Where is iTunes with sharing among computers and libraries?

Right now, my setup is awkward. My main iTunes is running off my PC. The music is stored on a Linux fileshare. I also have an iTunes server clone running on the Linux box, and all the computers can see it.

Until recently, I hadn't even noticed that I could see playlists as well as songs when I fired up my Mac iTunes and connected.

I'm getting an extra option when I plug the new iPod into the Mac--I synch it with the PC normally. It asks if I want to erase and synch (hells no!) or if I want to transfer purchased items from the Mac to the iPod. Which is currently a set of zero, but does that mean, for instance, that I can contribute to the iPod from two computers? Does the purchased content get copied back onto the PC installation? All devices are set to the same Apple ID.

iPad is ordered. When I logged into apple.com this morning, it said they were shipping in 3-5 business days. When I selected the model I wanted, it bumped up to 5-7 days. When I checked out it said it would be delivered March 22 - March 29, no overnight shipping available. Just in time for my birthday, which was the plan all along.

My phone's been getting the latest iOS update for about 45 minutes now. Time to unplug it and start over, or keep waiting?

(That's 45 minutes of installing, not downloading. It downloaded last night.)

Jessica,

that is a long time. It didn't take that long for my phone. I'm worried about you unplugging and starting over though. Might that brick the phone?

Yeah, I had to unplug it and start over. I'm restoring from the backup now. Argh.

Where is iTunes with sharing among computers and libraries?

With Home Sharing, it is pretty easy to sync up your libraries to make sure they match. For example, when my work laptop was reimaged and I lost all my music, I just brought it home over the weekend, and copied everything over via Home Sharing (if I connect anything to my work laptop via USB it gets encrypted).

I can't tell from your question about purchased content and your iPod whether that's what you want to do. But it would be easy to transfer anything new you put on the Mac to the PC and then sync the iPod only to the PC.

Playlists don't copy over, but, once your libraries match, it's pretty easy to export the playlist from one library and then import it into the other.

I'm mostly just curious here. I have a HP laserprinter plugged into my iMac desktop. I routinely print wirelessly. Lately, though, it has been taken several minutes to print one page, particularly with .pdf documents.

It's not a huge problem because I can always just plug the printer in to my laptop but it's sort of a pain and printing wirelessly is so easy.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on?

Could there be a lot of graphics in that pdf? Try printing a page of basic text, no images, and see if that takes several minutes. Maybe a page of b.org. Do the same page on both computers, (not at same time) and see if there is a substantial difference. I would think the wireless print would be a bit longer, as it communicates with the mac.

When was the last time the iMac was rebooted? Since you are using that as a bridge, maybe there is processes slogging it down, that effects wireless printing.

These are just guesses. Not an IT person.

Nonian,

Mac has come up with a NUMBER of HP printer updates. Are you up to date?

I think so, but now that you have mentioned updates, I think it slowed down since I selected a particular driver over the generic one. I will have to mess around with that some.