Solution for a DJ

[Calx]

I have a customer who is a DJ, using iTunes as their main source of music.
They have 2 laptops, so if one goes down he can carry on his set.

At the moment he is struggling to keep the 2 systems synchronised, as he is purchasing new tracks all the time.

I can only think the way to do this is to copy the itunes library from one machine and replicate it on the other. He has a huge library and it takes for ever.

Does anyone have a better solution?

 

[coffee]

I have a customer who is a DJ, using iTunes as their main source of music.
They have 2 laptops, so if one goes down he can carry on his set.

At the moment he is struggling to keep the 2 systems synchronised, as he is purchasing new tracks all the time.

I can only think the way to do this is to copy the itunes library from one machine and replicate it on the other. He has a huge library and it takes for ever.

Does anyone have a better solution?

I was thinking a good solution would be rsync for windows. It will just copy the files that are new or have changed. So, The first run will take a while as you said but every run after that would be pretty quick.

 

[Calx]

I was thinking a good solution would be rsync for windows. It will just copy the files that are new or have changed. So, The first run will take a while as you said but every run after that would be pretty quick.

Is that user friendly? I should add he is pretty useless with computers!

 

[coffee]

Is that user friendly? I should add he is pretty useless with computers!

To my amazement, I guess its not really available for windows. There are some downloads of "rsync for windows" but I just tested one and it does not run. So, Back to square one I guess.

Ill keep looking though.

EDIT:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/file-folder-synchronization-freeware

 

[Calx]

I know other DJs use spotify.. I think this is a better fit as you can have cloud based play lists then it would auto download the tracks for when you are out and about. Thanks for your help @coffee

 

[coffee]

No problem. I can see that working as long as he has a good net connection

Have a good one

 

[Eagle21]

Move the iTunes folder onto an external drive.
Backup iTunes files to two or more external drives using FreeFileSync (or one of the many other file sync apps).

 

[HCHTech]

How about keeping his library on an external drive that he could connect to whichever laptop he was running? I would consider an SSD external. He still has the backup to deal with and maybe he needs two if he wants to keep hardware redundancy. It's his livelihood, though - so maybe a 2-disk NAS with SSDs? I did one of those for a DJ a couple of years ago. It was a few bucks, but it worked pretty well. I think we backed it up to a USB external that he kept at home, then she just carried the NAS to her gigs.

 

[glricht]

Take a look at "Beyond Compare" from Scooter Software. I've used it for years to keep various drives, folders and system in sync with each other.

 

[Your PCMD]

Found this quite humorous and ironic....

I have a customer who is a DJ, using iTunes as their main source of music.
They have 2 laptops, so if one goes down he can carry on his set.

I should add he is pretty useless with computers!

But my answer would be a simple one. Have the library on an external HDD. Connect it with a Y adapter to both PC's so both PCs iTunes reads the same folder. Thats what a lot of "human powered music players" do.

 

[HCHTech]

Connect it with a Y adapter to both PC's so both PCs iTunes reads the same folder

Wait, what? I can't believe that would work. Maybe an A-B switch, but certainly not a Y-adapter. That's crazy-talk - the electrons would get confused!

 

[Your PCMD]

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/two-computers-one-external-hard-drive-56819.html

 

[HCHTech]

Yes, of course that would work. That's sharing over a network. The bit I was questioning was the "Y-cable" comment.

 

[Your PCMD]

Yes, of course that would work. That's sharing over a network. The bit I was questioning was the "Y-cable" comment.

I know. Thats what I meant by Y adapter - not a cable. Anyway, there are several ways to accomplish it. One is with Apple and the other is like I posted above with PC's. There's also this solution from IOGEAR. From their website:

GUS402
The IOGEAR 2x4 USB switch is a USB 2.0 peripheral sharing switch that allows two computers to share up to four USB devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, printer, portable hard drive, etc.