10-06-2011, 05:50 AM

I run a Mac Mini with Snow Leopard and Windows XP on Bootcamp. I'm wondering if there's a way to sync iTunes on XP with the version on OS X so that changes to my music collection on the Mac are automatically reflected in Bootcamp without further work. I mainly live on my Mac but certain work I do has to be done on XP and it would be nice to have my music colection at hand when I switch over.

10-06-2011, 01:52 PM

You can't sync between the OS X version and Windows version automatically. You're actually running two different versions of iTunes. And as far as iTunes is concerned, it's two different computers.

There is a third party app that can do it but it's $$. TuneRanger

10-06-2011, 02:08 PM

That sounds interesting. But would it work with OS X and Windows XP on Bootcamp?

10-07-2011, 10:15 PM

Yes, it should work. Remember, when you use Boot Camp to run Windows it's just like running Windows natively on a Win machine.

10-08-2011, 03:49 AM

This may be stupid question to you but don't both machines have to be switched on and connected to the Internet in order to Sync?

I looked at TuneRanger and it turns out to be very expensive with the need for licences for both Mac & Windows. SuperSync is similar, I think, and cheaper but as yet, in the trial download, I haven't worked out HOW to sync the two machines. It should be straight forward shouldn't it?

10-08-2011, 02:02 PM

This may be stupid question to you but don't both machines have to be switched on and connected to the Internet in order to Sync?

Not stupid at all, actually, it's a good question. And yes, TuneRanger is expensive which is why so many folks wind up doing the entire syncing routine manually. I can't answer the other question about how to sync when using Boot Camp because obviously only one session can be running at any given time on your Mac.

It could possibly be done if you were running VM software instead (Parallels, Fusion, etc) but I'm not sure how to do it if both OS X and Windows have to be on the net at the same time.

How large is your iTunes library? Can you sync manually?

10-08-2011, 03:57 PM

Thanks for that. Can you tell me what you mean by syncing manually?

What I have tried in the meantime is to load a trial version of MacDrive on the Windows XP side thereby facilitating the reading and access of the OS X partition. I then set up in iTunes the library's location as its position on OS X and imported the library. That works fine but any changes I make in OS X's library won't automatically be reflected in iTunes Windows without reimporting the library afresh and, if possible I don't want to have to pay for MacDrive which is also expensive.

I guess an alternative would be to have the library physically on Windows XP and reverse the procedure given OS X can access the Fat 32 partition without an intermediary like MacDrive but again, any changes I make would require me to re-import the library to OS X in this case.

10-08-2011, 06:24 PM

Actually, what you did with MacDrive is a manual sync. Why not try going the other way? In other words, instead of reading the Mac library from the PC side, read the PC library from the Mac side. Paragon Software sells Paragon NTFS for $19.95 which is a lot less expensive than the $49.95 cost of MacDrive.

Here is the LINK to Paragon NTFS: LINK

10-09-2011, 03:43 AM

Going the other way does make sense but surely I don't need any software like Paragon. My Windows partition is Fat 32 so OS X can read directly from it anyway.

10-09-2011, 10:43 AM

You're correct. I didn't know your Windows partition was FAT-32. You should have no problem then - except of course for the inconvenience of having to manually sync the libraries.