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iOS 4.3 spotlight: iTunes Home Sharing

by Mike Schramm Mar 9th 2011 at 2:05PM

iOS 4.3 is now available for download, and along with it comes iTunes Home Sharing -- the ability to stream your entire iTunes library to your iDevice over Wi-Fi. Previously, you could use Apple's Remote app to control and play an iTunes installation on another computer, but this is different. With iTunes Home Sharing, the audio from files stored elsewhere actually comes out of your iOS device, so you can listen to iTunes while on your treadmill, or stream a movie to your iPad on the couch.

Note that Home Sharing requires an Apple ID, and all of the standard license requirements apply. One fun way to use this: try streaming music out to your dock in the bedroom. Your complete iTunes library is now available anywhere in the house!

Home Sharing is found in the iPod settings on your iOS devices.



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iOS 4.3 is now available for download, and along with it comes iTunes Home Sharing -- the ability to stream your entire iTunes library...
 

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Mark Robinson

I have an 8g Touch. However I have a lot more music than will fit on the Ipod. Can I put all these songs in my Itunes library? If so how will I control what will go on the Ipod?

March 10 2011 at 11:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
frank d

I certainly understand the need to enforce playback restrictions on DRM content purchased from the iTunes store (5 device limit, ...). Don't get me wrong about that.

My gripe is that I have an older system serving as a big music library share.

This system contains no iTunes DRM content, is not involved in iOS purchases or updating iPhones/iPads/etc., it is a standalone ripping library, hence my question:

WHY does this system without DRM Music and any devices connecting to it need to have an Apple ID? (mine) and does the 5 device limit apply?

Shouldn't it be my own content + house = my sharing rules = no Apple ID??

Home sharing mainly applies to apps etc but now seems required for automatic library discovery. The iPad doesn't see this machine (with standard iTunes LAN sharing) ... and the old mac can't be activated because it would be 6th device.

March 10 2011 at 1:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zach

This just made my 16GB wifi iPad so much better. Glad this was finally implemented. Now if only this interface were available outside the LAN.

March 10 2011 at 11:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
iBanks

Plex app for Mac allows you to stream your iTunes Library incl videos and iPhoto Library to your iOS device. Must setup an static IP and forward a port to do so. But it's the best yet.

March 10 2011 at 7:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mah

My IPhone does't "see" the library on my Mac (all the computers at home can see and play it), but it sees all the libraries on my Windows PCs. I have a hard time understanding this discriminating behavior...

March 10 2011 at 2:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Mah's comment
Mah

Well, I got around the problem, but library loading is freakishly slow (at least on 802.11g). Obviously not made with 28,000-song libraries in mind. Loading/unloading a video or enabling the coverflow view bring iPhone3Gs to a deadlock. Takes some seconds for it to come back to life.

March 10 2011 at 2:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Koleckai

Really liking this feature. It allowed me to remove a lot of music and movies from my iPad and still access it. Hopefully it does improve over time to overcome some of it's limitations. Internet based streaming and Wifi synch are two things that I can think of.

March 10 2011 at 1:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bex

They still haven't fixed the issue (in iOS or Front Row) where artists in compilations show up, double listed, in the main Artists menu. Frustrating.

March 09 2011 at 9:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Bex's comment
Bex

No Album Shuffle, either. Glad I kept my iPod Classic!

March 09 2011 at 9:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steve

Pity this doesn't share your iPhoto library... since photo support is built in to Home Sharing it feels like this should really be here.

March 09 2011 at 7:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Steve's comment
Neel Shah

I was wondering about that as well. I've been searching the internet for any idea if this was possible, and ran into your post here, so I guess it isn't possible. That's really a bummer. Hopefully they fix that with an update soon.

March 09 2011 at 9:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SiPodder

Hmmm... iTunes Home Sharing doesn't work for me.

Entered (correctly) my Apple ID and password in iPod settings on the phone, and turned on sharing in iTunes on my iMac with no password. But if I click the "More" tab in iPod app, there's no "Shared" icon.

My phone is on the wireless network with my iMac. Thoughts, anyone?

Interestingly, there's no VPN or Personal Hotspot items in the top-level of my phone's Settings app, but I can access those items through the General>Network panes. I don't have them configured so perhaps they shouldn't be at the top level anyway.

March 09 2011 at 7:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to SiPodder's comment
Larry

I use audio galaxy. It works great for away from home streaming of audio.

March 09 2011 at 7:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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