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A massive iTunes library is great for pumpin' up the jams at home, but what if you want to take those tunes out on the road with you? If you've got two main Macs, but only your desktop is loaded with all those awesome b-sides, maybe it's time to consider setting up a NAS to get your iTunes library synced across all your systems. While Apple does include a Home Sharing feature, it doesn't work when you're far away from your headquarters.
And that’s where MediaRover comes in: this little piece of software enables you to have your iTunes library sync across your entire home network. So, when you bring your MacBook home, MediaRover will automatically sync with any NAS device on your network.
Read along to learn how to set up MediaRover on multiple Macs, configure a NAS device using an AirPort router, and then sync and manage your libraries.
>> Free MediaRover account (http://mediarover.com)
>> NAS-compatible router (or another NAS device)
>> USB external hard drive large enough to hold iTunes library
>> Multiple Macs and/or PCs (with iTunes)
Before we can get started setting up MediaRover on your Macs, you will need to visit the MediaRover website and sign up for a free account, which will allow you to sync with as many as eight different Macs and PCs. This account will also let you manage your different computers.
Log in to MediaRover and select the Download link near the top of the account page. From here, you’ll be able to select either the Mac or Windows version of the application. At the bottom, you’ll have your account information, including email address and account access code. You should note both of these as you will need to provide them during the MediaRover Setup.
Before we can begin the MediaRover setup, we need to first configure our NAS (Network Attached Storage) on the network. A NAS works just like an external hard drive, except that it's connected to the network and accessible to all computers.
We’re going to use the USB NAS feature on the AirPort Extreme to accomplish this, but you could use any USB-compatible router or NAS drive.
Locate the USB port on the back of the device, then plug in an external drive. If another device is already occupying the USB port, you can then use a USB hub to connect multiple devices to your AirPort Extreme, though may have to opt for a powered USB hub.
Next, launch AirPort Utility on your Mac, located in Applications > Utilities. Dismiss the setup wizard that appears by clicking the Manual Setup button in the bottom-left corner; or Select Base Station > Manual Setup from the menu bar. Enter your base station password if prompted. Then, once you’re in, select Disks from the toolbar up top, which will display a listing of all the connected hard drives.
Click on the File Sharing tab in the Disks section of AirPort Utility. Most of the options here callibrate automatically when you plug in a hard drive, but you still need to change a few items.
Check the box labeled Enable File Sharing, then select With Accounts under the Secure Shared Disks drop-down box. Next, ensure that AirPort Disks Guest Access is not allowed.
Next, click the “Configure Accounts...” button that appears under the Secure Shared Disks section. This will take you to a tab where you can configure different user accounts for hard drive access. Click the plus button (+) to add an account.
In the resulting drop-down panel, type in a username, password, then verify the password by typing it again. Under Sharing Access, select Read and Write to give both read and write permissions to this account. When you are finished, select the Done button. 
When you're finished adding all the accounts you need, select the Update button in the lower right-hand corner of the window to save the settings and reboot the AirPort router.
...Pat yourself on the back, because we're half way done!
>> Next: Setting up the MediaRover
magicdude
February 17, 2011 at 3:40pm
I guess I'm a bit confused as to the "big deal" with media rover. Apparently it keeps a library on your local computer(s) as well as a library on your NAS drive. Is that true? But what do you do when you have 100 GB of music on your NAS drive and not on the local computer? How do you get Media Rover to recognize those files? I don't really see the big advantage over iTunes other than perhaps the libraries on multiple computers staying sync'd.
Let me see if I understand this: If my wife rips a cd to her iTunes library, iTunes will save it to her local drive (iMac). Media rover will see this and copy it to the NAS drive, then update my library by copying it to my local drive and adding it to my iTunes library. All automatically.
This is all fine and dandy, but what if my wife and I are using the same iMac, but with separate user accounts. Will it duplicate the music when saving to the local drive? Subsequently bloating my computer with duplicated tracks?
Conversely, (minus Media Rover) I can tell my iTunes to access the iTunes library on the NAS drive rather than my local drive. iTunes will save newly ripped cd's to that folder (NAS drive) and will access that folder to play music. My wife can do exactly the same. While our separate iTunes libraries won't stay automatically sync'd, its not a big deal to manually add the new tracks.
Am I missing something? There doesn't seem to be a big advantage over the built in control from iTunes.
shawnmoss
January 31, 2011 at 6:14pm
Hi All,
What if I didn't want to sync all my libraries together, I just wanted to sync all my libraries in my home to one computer, which I would use as an iTunes media server for my Apple TV's to stream off of. I cannot use iTunes homesharing because I have more than 5 computers with media content in my home. Could I use a syncing service such as SpiderOak? Or is there something much simpler than that?
Kmeyer6051
January 30, 2011 at 1:25pm
I am new to this idea of iTunes sharing. I now know what a NAS drive is. I am all Mac at my house with several computers and thus, several different iTunes libraries. I know iTunes has a function of sharing music across the different computers, but that only works if the specific computers are turned on and running iTunes if want to listen to a specific song. (if there is another way, please help). Having said that, I am considering purchasing a Apple Time Capsule for the purpose of back-ups on all the computers as good measure anyway. I understand the Time Capsule will also share files via NAS. Do I still need to run Media Rover to access them? Or, will a static IP address (via cable company) be sufficient? Am I going in the right direction??
timbreese
January 10, 2011 at 1:25pm
After setting up my AirPort Extreme the only way I could get MediaRover to connect was by connecting to Shared Disks with AirPort Extreme password and Allowing Guest Access. I would prefer to do it your way if I could figure out the problem.
Mac Man Jim
December 13, 2010 at 2:15pm
Is there an app similar to this that allows syncing movies? I'd like to store all my movies on a drive and have access to them from my iOS devices and my MacBook pro when I'm not home.
stepheneasley
November 16, 2010 at 5:01pm
I've got computers in Austin and DC - any way to use this to keep my Austin Computer "synced" to my DC computers?
aztripp
November 13, 2010 at 4:40pm
Are the records of individuals libraries used for marketing purposes to support the Media Rover ? How can this service be "free"?
corybohon
November 13, 2010 at 8:09pm
The MediaRover privacy policy (found here) mentions the following:
We collect personally identifiable information, like names, postal addresses, email addresses, etc., when voluntarily submitted by our visitors. The information you provide is used to fulfill you specific requests. This information is only used to fulfill your specific request, unless you give us permission to use it in another manner, for example to add you to one of our mailing lists.
MacAddict4Life
November 12, 2010 at 7:37pm
Thanks. :) As I recall, the ratings are not stored in the metadata, but in the iTunes library file. Thus no other sync solution handles them. It's pretty frustrating.
corybohon
November 13, 2010 at 8:05pm
It seems that you may be right about that. I just tested and it doesn't appear that MediaRover syncs ratings.
MacAddict4Life
November 08, 2010 at 2:36pm
Does it sync ratings? No solution I've ever found, including those that keep the metadata in files in sync, syncs ratings. This is why I have never found a sync solution that works for me!
corybohon
November 09, 2010 at 4:05pm
In my testing, I didn't notice if ratings were synced along with the meta data. I know that Media Rover does seem to sync and keep in check all metadata associated with songs.
I will hook my MediaRover server back up and will check for you, however. Stay tuned and I will let you know if ratings sync via MediaRover.
