You start by installing Syncopation on two or more Macs. The main window is minimal and only provides a few buttons and a window with the content of your iTunes library. The libraries are listed by username followed by computer name.

Initially, I noticed that the local computer (MacBook) is listed first, followed by the iMac.  Syncopation uses an icon of a laptop next to the remote computer. This could be confusing until you glance at the computer names. Although it’s a minor detail, Sonzea should have used an icon such as OS X’s Network globe icon to avoid any confusion.

A nice feature of this app is that it preserves all your tag info. It will sync your ratings, times played, time last played, etc. You also have the option to not sync any of the track attributes.

Syncopation provides two methods for keeping an iTunes library in sync: “Peer to Peer” or “Sync with Master Library”. “Peer to Peer” mode will sync libraries between all computers that have Syncopation installed. “Sync with Master Library” mode designates one computer as the master. Any changes you make on the master will propagate to your other computers.

After choosing a sync mode you are ready to sync. If your iTunes library is large, it’s a good idea to not use wireless, unless you’re patient. My initial sync matched both iTunes libraries perfectly.

Another feature of Syncopation is “Automatic Syncing”. When you make any additions or deletions to a library, those changes will be reflected in all libraries. One small downside to this is you must leave Syncopation open in the background for it work. This is where the problems begin.

After turning on “Automatic Syncing”, CPU usage reached 100%. Syncopation was repeatedly syncing random chunks of music. I figured that it had to stop at some point, so I let it run. It did stop — for about one minute — and then started all over again, syncing 432 tracks, then 1078, then 28. It wouldn’t stop.  This behavior was occurring on both computers. The program was reporting that tracks had changed even though no changes were actually made. Needless to say, I turned Automatic Syncing off.  I tested this twice and received the same disappointing results.

So Automatic Syncing seems to be flawed. This is a major negative, but what about manual sync?  Unfortunately more problems occurred. If you delete an album from one library, it should delete from the other, too. It didnt, and much to my dismay, the deleted album reappeared. Even when you make zero changes, Syncopation will insist that the files have changed.

Another problem is the way in which Syncopation counts media files. When syncing only music files, the program will still include movies/podcast/TV shows in the overall number of files. The media file count never changes despite not syncing certain media types.

If you just need to clone an iTune library to a new computer, then this app will work, but so will a simple copy/paste. Even after testing every possible option, I was not able to get the program to work correctly.

Sonzea’s Syncopation retails for $24.95 and there is a free 30-day trial that will allow you to sync between two Apple computers. The retail version will allow syncing between five Apple computers. Syncing with a Windows iTunes library is not supported.

Come January 8, 2009 Boxee will open those floodgates and everyone will have open access to try out Boxee.  Well by everyone they mean only Mac and Ubuntu user’s.  Their closed alpha testing stage generated over 150,000 sign ups, obviously a much larger number than they were ever expecting.  We have been active in testing Boxee since it was announced and things are coming along nicely…for something that’s still in its infancy.

So for those of you who are completely lost as to what Boxee is here you go: Boxee builds upon the widely popular XBMC (Xbox Media Center) by taking the normal media center functions and extending them to online video streaming.  Along with that they have built a social network within the app in which friends can rate and recommend things to watch, amongst other abilities as well.

The most enticing feature of Boxee is it’s ability to stream content from sites like Hulu and Comedy Central, to name a couple.  This is extremely nice as Hulu alone contains thousands of full TV shows and movies.  All this can now be streamed right to your big screen TV which is nice and convenient, granted the quality is only so so.  This can be done from any OSX 10.4 or 10.5 computer, AppleTV, or Ubuntu system. Unfortunately the online video content is only available to people in the US.

Now keep in mind that Boxee is still in the very early stages of development and does have many bugs.  Also some functions of the software are not very intuitive on how to set up, namely the setting up of a networked hard drive that contains your media files.  When Boxee does become open to the public it will still retain it’s Alpha status, but hopefully a beta will follow quickly.

Boxee can be downloaded at the official site.