14 DAY TRIAL // For most of us, iTunes is simply the better way of organizing our music library; however, the program itself is powerful and flexible enough to have other uses. The way iTunes organizes the sound files in its library makes it ideal not only for music but for just about any kind of sound files. Sound FX engineers can use it to keep a very clean massive library of sound effects for use in video games or movies or any number of other things. It can also be used for sample of instruments, as a repository of audio notes and journals, own music tracks and just about anything else.
While iTunes has for some time offered music sharing on a local network, the local network limitation can be bothersome at times. Say for example that you have a client that wants to buy some sounds effects from the vast collection of sounds you have created. Your only option is to either send everything out, in a low sample quality for them to pick or have them come over to select. If you keep detailed audio logs of your work, and want to share them with a colleague, you face the same problem.
DOT-TUNES is a small, free piece of software that will handle the heavy lifting and let you offer an online version of your iTunes library.
What it does DOT-TUNES is a daemon application of sorts, it basically creates a web server with all the pages and scripts it needs to let users log in and access your iTunes library.
Since everything is web-based, this means that you are no longer restricted to your local network and to iTunes. This is also great because the other person can be using just about any operating system and browser and still be able to interact with your sound files.
Easy street Setting up such a service is normally a difficult affair, however, DOT-TUNES does everything for you.
The first step is locating the iTunes Library file. The program will search for it at the usual location, but also lets you locate it manually in case it is not where it expects. From here on, it is simply a matter of selecting which files you want to make available to others. You can only select an Artist/Album/Playlist by choosing the appropriate type from the selector drop down at the top and then the item from the long list below. The biggest downfall to this system is that you cannot sort or choose by genre.
Once you have all the tracks you want to make available selected and have confirmed that you agree only to publish tracks that do not infringe the copyright of others, all you have to do is click the publish button and you are done.
Advanced options Setting up a basic server is quite easy and only takes a few minutes; however, the software is powerful enough to let you set up a complex solution. You can create many different users, each with heir own username and password, as well as separate list of tracks they can access. Another option is how you want the playing of files to be handled. One option is to play them remotely, meaning that the selected track will be played on the remote computer, using the web browser. The other option is local, meaning that when a track is selected, it will be played on your machine using iTunes, which basically lets you use this program to control what is playing on another machine.
The receiving end In terms of being on the receiving end of the software, you have two options. The first is any web browser which will let you browse and listen to the tracks regardless of what operating system you are on, and where you are.
The second is the DOT-TUNES Client, which is like a mini iTunes player, which has several advantages such as being able to play the tracks one after the other, which is not possible in the browser version.
The Good Lets you leverage the power of iTunes to get your personal files across to others, without having to do any of the hard work it would normally take. Easy to set up and use.
The Bad The way you select which tracks are shared is less than ideal. An iTunes-like interface would be better suited, especially for people with complex libraries of sound files with many thousands of tracks.
The Truth A great application for letting other people access your library without having to be at your computer or on the local network. There are many such solutions about but this one takes the cake for ease of use and advanced features.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
Note: The files shown in these images are only used to give an idea of how the application works and were not shared or made publicly available in any way. Only publish tracks that do not infringe the copyright of others.
