Apple / Mac networking geniuses

[Yinzer]

Is it possible to locate your iTunes & iPhoto libraries (library file & mp3s/photos) on an external hard drive connected directly into a router or airport express, to be able to access the libraries from all computers throughout the house as well as access remotely over the internet? I want to move my libraries from 1 of the 4 HD's in my mac pro, so I can access it from "anywhere" and from multiple computers using the same library. Is this this possible? I'm not very networking savvy and am being lazy by asking. I have an airport base station I keep in the basement, to which I have speakers connected so I can wirelessly stream music from iTunes on a computer to the basement.

I store "working" files that I need access to on Dropbox, it's been working out great since I can access & update them from any computer, laptop, or phone. I really don't store any files on the laptop; I access all I need at Dropbox. Last time I looked, it wasn't financially smart to just pay for a large dropbox type account. Maybe things have changed I should reconsider.

Many thanks!

 

[Yinzer]

Bueller? No one?

 

[heySkippy]

I've done it in the past with my iTunes library, but kept having permissions problems. Needless to say, only one person at a time can have the library open. Never tried with the iPhoto, the library is just too big and slow even on a local drive. It's better (faster, anyway) now with the new Photos app.

These days it's not so important. All the music is in the cloud and accessible from anywhere. I haven't moved photos there yet, but I will sometime this year.

 

[Gansan]

For music, I have what you are asking for by subscribing to iTunes Match. For $25/year, it puts your library in the cloud and so all my mobile devices, my home, and work computers all draw from my library in the cloud. No need for a hard drive and it works in the car.

For photos, like heySkippy says, iCloud Photo Library will do what you are asking for, but their pricing is not competitive right now. Hopefully, Apple will feel the pressure and reduce their prices for cloud storage.

 

[Yinzer]

For music, I have what you are asking for by subscribing to iTunes Match. For $25/year, it puts your library in the cloud and so all my mobile devices, my home, and work computers all draw from my library in the cloud. No need for a hard drive and it works in the car.

80% of the music I listen to is Serbian and Macedonian, burned from CD's, cassettes, LP's, and MP3's from youtube. I'm kind of stuck w/o benefit of using an iCloud library quite yet.

I think I'll just try a 256 gig Jet Drive Lite eventually and park my important music there, leaving the rest in the mac pro. Could be just the ticket.

I'll keep an eye on the iPhotos option as it matures and comes down in $.

Thanks for answering that I maybe can't do what I want unless I get a simple SSD computer to be on at all times, like a mac mini.

 

[Gansan]

80% of the music I listen to is Serbian and Macedonian, burned from CD's, cassettes, LP's, and MP3's from youtube. I'm kind of stuck w/o benefit of using an iCloud library quite yet.

I think I'll just try a 256 gig Jet Drive Lite eventually and park my important music there, leaving the rest in the mac pro. Could be just the ticket.

I'll keep an eye on the iPhotos option as it matures and comes down in $.

Thanks for answering that I maybe can't do what I want unless I get a simple SSD computer to be on at all times, like a mac mini.

Actually even if all your music is specialty recordings or from random sources, it will still help you. What happens is first, it analyzes your sketchy MP3s and cassette tape recordings and attempts to match them to tracks in the store. If they match, then boom, you automatically get a license to that music and you can either keep your original or you can get rid of it and download a pristine copy from the store. Next, any music in your personal library that is not in the store (or is of such low quality that it can't recognize it) gets uploaded to the servers. Then they are available for streaming just like the other tracks. The only limitation there is I think there is a max of 25,000 uploaded songs. I only have about 8000+ songs total, and less than a hundred are not in the store and instead got uploaded, so I'm not even close to that limit.