One of the new features released in yesterday’s iOS4.3 update is iTunes Home Sharing. I wanted to do a quick post on setting it up as it isn’t immediately obvious what you need to do.
Firstly, make sure you have downloaded and installed iOS4.3 on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch. Next make sure your iTunes version is at 10.2.1 or newer.
Now in iTunes click the Advanced drop down menu at the top, and select Turn on Home Sharing. You will need to enter your Apple ID and password.
Next, on your iOS device, go to Settings – iPod – and enter the same Apple ID and password in the Home Sharing section.
Now, wait approximately 30 seconds for the device to enable Home Sharing and find any shared libraries on the network. Now start the iPod App and select the “More” option, at the bottom of the list should now be an option called “Shared”.
Clicking on the Shared option will take you to any shared libraries associated with your Apple ID, typically only one but you could potentially have more. Select the Shared Library and then browse the content as if it were on your local device. There is a short period of buffering on video content, a lot less than the AirVideo alternative I have been testing, but music starts almost instantly.
This post was written by Rob Gordon, an IT geek, gadget lover and blogger. Rob has been using the internets since 1994 when the only streaming video was that coffee pot in Cambridge (rip)….
Follow Rob on Twitter – @robgordon – about.me/robgordonuk
