[Kickaha]

Hey all, common (I think) situation here, looking for advice from trusted sources.

We have a home server (Mac mini) w/ over 60GB of music on it. My wife wants a (not static) subset of that available to her on her MacBook Air (128GB total SSD, ~20GB free), so she can sync up selected playlists to her iPhone 4S (iOS6).

1) She doesn't want to sync her phone with the mini. It's squirreled away in a cabinet anyway, and difficult to access regularly.
2) She wants to have the music *on* her phone, no streaming.
3) She doesn't want to have to pay for iTunes Match. (And frequently finds obscure stuff that isn't on iTunes Match anyway...) (And again, she'd like to avoid streaming... I'm hearing enough confusion over this right now to want to avoid it for a bit.)
4) Home Sharing won't really work well either, since it relies on an Apple ID. We both have purchased music under our own separate iTunes IDs, and Home Sharing only lets you set up *one* to work with. Annoying.


So. Best solutions for syncing up a few playlists, etc that she can manage and swap out easily?

[SpecMode]

There aren't many good options built into iTunes to deal with the kind of setup you're looking for; outside of Home Sharing, the only way you're getting music from the Mini to the MBA (non-streamed) is manually copying files across the network in the Finder, or using iTunes on the latter to import specific files/folders from the iTunes Media folder on the former.

FWIW, I think you can use Home Sharing to transfer tracks between computers that aren't associated with the Home Sharing ID, as long as the receiving machine is authorized for the proper accounts. Might be worth a test, if nothing else.

Also, re: not wanting to sync the phone with the Mini: WiFi sync. It's (almost) reliable enough for regular use now, and it works anywhere within the range of your network.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by SpecMode There aren't many good options built into iTunes to deal with the kind of setup you're looking for; outside of Home Sharing, the only way you're getting music from the Mini to the MBA (non-streamed) is manually copying files across the network in the Finder, or using iTunes on the latter to import specific files/folders from the iTunes Media folder on the former. FWIW, I think you can use Home Sharing to transfer tracks between computers that aren't associated with the Home Sharing ID, as long as the receiving machine is authorized for the proper accounts. Might be worth a test, if nothing else.

If they've been ripped, and not purchased, then yes. I can try it out with some tracks she purchased, sharing using my ID, and see what happens. (I'm guessing it won't let me import, but I'll confess I haven't tried it.)

Also, re: not wanting to sync the phone with the Mini: WiFi sync. It's (almost) reliable enough for regular use now, and it works anywhere within the range of your network.

Suggested it, but the mini doesn't have personal accounts on it, it's just for home media, etc, etc. She (and I) would prefer to continue to use sync with our personal laptops. The server is just a big assed disk for this purpose, but we use it for parties and such. In the past she's made numerous playlists on it for dinners, etc.

Optimally, a solution would retain playlists, play counts, ratings, etc, etc.

[SpecMode]

Originally Posted by Kickaha If they've been ripped, and not purchased, then yes. I can try it out with some tracks she purchased, sharing using my ID, and see what happens. (I'm guessing it won't let me import, but I'll confess I haven't tried it.) Suggested it, but the mini doesn't have personal accounts on it, it's just for home media, etc, etc. She (and I) would prefer to continue to use sync with our personal laptops. The server is just a big assed disk for this purpose, but we use it for parties and such. In the past she's made numerous playlists on it for dinners, etc. Optimally, a solution would retain playlists, play counts, ratings, etc, etc.

FWIW, I have two accounts with tracks in my iTunes library, and as far as I can recall, I had no issues transferring tracks from the non-Home Sharing account to another machine (that was authorized for both accounts). YMMV, but it might work anyway.

On the latter point: if Home Sharing doesn't work out, you might have to go with some kind of third-party solution; I'm afraid I would be of little use in that regard.

[Kickaha]

Confirmed it does let you import/copy tracks from multiple IDs, it just need *one* ID to set it up. Keen.

Just confirmed also that she's not too concerned about play counts, rating, etc after all. (It's good to get the requirements hammered out with the client *first*... XP)

Home Sharing may work! Thanks...

(FWIW, if you have any interest in a third part client, I've used Syncopation in the past for mass merging, and it worked well, but I found it clunky for on-going syncing.)