[insomniac91]

How does one go about syncing the iTunes content between two computers? It seems like there would be an obvious answer, but I cannot seem to find it. I don't always use the same computer to purchase music, and I'd like to find a way to sync between the two machines, so that all of the playlists, ratings, play counts, etc are the same on both machines. I tried copying the entire iTunes folder from one computer to the other, but that didn't work quite right. So I guess backing up one computer's iTunes library to the other would not work either.

Along those same lines, since I've used three different computers since I started using iTunes, the "Purchased" music playlist on the Mac Mini (the main repository for my music) does not contain anything that was purchased on my old iMac or anything pucrhased on my Mac Book. I thought to create a new playlist of protected AAC music files, but not everything purchased from the iTunes store is protected, nor is it all the same bit rate. I can't think of a particular attribute that will set apart iTunes store files, but I want to figure out a way to keep track of them all.

Any suggestions?

[rab777hp]

Burn your music to CDs (or one CD RW that you can delete and reburn over and over again) and rip it to each of the computer's iTunes- this will get rid of all DRM- there are other ways of syncing, but they don't get rid of DRM, nor provide a backup as a side-effect

[Tuareg]

It would significantly degrade quality of compositions since you go through digital>analog>digital conversion. Also what if a person has hundreds of albums?

[Tuareg]

Ultimately it comes down to merging iTunes music folders on different computers. MacMost podcast, episode #148 explains multiple technics which can be used to automate the process. Look it up on iTunes Store

[rab777hp]

Just to correct your previous post Tuareg- CDs are not analog CDs are digital. It does not degrade the quality at all- in fact, macworld staff advises you to do this practice to eliminate DRM.

[mdawson]

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rab777hp wrote:

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Just to correct your previous post Tuareg- CDs are not analog CDs are digital. It does not degrade the quality at all- in fact, macworld staff advises you to do this practice to eliminate DRM.

While you are correct in that degradation does not occur due to D/A/D conversion signal degradation will in fact still occur. Protected music files purchased from the iTunes Store are already in the AAC format. While AAC is far superior to MP3, it is still compresses music using a lossy algorithm, so any music purchased from the iTunes Store is already degraded relative to the source material.

Using iTunes to create a CD of purchased music will not result in a CD that is on par with a commercially purchased CD that does not contain digital music files recovered from lossy music files. Therefore, circumventing Fairplay by creating a CD of purchased music you only accomplish storing a music files with portions of the original signal missing despite the red book format. Re-ripping those songs to iTunes will further degrade and the final (ripped) music files will be of lower quality than the purchased music that was already degraded.

The only way to insure the maintenance of quality across multiple computers is to purchase CDs and rip them in the format and bit rate of your choosing, otherwise you are at the mercy of the labels that more often than not offer downloads exclusively in the archaic, inferior MP3 format save at the iTunes Store.

In insomniac91 ?s case, perhaps s/he should investigate authorizing the music on their multiple Macs. If I recall correctly, as I do not now nor ever plan to acquire music through downloads, protected music purchased from the iTunes Store can be authorized on up to five computers. As to syncing libraries between computers, iTunes provides no means to perform such a feat. iTunes simply does not exist for the purpose of maintaining multiple media libraries. Therefore, short of someone having created a third-party utility to sync libraries across computers, doing so is not difficult, but can be very tedious. Unfortunately, with the RIAA SS perpetually on the lookout for what they broadly define as piracy, quick fixes for the issue insomniac91 wishes to resolve may be nearly non-existent.

[Tuareg]

rab777hp said:

Just to correct your previous post Tuareg- CDs are not analog CDs are digital.

rab777hp said:

It does not degrade the quality at all- in fact, macworld staff advises you to do this practice to eliminate DRM.

It does degrade at the stage when ripping is taking place. Unless you are using lossless audio codec

[rab777hp]

and many people do in fact use lossless audio codec

[mdawson]

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rab777hp wrote:

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and many people do in fact use lossless audio codec

No, they do not.

If what you stated were true then that would indicate that,
bq. 1. many people are audiophiles and care about audio quality, which is patently false, and; 2. were the previous true, then many people would be highly unlikely to engage in downloading (low-quality) music in the first place.

Most people, audiophiles included, do not have lossless music files in their iTunes? libraries if only for the reason of storage space. So as both Tuareg and I previously stated, the process of burning a CD then ripping the music will result in further audio degradation from a format that is inherently degraded from the outset.

[rab777hp]

Many people who are audiophiles will download low quality music in the first place for two reasons, 1, what you call low quality music is actually pretty good quality, 2, iTunes is a great tool for downloading music so there is no reason to use an inferior tool while superior quality may not in fact be available.

[mdawson]

Much like your position on OS X on generic PCs, you are completely wrong. If audiophiles download music, it will more often than not be for previewing music they eventually intend to purchase on CD or guilty pleasures with which they are not too concerned with quality. Audiophiles have much higher standards than the average music buyer and are not inclined to build large music libraries of less-than-CD quality music. If you actually knew what an audiophile was, then you would know that as a group they are not gushing over music downloads as the technology now stands. Audiophiles download for very different reasons than the average music buyer and downloaded music is far less likely to be the final form should the audiophile decide that certain songs are must haves.

What you and the average music buyer consider to be ?pretty good quality? is not to an audiophile and no true audiophile would make such a claim. In fact, the ?good enough? position that you take here is exactly what audiophiles are worried about as lesser-quality, compressed audio is encroaching on the space once dominated by the CD making the future of high-quality physical media increasingly tenuous.

Granted, AAC is much better than MP3, particularly at lower bit rates, and Apple is to be commended for choosing the better MPEG codec, but even at 256 Kbps, it is still a lossy format that no audiophile would choose for their primary copies of music. At best, high bit rate AAC is seen and used by audiophiles in much the same as a Type IV cassette recording with Dolby S noise reduction was used in the past as a convenient technology for portable music.

[rab777hp]

All audiophiles do not have to fit a certain stereotypes, they can be different, the same for bibliophiles, videophiles, and every other 'phile' out there.

and by the way- what did you mean when you said 'like your posistion on OS X on generic PCs?

[kimy]

Easy! You just copy the newly added songs on your ipod to your second itunes library and then sync your PC. that's all! Read this