iTunes 9 Home Sharing and Future Features
September 14, 2009
Since Spotify launched, I’ve been using iTunes less and less, and really only resorting to opening it to sync my iPod with new podcasts. However, with the recent launch of iTunes 9, I was more than a little tempted to try it out, if only for the Home Sharing feature. Sharing iTunes libraries between multiple computers has often been hindered due to concerns over copyright infringement, but with third party applications such as Simplify Media being able to share the iTunes library it seems that it should have only been a matter of time before iTunes incorporated this feature.
Just like Simplify Media, Home Sharing allows you to share your whole library including play lists, rather than being restricted to purchases made through iTunes. This is basically what I’ve used Simplify Media to do for some time, however required the computer that hosted the source library to be turned on to serve the media. As well as streaming media, Home Sharing excels over Simplify Media as it is able to sync items between authorised libraries on multiple computer for offline listening. A small niggle that I do have is that podcasts aren’t categorised by show, instead every episode of every podcast is shown in an unorganised list.
I’m surprised that Home Sharing has been developed by Apple, considering their apparent concerns for potential copyright infringement. However, the service is limited to 5 authorised computers and restricted to use on the same network, whereas Simplify Media allows up to 30 users to share libraries across the Internet. Surely, the next step is for Apple to add the ability to sync the iPhone and iPod Touch over wi-fi, rather than connecting via USB.
I have to say, my biggest niggle is that iTunes cannot be run as a service – which given the combination of iTunes Home Sharing, the support for remote speakers via Airport and the iPhone/iPod Touch Remote app is just screaming for it.
I want to run a copy of iTunes on my home server (which has no sound card) without logging onto the console, control it via Remote, and have the music play via the Airport network speaker output.
Can’t you do that using the Home Sharing feature? Up to 5 more devices should be able to at least see the library. Syncing to the phone could be an issue though. Oh, and I just realised I’ve referred to it as Home Share, rather than Sharing five times in this entry. Ooops.
Oh, I wish Home Sharing could just sync specific playlists from one machine to another. I just want my top rated tracks to be on my netbook, but importing them this way isn’t really that much simpler than manually copying the files over the network.