iPhoto library sharing with PC?

i'm able to connect from windows98/me/2000/xp to my powerbook just fine. i can browse iphoto's library and see every photo.

maybe you can describe a little better what you are looking to do?

FYI-there is no windows version of iPhoto, which is what you'd need if you are trying to view albums or the entire library as a collection.

[edit] now that i reread your post, it looks like thats *exactly* what you are trying to do. iPhoto uses its own xml file for sorting out the library and album data. it would be necessary for one to reverse engineer the xml file to come up with a windows program that could properly display albums/library images.

not that it cant be done. i'm just saying that's what it'd take, and i havent seen such a tool.

that's the thing annoyed me.. I'd probably find a way to make windows machine to read symbolic links instead. (Since creating albums = creating a set of smybolic links in the album directory pointing back to the library)

I am able to access and surf iPhoto albums from my wife's WinXP (Home) laptop without any problem. I think the key for us is an application called MacDrive for the Win computer. You can read more about it at http://mediafour.com/products/macdrive/ I think there's a demo on there, too....

IMHO, there are other benefits to MacDrive -- namely, being able to keep my external firewire drive formatted in HFS+ and still use it to backup the Win PC.

Best of luck.

i dont see anything in that software package that indicates it will read iPhoto albums--certainly something i think they'd mention.

to be clear, it's not an issue being able to see the folders in the iPhoto library dirctory in the finder (explorer in windows). the problem is getting windows to read the xml files that represent the album data actually in the iPhoto application.

i dont own an XP machine, so you'll have to clarify for us.

thanks.

Reading the XML data is not what XP + MacDrive will do. Rather, MacDrive seems to make XP recognize the symlinks that iPhoto stores in the album folders. The result is that my wife or I can -- from the XP laptop -- connect to the Mac server share through SMB networking in the finder, and browse User->Pictures->iPhoto Library->Albums->SpecificAlbumFolder and view, copy, etc. any of the photos symlinked in any album folder. Does that make sense?

As for *why* it works, I'm not sure. Who knows . . . maybe there's something else making the file browsing work. Downloading the trial version won't hurt and offers full functionality for 15 days or so. If browsing to your iPhoto albums doesn't work or you don't think it's worth the $50, you can always uninstall. I hope this helps....

nice. that's exactly the explanation i needed. i hope that helps the original poster. i'd try it if i ran windows....seems pointless to try it in VPC. nice trick tho--impress your friends ;)

glad that made sense, cudaboy_71. I also hope it helps the original poster.... it *has* come in handy around here. truthfully, I only discovered the full extent of it's coolness by accident when I was trying to figure out how to easily let my wife browse my iPhotos. anyway, best of luck to csvke!