Newsroom Update

Apple Music today announced the release of its 100 Best Albums of all time, a list crafted by Apple Music’s experts alongside industry professionals. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

steve_kn Author

Level 1

0 points

remote app not working with iTunes 11

The remote app on my iPhone (latest version of remote app and IOS 6.0.1) has limited ability to control my iTunes library on my iMac (OS X 10.6.8) compared to earlier versions of iTunes. This occurs whenever anything is typed in the search iTunes window on my iMac. This example is when iTunes is displaying the "Songs" view, but I believe it's present in all iTunes 11 views. Once a text string is typed in the search window, the iTunes window on my Mac only displays items matching that search text string. This is normal. On my remote app on my iPhone 4s, I can browse my full iTunes library. This is also expected behavior. From my remote app, I can play any song in my library that is also displayed on the iMac iTunes 11 window (limited by the search window string.) This is normal.

This is where things get odd. If I use my remote app to browse to a song in my library that is NOT displayed on my iTunes 11 window, the song will not play. It gives the following error message:

"The song "x" could not be played because the original file could not be found."

This is unexpected becuase previous versions of iTunes allowed the remote browsing to supercede any iTunes search window text displays. I can only use the remote app to play whatever is in the iTunes windows on my iMac.

Another thing that's really odd is that the error message on the remote appears to be a bug. When it says "the song "x" could not be played...", the error message actually lists the "artist" and not the "song". Maybe that's the source of the problem, as the remote app error message is confusing the "song" with the "artist". The error message is:

"The song "[artist, not song]" could not be played because the original file could not be found."

Has anyone else seen this? If so, is there a fix? (Other than going to the iTunes 11 window on my iMac and clearing the search string. Sort of defeats the purpose of the remote if you have to run back to your desktop.)

Also, iTunes 11 INCREDIBLY slow, but you already have numerous complaints about that. Disabling "Search Entire Library" improved iTunes 11 from being unusable, to undesirable.

Thank you

remote app-OTHER, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Dec 5, 2012 7:44 AM

50 replies

steve_kn Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 16, 2013 3:57 PM in response to mem10123

I still see the bug. Try this & see if it's there for you, too.

I'm in "artists" view in iTunes now. I type a name/artist/whatever in the iTunes search window in the upper right-hand corner of the app. Now the list of available artists in iTunes is smaller, showing only those artists that match whatever you've typed in the iTunes search window.

Now, back on your remote app, if you try to play a tune from an artist that is NOT displayed in your iTunes winow, you get the same error message.

Of course, you can still play anything from your remote app with an existing playlists without seeing the error message.

At least the bug is consistent.

mem10123

Level 1

0 points

Jan 16, 2013 4:00 PM in response to steve_kn

Steve,

You're definitely right, your test fails for me as well. However, it means we're on the right track for sure -- it's some issue with filtering on iTunes not allowing the Remote app to play anything that's not within that filter criteria.

The workaround does seem to be to not leave iTunes filtered down. Of course, it's hard to remember sometimes and Apple should fix the bug. But at least we're on the right path. Out of curiosity, anyone able to reproduce this on a Mac? I have a Windows 7 machine.

steve_kn Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 16, 2013 4:01 PM in response to BGLeduc

I'm seeing the bug in the new views, too. If your library is filtered by any means, you can only play:

1--songs by the displayed artists;

2--anything from a playlist.

The playlist exception to the filtering is really weird.

I guess you could make a playlist of ALL your music, and work from playlist that to use your remote until Apple sorts this out.

steve_kn Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 16, 2013 4:01 PM in response to mem10123

I'm on an iMac, OS X 10.6.8.

BGLeduc

Level 1

59 points

Jan 16, 2013 4:08 PM in response to steve_kn

On a Mac here as well (10.7.5).

And I concur....it looks like the issue is trigerred by having filtering of any kind selected, not matter how it is invoked.

Brian

Jan 18, 2013 8:30 PM in response to steve_kn

Just joining this thread as I'm searching for a solution to a similar problem only my phone asks to Turn on Home Sharing in iTunes which is already on. Tried all the lame troubleshooting suggestions provided by Apple support without success. Anyone with a similar issue? (iPhone 4s not the upgraded OS and latest iTunes
).

Jan 22, 2013 4:49 PM in response to steve_kn

I've been having the same problem running on Mac. I could play playsists and whatever album was in the iTunes window at the time. All other attempts led to the same error message.

I fixed it! It may totally be a fluke, but in the "settings" section of the Remote app there is a "Sort by Artist" toggle that was turned off. I turned it on and the app has been working fine ever since. Weird. Hope it works for you, too!

BGLeduc

Level 1

59 points

Jan 22, 2013 6:13 PM in response to b_undefined

No...that does not work for me. The only solution I have found that seems to be 100% is what mem10123 found a few posts back; make sure that there is no filtering in effect.

Jamvan

Level 2

424 points

Jan 27, 2013 9:14 PM in response to steve_kn

The filter was the culprit for me as well. Keep your song list unfiltered and it appears there are no issues with the remote.

thirschi

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2013 10:43 AM in response to steve_kn

I have had the same exact problem with my remote on my iPhone 5 and iTunes 11 on my brand new 15" retina MBP (all software is up to date on both). I am able to select all artists on iTunes and then the remote app will be albe to play everything. That is still somewhat annoying, though.

Today I just got an update on the Remote App (version 3.0.1, released today, Jan 30th, 2013) and it supposedly said there were adjustments to the general stability of the app and search results. However, this still hasn't solved our problem.

It looks like we will be waiting a little while longer to have this bug stepped on. I guess for now we just have to have the iTunes window displaying all artists and therefore all songs to be able to use the remote even partially.

wezman2k

Level 1

79 points

Feb 1, 2013 12:50 PM in response to steve_kn

i've found that if i set itunes to "Artist" view instead of "song" view the issue is resolved.

restarting itunes while in song view resolves the issue temporarily, but it starts happening again shortly after unless i switch back to artist view. i submitted a bug report to apple.com/feedback and i suggest you all do the same.

Feb 2, 2013 9:53 AM in response to wezman2k

This solution (change to "all artists" in Artist view) works for me as well. I submitted feedback, and hope they resolve this.

_JR_

Level 1

4 points

Feb 2, 2013 10:24 AM in response to woofits

I have a very similar setup: 4 Airport Expresses, 1 Apple TV, Airport Extreme Basestation (2.4 & 5Ghz networks), a time capsule extending that network, two work MacBook Pro 15" ~ 1 yrs old, and a home Mac Book Pro with external HD holding about 62 GB of music (10k songs or so). We have two iPads and two iPhones. We've spent enough money on Apple, and typically this worked fine. In fact, it was a super great setup. It has completely stopped working so we can no longer pick anything via the remote app on the iPads or iPhones, unless its in a playlist or on the same album that is currently playing in iTunes.

Would really love a quick fix to this Apple...

Feb 2, 2013 10:38 AM in response to _JR_

_JR_ whatever machine you run iTunes on, try selecting "Artist" view and "All Artists" on the left side lists. When I did this, it fixed my error on remote that said file not found. It's not a solution, but might at least get you running again.

BGLeduc

Level 1

59 points

Feb 2, 2013 11:32 AM in response to icculus58

Using the Column browser w/o filtering, and using the Artist View both worked for me. In fact, when in Artist View, I found that I could even have an individual artist selected and was still able to use the remote.

remote app not working with iTunes 11