In the last years, I had a very little use of iTunes to manage my digital music. The fact that I hadn't an iPod or any portable mp3 player for years.

And this changes last year, when I start traveling a lot, and prepare my relocation to Montreal. I first bought an iPod touch, and start wondering what was the best way to rip all my music. That was not an easy task to manage on my 64gb SSD mac book air and my three hundred CD's.

After some tests, I have decided to use iTunes and give my brain to Apple. Sure, with iTunes, you don't control anything, but at least, it works pretty well. I have revamped my old PC gamer to a powerful CD Riper station. With the 3 internal DVD/Blue Ray player, I spent some days juggling with my CD's. For this task, iTunes is really well adapted, because he knows there are 3 readers in the PC, and start ripping the 2nd CD as soon the first one is ripped, and then the third after the second.... This gives you some rest before you have to change the CD's.

After that , I transferred the iTunes Library to an external hard drive, and to my wife's portable PC, and we moved to Montreal.

The situation after some month is that we have 2 dis-synchronized iTunes libraries !!

Why ? because one day, we ripped some CDs from my wife's computer, another, I bought music on the iTunes Store from my Mac, or from my iPhone ...and of course, we always want to have all the music on any machine and ipod/iPhone we use.

Then, I search a way to synchronize 2 iTunes libraries and I found a great software : SuperSync

 SuperSync Web Site

Basically, this cheap software (20$ for 2 machines) can do many things for you, and easily (below the features). There is a Mac and a Windows version that work together.

The software use iTunes engine to process your library, it launches iTunes when starting, then, you can be sure your libraries won't be corrupted, because modifications are made by iTunes, not by SUperSync

The first time you start SuperSync, it takes some time to parse your music and movies, but after that, the use is really easy and fast. You can connect to another supersync running on another local machine, or connect to a remote libraries on a remote / lan hard drive.

Below a screenshot on your own library

Once the remote library is connected, SuperSync shows you the files unsynchronized, with different colors, depending where the files are (local or remote):

and you can synchronized all the stuff with a magic single click on this button 

Also, the software is complete and if you prefer to manage the files by your own, you can do that by selecting / unselecting all filters/folders/files as you wish.

Finally, Supersync present a demo of the software there :SuperSync Demo

and features below:

Music libraries in perfect harmony

SuperSync is the best way to visually compare and merge multiple iTunes libraries. All your music, movies, and playlists can be synced across all the computers you keep music on.

Use SuperSync to...

• Keep track of all your music across multiple computers -- Mac OS X, Windows, iPods, and iPhones
• Compare and merge any two music libraries
• Move music, videos, and playlists from one iTunes library to another
• Export all or a subset of your library as a well-organized directory of tracks
• Back up or recover all iPod's & iPhone's music, videos, and playlists
• Access your MP3 music files from any web browser--even on your iPhone or iPod Touch
• Rescan your library to find missing tracks not on disk or tracks that have not been added to iTunes
• Update changes to your tracks meta data (star rating, played counts, grouping, comments, EQ settings, volume adjustment, etc.)
• Find partial albums, duplicates, corrupt files, and other common music library problems
• Intelligently import media from a hard drive, iPod/iPhone, or network drive -- getting just the files you want and without duplicates
• Easily move your music library from Windows to Mac, Mac to Windows, or any combination
• Access your home iTunes library from anywhere -- upload/download songs, movies, and playlists
• Share a common library with multiple iTunes users on a network drive
• Access your library's MP3 files and playlists from your Tivo

With SuperSync, you get:

• Visual comparison of any two music libraries: Easily see what needs synchronizing (by artist, album, genre or track), then copy all or just some with the click of a mouse.
  
  
• All-access pass to your music library: Download, upload and play your music from anywhere on the internet! The included SuperSync music server requires a broadband connection with static IP or port-forwarding.
  
  
• An always up-to-date iTunes library: Automatically adds new music and removes broken links from your iTunes library.
  
  
• Complete back-up functionality: Quickly and easily create a back-up library on a separate computer or hard disk from any music source including your iPod. Move music in one step -- only copying the songs that you don't have and easily skipping the songs that you don't want.
  
  
• Cross-platform: Run SuperSync on Mac or Windows or both. Now it's easier than ever getting Mac and PCs to share music library information. SuperSync offers you the flexibility and freedom to merge all of your music libraries and access them from anywhere. Best of all, it's free to try and simple to use, meaning that in just a few minutes, you can sync your music libraries and enjoy your favorite music anywhere you are.
  
  
• Priced Right: The full version is $29 for a 2-pak, $39 for a 5-pak, and $49 for a 10-pak. The free demo can be used to synchronize or access up to 25 tracks per launch.

Synchronize your music libraries in 5 easy steps!

1. Download SuperSync and install on one, two, or more computers

2. See your Local Music Library (SuperSync will automatically use your iTunes library)

3. Choose a Remote Music Library (another networked SuperSync, an iPod or iPhone, or disk drive, or other media.)

4. Synchronize your music -- copy any or all of the unsynchronized files you want in both libraries

5. Access your music for free from anywhere on the Internet with the built-in music server!

Repeat steps 3 & 4 with all your music libraries. With SuperSync, there's no more guessing which music files you have on one computer or another. SuperSync is the perfect application for any music lover.

Features...

• Optimized for iTunes and iPod/iPhone users for Mac and PC
• You choose which tracks and playlists you want to copy
• Duplicate files are not copied twice
• Unique color-coded viewer lets you see local, remote, and synchronized tracks by color (gray, blue & green)
• Works with hard drive libraries--import and/or export to an external drive, NAS, or DVD
• Works over most TCP networks, including your local area network and the whole Internet
• Customized for iTunes, but can work with most other media players and music servers
• Library rescan feature finds broken links in your iTunes library and adds tracks that are not listed
• Quickly Import music and playlists from your iPod even if it isn't associated with the computer running SuperSync
• Tracks are flagged for further inspection with "possible duplicates", "file duplicate", "missing tags", etc.
• Unique "Filter table" lets you quickly find or hide tracks by type, flag, or playlist
• Two-way synchronization lets you add music to your library or the SuperSync library you're connected to
• All available metadata (star rating, played counts, grouping, comments, EQ settings, volume adjustment, etc.) are copied
• Automatic router setup (UPnP) makes accessing your home library over the WAN even easier
• Transfers your music up to 5x faster with simultaneous transfers and other optimizations
• Unicode, long file name, and cross-platform filename support
• The File Transfer Window shows you exactly what files are transferring and the progress
• Support for all media types supported by iTunes (except ringtones, due to a limitation by Apple!)
• Tivo media server included to let you access and play your MP3's from your TV
• Available in multi-packs for as low as $5/copy

Have fun,

Blaise

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