Hey everybody,

My GF just got a new laptop for her writing. I had suggested she strongly consider a powerbook. She really liked their design and the feel of the OS, so she just bought a 12" Powerbook running Tiger. Now the fun starts... I've tried to get this working well on my network and I have some questions for you guys. I really appreciate any advice you can give me.

iTunes

iTunes is incredibly cool. So cool, in fact, that my GF is now helping me retag my entire mp3 library, which is stored on a linux machine and available on the network via Samba. This is a long-overdue project. Having her help me is a boon, and worth the price of the laptop! Here are some iTunes questions that I haven't been able to find answers for:

1. Exactly which tags does iTunes use? Is there a technical paper describing the workings of iTunes? Does it, for example, use a "Composer" tag? How should the tags be formatted to handle compilation CDs? Since we're retagging everything, we can tag in a way most compatible with iTunes -- I just need to know what that is!

2. I found how to keep iTunes from modifying files on the file server (or attempting to), and also how to keep it from downloading a local copy. What we'd like is a mixed use case: most files left on the fileserver (no local copy), but some files stored locally so that they are available for iTunes to play when the laptop is out of the house. Is iTunes smart enough to know that files are unavailable if you aren't connected to the share? How does one make some files locally available and the rest on the server? How can you change this, if you want to remove some local files and replace them with others? The goal is two conditions: A. on the network, all files available; B. offline or on another network, local files available. Can it be set up so this is seamless?

3. For classical CDs, if I put the performer in "Artist" and the composer name in "Composer", will iTunes handle this? How? What is the recommended approach? How about Soundtrack and Various Artist compilations?

4. Is the Comment tag used? How? Other tags?

5. Will iTunes make use of Album cover art in any way? If so, what are the requirements?

6. If the mp3 files were added to the iTunes library by dragging & dropping from a Samba mount, will iTunes be able to play those files if I switch to NFS for sharing to the powerbook, or will it be looking using some kind of smb:\\server type of method, ignoring the fact that a share of the same name is mounted via NFS?

7. Any other iTunes hints, limitations or gotchas I should keep in mind?

Networking

1. The Powerbook takes forever to connect to the Samba share from within a Finder window. It is much faster when using the "Go" menu option "Connect To Server...". Why is this? How can I fix it? It's outrageous to me. I click on Network->Domain->Servername and then it says "To see the available shares for server "Servername", click Connect. It then hangs the Finder for several minutes. Sometimes it connects, other times it won't. The Go->Connect to Server... takes about 1.5 to 2 seconds to complete in comparison.

2. How can I have the powerbook automatically mount network shares when joining that network? I know the alias trick, but I'd like the shares to mount automagically as soon as the network connection is enabled. However, I don't want to have to wait forever for it to time out if I'm connected to another network. Ideally, when at home on my wireless network (WLAN), it should mount the shares, but not even attempt when I'm on a different wireless network, in a coffee shop, or wherever.

On a related note, if I have nothing mounted and fire up iTunes, will it automatically try to mount the music share? How can I make it do this? I guess it won't be necessary if I can get the machine to automatically mount the shares.

3. Is Samba the best solution here? My GF has a Windows PC, so she'll be connecting to her documents on that machine via SMB. What about the linux machine? I could install netatalk, but it seems there are issues getting it to behave nicely with Samba. Netatalk also requires a bunch of directories for Apple metadata. What about nfs? I already export the share via nfs so I can mount it on my other UNIX machines, how about mounting it on the powerbook that way? Can I do this conditionally, as I described in my question above (so that the automounter won't hold things up by attempting to connect when the machine is on another network)?

4. If I'm plugged-in to the ethernet, and then disconnect, is there any way to make the wireless just take over the connection? Do network shares need to be remounted? Here is the ideal situation: on the desk, plugged in, playing a song which resides on the server. Unplug to go sit out on the porch. Wireless comes on, and the music keeps right on playing. Is this possible? I can't make it work. Are the shares bound to a particular interface? Any ideas here?

General

1. Do you guys have some favorite sites or forums for OS X technical information?

2. We're retagging using Mp3TagStudio on the PCs. Does having the powerbook open up any alternatives that are more powerful than this? I'm pleased with Mp3TS, but if there is a really great option for the Mac, we can use it now...

3. How do you guys get cover art for your albums? ISTR there was an application which would grab it for you automatically. Since I'm retagging anyway...

Thanks a ton. I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this whole thing.

Best,

Jim