[Yankee]

Don't know why the text in my first post is not appearing. Sorry, if this causes a problem. I hope you won't mind me posting that text again.

First of all I would like to describe the situation, before asking my questions:

We have a mixed network of one linux server, my windows desktop pc, my ibook and several other windows pcs which are of no concern at the moment.

The linux server provides usual services like dhcp, dns, file-serving, a ldap addressbook, while the ibook is used by me to organize my contacts and appointments and sync those with the ldap directory and my mobile.
Furthermore the linux server publishes the mp3 collection to the network as a samba share.

Music is played by itunes on my windows pc, which is attached to the hifi system. The ibook is using libra to switch between a local rather small collection of mp3s and the full collection on the server at home.

Sooner or later I would like to add an ipod, which inflicts the first problem:
Which machine should host the docking station? While the windows pc is providing the main mp3 library including play counts, ratings and playlists, the ibook should be used to share PIM activities with the ipod.

Secondly:
Sooner or later I would like to share exactly the same itunes library on all clients, to be able to use the same playlists etc at all locations.
For the time being the mp3 collection is already unified, so to say.
If this second problem is solved, the first one would not be of any matter anymore, since I would then be able to sync music and pim acitivities between ibook and ipod instead of windows pc and ipod.

I haven't found an out-of-the-box solution yet, but I wouldn't mind to implement a custom soluation.
For example the library could be regularly synced between interested clients.
Using the same xml library file is out of question, because that would cause severe problems on writing the file at the same time by different processes.
Hopefully someone has a more definite idea to arrange this setup.

Thanks for your help in advance.

[ghporter]

While iTunes has a default music library location, it gives you the option of adding music from other locations as well. I'm running iTunes from my Windows machine for various reasons. I have a separate hard drive with all my music on it, and I have imported the folders that music is in into iTunes. When I sync our iPod, it gets all the songs without any problem at all.

The physical location of the files is of no importance, just so long as they are accessible. Doing things this way means that our iBook's 30GB drive is NOT full of music, so it's still got lots of room, and the shared music drive is accessible throughout our network.

I also use Musicmatch to edit tags on songs sometimes, and I find it somewhat easier to use than iTunes for Windows in terms of controlling how and where songs are encoded and stored, but that may just be that I haven't played with iTunes enough yet.