Remote Tunes - a followup — 10 Oct 2003

I posted an entry on Ovolab's RemoteTunes the other day. Since, I've purchased a license as it fullfills exactly my needs.

The only aspect I found annoying was the time it takes to update the playlist and track info at each connection. That's when I noticed there was another way of building RemoteTune's database file: "Asking for a RemoteTunes database file".

I didn't figure out what that meant immediately for two reasons: first, the RemoteTunes mislead me in thinking instinctively that it was a remote iTune library as that found in ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes 4 Music Library. In fact it's what it name implies: a RemoteTunes (the application) database (aka file). I'd tried connecting to a remote iTune Library without success, and made a mental note to try it again later. It's only 5 minutes ago that I actually read the dialog box correctly, and checked to see if there was a "Save" item in the File menu. There is. Save the playlist and track info, and point your connection settings towards that file - not some other remote file that has nothing to do with it.

That leads me to the second reason: not managing to make the option work, I quite naturally turned to Ovolab's website which is well designed, but lacks documentation. A small Read Me First or something equivalent online would help getting you started.

Now, this wouldn't have happened if I would have read the box correctly, and took the time to figure it out the first time around. But someone else might give up, and rely solely on the first methos, which can take time depending on the size of the remote iTunes Library (mine exceeds 35Gb).

That excepted, it's a fabulous little application if you have the need of it.

Thought I'd let you know.