Comments on: Conundrum: Syncing Personal Media From Multiple Sources

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:54:05 +0000

I have run into the same issue in regards to my iPad. I have multiple Aperture libraries for different projects as I prefer not to lump them all into one big library. But sadly I want a few on my iPad from each library. The easiest solution has been to export select photos to a sync folder vs a library. This is all of course seperate from any back up solution i have in place.

I understand why Apple did it this way. It falls in line with all of the other categories, but unlike the other categories, you dont run into the DRM lke you would with music or videos. Sharing some photos with family is not illegal, so it would be easier if they could just hook up their iPhone and synch just a few pics without having to lock their device to my library for that category. Its something Apple should work on.

By: Niel

Niel — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:27:24 +0000

I keep all my photos organized in iPhoto on a dedicated home server (a Mac Mini with a couple of Ministack drives attached). Whenever I download pics off a camera or iPhone onto my iMac, I copy the photos to the server and put them in a special folder. (At some point I’ll probably start geotagging the photos before they are uploaded to the server.) Then I import from this folder into iPhoto.

iPhoto on the server is set to sync the photos to an AppleTV. (The family gets a kick out of just letting the screensaver run and watching random pics float past.) Eventually we’ll get a “family” iPad and sync the photos to it as well for a an “official” digital photo album.

I’m really hoping that a new version of iPhoto will include some sort of “Home Sharing” feature like iTunes. Then it will be easier to pull photos from the Home Server to family computers instead of doing it from the Finder.

Currently, a complete set of photos is stored in at least 4 different locations. (I also copy the photos onto a separate NAS box running in the garage at the end of the month. At the end of the year, I copy each year’s worth of photos onto DVD. I’m also planning on backing up to HD’s to store in a safety deposit box and maybe even start storing them online – so that will make it 6).

Yes, it sounds complicated, but I’ve got the flow down pretty well. And I can NOT afford to lose the memories.

By: Legend

Legend — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:55:02 +0000

Instead of an alternate iphoto library, I have Folder in iphoto with Albums like “Video”, “Personal”, “Travel”. I drag flip video and various photos to their needed locations and just sync the folder.

maybe I have that backwards – folders in albums and I sync the albums. I forget.

By: Marcel Winkel

Marcel Winkel — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:15:35 +0000

I use iPhoto Buddy (www.iphotobuddy.com). It lets me define iPhoto libraries whenever I need and lets me choose one before it launches iPhoto. Simple, easy and comfortable.

By: Gregor

Gregor — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:29:54 +0000

We have a desktop iMac, 2 laptops, 2 iPhones and 2 iPod touches (kids) as well as the iPad.
I sync my phone and camera with my laptop, where it goes into my laptops iPhoto library. The iMac has an iPhoto library on an external disk, so we can share it between all users on the iMac without permissions issues. My partners dslr syncs with the iMac library. I have a smart library on my laptop iPhoto which shows all photos imported after x date. Both iPhoto libraries are shared, so I periodically import from the laptop into our main library on the iMac, then update the dare on the smartfolder. Photos are grouped into albums on the iMac, and those are shared with the laptops, so that on the iPhones and ipts Ives selected which albums to sync– which is different for different devices.

By: subcorpus

subcorpus — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:19:56 +0000

I use picasa …
and upload to picasaweb …
$5/yr for 20GB … :)

By: Twist

Twist — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:14:08 +0000

I have had to recover way too many photos from iPhoto Libraries that have gone bad to ever trust it with mine. I prefer to just use decent Finder organization, DVD based backups, and Expression Media.

By: Howie Isaacks

Howie Isaacks — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:58:25 +0000

You’re making this WAY too complicated. Macs are supposed to be easy, remember?