I ran into a similar problem having several iTunes libraries on various machines and wanting to listen to music and Podcasts with several independent WiFi Radios in different rooms. On the other hand, I have several iPods and iPhones in different sizes, none of which can hold the whole iTunes library. Therefore, I have different sync procedures for each device.

I tried various more or less sophisticated solutions which all worked. However, keeping them running required too much time for configuration, syncing and there were problems if one of the notebooks was absent, in sleep mode or logged in with a different user.

Being tired of that hassle, I found a much easier and more convenient solution:

I hooked up an NAS (network attached storage) to my home network, big enough to hold all iTunes libraries and Podcasts. Some NAS (e.g. the ones made by LaCie) actually have basic Linux-based PCs running a media server built in. From outside, they may look just like an external hard drive but apart form the hard drive, they have a small computer running a fileserver and webserver application under the hood. The ones made by LaCie (I don't know about others, but I guess it applies to most NAS for home use) are usually configured in a way that they will automatically and periodically scan their hard drive for media contents (.mp3, movies, pictures,...). As soon as you copy some music to the NAS, the music will appear in your iTunes as a new library.

This has the enormous advantage that by simply copying your iTunes libraries to the NAS, you not only have an additional backup, you also let the NAS do all the work automatically: scan all libraries, index them and serve them as one big music library to all iTunes clients (and WiFi-Radios etc.) running in your network. And the iTunes library and playlists in each of your computers stays unchanged and untouched.

By using AppleScript, by configuring your backup program accordingly or by using ChronoSync (or a similar product) you could schedule your backups and make sure that you don't copy too much to the NAS. (I have actually automated the process of syncing my libraries to the NAS in a way to avoid duplicates and in order to delete old podcasts which are already auto-deleted on the workstations).

It's really convenient. The only thing you have to keep in mind in the beginning: the NAS usually scans its contents only once an hour or once a day (depending on its settings). There may be some delay until new music is available to all computers.

Some of them even run servers that even can be accessed from outside the LAN over the internet. The newer LaCie NAS have AXENTRA HipServ pre-installed and can be configured with a web browser. The older models run a proprietary iTunes-compatible media server. But this applies to all models: you may adapt the servers to your needs by tweaking and twisting and configuring and doing other geeky stuff, but they already run quite perfectly plugged in out of the box without any configuration.

There are many manufacturers of network attached storage. For this particular purpose, you want to make sure that they have a built-in iTunes-compatible media server and that you don't have to install additional client software.

Pictures of the LaCie Mini Ethernet Disk, the LaCie Network Space and the LaCie Internet Space which all have self-scanning iTunes servers built-in:
Source(s):
LaCie Network Attached Storage drives:
http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10007

AXENTRA HipServ media server:
http://www.axentra.com/en/products/hipserv

ChronoSync:
http://www.econtechnologies.com/site/Pages/ChronoSync/chrono_overview.html

List of NAS manufacturers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NAS_manufacturers


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