iTunes has its own sharing scheme, which also ties into Apple's DRM policies. But those libraries are generally only accessible over the LAN.
But look into Share Tool; it's an SSH tool that allows you to share iTunes (and iPhoto and files and screens) securely over the internest as if you were on your LAN. Very handy if you don't want to roll your own file server setup. But of course you still couldn't access the music if you have no wifi, so even if you copied the playlists to your laptop they'd have no way to reference the music.
I'm not a fan of Time Capsules (I prefer to keep my router and NAS separate). But you don't really need one if you've got other macs you're willing to keep running. You can use a disk in another networked computer to backup files as long as you can access it on the network. NAS storage is usually always on and available so it's nifty for automated and frequent backups, but you can use other attached drives, even over USB or Firewire. With Share Tool it's really easy for me to connect over the internet, BTW, with both the Mac at home and any drives attached to it. Which might be nice for both backup and accessing stored files.
And although, as noted, you can't convert that desktop to a Mac, there are alternatives. You could see if you could virtualize Mac OS on it. Or maybe Linux instead, and use it just as a file server. And then move your copy of Windows to the laptop or any other machine where it's needed.
Rob
On Dec 1, 2011, at 6:37 AM, Robert wrote:
> Ok. So, I might be new to the MBP, but not new to the whole networking idea, except it's under Windoze. That being said I have a few questions regarding networking and file sharing in a home network environment with the Mac OS X.
>
> (1) I would like to centralize mu iTunes library so my wife and I can share the same set of files, but I'm wondering if iTunes will then look for the MP3s on that file share all the time, even when the MBP is not connected to the home network. If it would look for the file share, is there a way to setup iTunes (or another software package) to cache the playlists locally on the MBP.
>
> (2) Can another computer running Mac OS X (either Leopard or Snow Leopard) be setup as a TimeCapsule, much in the same way you can purchase either the 1 or 2TB TimeCapsule. I don't need to purchase the TimeCapsule as I have more WiFi access points than I really need.
>
> (3) I have a "homegrown" desktop that is currently running Windoze, how hard would it be for me to put a copy of OS X on it with the hardware that is currently installed in it? Micro$oft has a hardware compatibility list for their OS, does something like that exist in the Apple realm and how hard is it to get drivers for the hardware that is out there currently.
>
> I ultimately would like to convert that desktop to OS X and use it as a file server to store pictures, music, video and eBooks as well as use TimeMachine to backup our MBPs.
>
> Thanks for all the help!!
>
> Rob
>
>
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