunes uses on both machines to be accessed from the same location but not at the same time. If it's accessed at the same time it can cause corruption.

If you take this route just know that you must must must keep iTunes closed on the other iMac you're not using on iTunes at the time.

Media Rover is a app that helps make this process easier but it now cost money for the app (used to be free).

Lifehacker has a write up on how to use Dropbox to do the file syncing but one limitation is the capacity of your Dropbox account. http://lifehacker.com/5715126/how-to-sync-itunes-across-all-your-computers-with-dropbox

Honestly IMO just going iTunes Match and iCloud for all app, media and backup functions is the best solution now days.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Alternatively, you can just copy the iTunes folder under Users\[your name goes here]\Music over to the other iMac... That's your whole iTunes library... complete with all apps, books, movies, and anything else. One caveat is that it doesn't carry iTunes settings like EQ and preferences over.

Also both Macs have to have the same iTunes version.

Using that method, you can sync your iOS device to as many computers as you have registered under your account, and keep the same contents throughout. Max is 5, obviously.

 

[Patranus]

You could also store your music on a network share outside of the iTunes folder and then just share the iTunes folder separately or just point each machines iTunes folder to the network share as the media source.

/<mediaserver>/music/50 Cent/Get Rich Or Die Tryin'/02 What Up Gangsta.mp3

Then in iTunes->Preferences...->Advanced
Change "iTunes Media folder location" to /<mediaserver>/music/

 

[runawayprisoner]

The problem with that, as stated by lokiju, is that if multiple computers access the library at once, it may cause corruptions.

 

[Patranus]

The problem with that, as stated by lokiju, is that if multiple computers access the library at once, it may cause corruptions.

Your library file is irrelevant (have multiple - whatever) as you are just pointing the library folder to a network share.

Another option would be to create an "iTunes" account on one machine that always has iTunes open and then create a symbolic link for each user/machine to the iTunes monitor folder.

 

[Kadarin]

I do the iCloud thing with iTunes Match. Works pretty well, even syncs playlists and automatically adds purchases into playlists on the other machines. If I buy something here at work, it shows up automatically on my macs at home.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Your library file is irrelevant (have multiple - whatever) as you are just pointing the library folder to a network share.

Another option would be to create an "iTunes" account on one machine that always has iTunes open and then create a symbolic link for each user/machine to the iTunes monitor folder.

If it's a different library but with the same contents, then the current content of the phone will be erased and the new contents will be added in even if both libraries have completely identical contents down to music, apps, books, and what-nots.

It's silly, but I don't think there is any easy way to sync one iOS device with two different computers unless those two different computers have the same library...

 

[vbuggy]

iTunes Match is the way to go. Any other way is cumbersome unless you have a specific 'master Mac' that you're going to do all your library management / device syncing on.