As I have already discussed, SliMP3 rocks! One of the coolest features for Macs is integration with iTunes. This means that you can have it read your iTunes library file as the way it sees how your music is catalogued. (You can also just have it scan your folder with music as well…)
I was having an issue with how to work this since I want SliMP3 to read the library file of a user that is not normally logged into our home computer (me vs. my wife). SliMP3 has no issue actually reading the file, there is just no way to update the library if you rip a CD or add tracks through the other user. I discovered this tip at Mac OS X Hints, which recommended user aliases to a publically accessible shared folder.
While this totally works for sharing the library between users, it did not allow for SliMP3 to see the alias…until I changed it to a Symbolic Link. They are basically the same in purpose, but unix (and as it happens…SliMP3) likes symbolic links better than aliases.
Now I have A SINGLE library file shared between the user accounts that continuously updates the SliMP3 server. This is killer…
Because my wife and I will be sharing the same library file, I wanted to make it easy to see what had been added recently, other than sorting by date added. Thanks to smart playlists in iTunes, we now have the option to see what was added this week, the past two weeks and the last month. All of these are accessible via SliMP3 – immediately as they change!
btw – the SliMP3 is hard at work on many additions to the software including a potential overhaul to the Web UI, based on an email from a user (to the user list) yesterday. The note was passed to the dev list and has already caused quite a stir. Check out the proposed revised look…
This is how things are supposed to work. Customer interact with companies who listen and encourage improvements to products based on how people use them.