Syncing iTunes using Dropbox with Mine

Many applications provide their own synchronization methods to enable usage on multiple computers, but what about those that don’t? It turns out that lots of programs are perfectly happy to have their files stored inside Dropbox rather than their typical location.

Storing iTunes in Dropbox

Many guides exist showing you how to do this with iTunes:

• digiwonk.wonderhowto.com/how-to/sync-your-itunes-library-with-several-computers-using-dropbox
• macstories.net/tutorials/how-to-sync-your-entire-itunes-library-with-dropbox

Unfortunately, the shared caveat in all these guides is that only one instance of iTunes is to be running at any given time. That’s where mine comes in.

Installing and Configuring Mine

mine is a daemon and command-line Python program that starts and stops remote applications using a configuration file in Dropbox. After setting up iTunes and Dropbox using one of the above guides, install mine:

$ pip3 install --upgrade mine

If you don’t have pip3, install python3 with your system’s package manager (on OSX with Homebrew: $ brew install python3).

Additional configuration instructions are found in the project’s README.

Using Mine to Manage Remote Applications

Once installed and configured, let it run in the background on each computer:

$ mine --daemon

Applications can be killed remotely and started on the current computer:

$ mine switch

To kill all local applications and start them on another computer:

$ mine switch <name>

where <name> is part of the name of another computer with mine running.

See a typo? Help me edit this post.

Find a problem with mine? Please submit an issue or contribute!