Lee Farber

Q: Home sharing on iDevices not loading large library

I store my entire music library (3TB of ALAC files) on a Mac Mini connected to my Time Capsule. I can home share the library flawlessly on my laptop, but it absolutely refuses to load the library on my iPhone or iPad. I'm using all the latest software (iOS7, iTunes 11.1) with an iPhone 5 and iPad 3.

 

When I try to share my library, the circle starts to load, but never gets past halfway. I've tried EVERYTHING, i.e. signing out of home sharing and quitting iTunes, restarting the Mac Mini, restarting the iPhone, unplugging the Time Capsule and plugging it back in, and several other tips I've found around here and elsewhere online, but nothing seems to work!

 

I have other apps (such as Audiotap) that will do the trick, but they leave a gap between tracks, so I would prefer to get home sharing working properly. Thanks in advance for any help.

iPhone 5, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 19, 2013 10:44 PM

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Q: Home sharing on iDevices not loading large library

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  • by phospholipid77,

    phospholipid77 phospholipid77 Sep 1, 2014 7:56 AM in response to Lee Farber
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 1, 2014 7:56 AM in response to Lee Farber

    This shouldn't still be an issue, but clearly it is. I could come up with a million reasons why Apple has neglected this problem. Regardless, I'm looking for a work-around. Are there any music players for the iPhone that will connect with my iTunes home sharing outright? I noticed there were some that set up their own service. I would be open to those as well if anybody has experience with them or can make recommendations.

     

    Thanks for your time.

     

    JH

  • by Darrell1405,

    Darrell1405 Darrell1405 Sep 6, 2014 8:21 AM in response to Lee Farber
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 6, 2014 8:21 AM in response to Lee Farber

    While reading this on my ipad, I opened iTunes and started downloading my library ion iTunes on my iMac, via wifi. I gave up after the 'clock' moved so slowly. So I then fired up the Plex app I'd installed and never tried out. It's a media sharing app I have on my smart tv, iMac, iPhone, and iPad. I was amazed that it took less than 5 minutes for me to start listening to music residing on my iMac.

     

    Don't know if Plex will meet your needs, but it did mine!

     

    https://plex.tv

  • by coolspot,

    coolspot coolspot Sep 6, 2014 8:39 AM in response to phospholipid77
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 6, 2014 8:39 AM in response to phospholipid77

    I just use Apple Remote and connect directly to iTunes on my Mac and play it from there. It is much faster and works rather than home sharing.

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Sep 6, 2014 8:42 AM in response to coolspot
    Level 9 (79,584 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 6, 2014 8:42 AM in response to coolspot

    coolspot wrote:

     

    I just use Apple Remote and connect directly to iTunes on my Mac and play it from there. It is much faster and works rather than home sharing.

    But you are not playing it on your iPhone. You are playing it in the Mac.

  • by Jonstoloyu,

    Jonstoloyu Jonstoloyu Sep 16, 2014 8:54 AM in response to Darrell1405
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 16, 2014 8:54 AM in response to Darrell1405

    Try Plex, and is incredible! It worth every single penny of the 5 dlls! Will recommend to anyone having problems with home sharing!

  • by hejish,

    hejish hejish Sep 23, 2014 10:38 PM in response to phospholipid77
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 10:38 PM in response to phospholipid77

    I am using a white macbook as iTunes server with OS X 10.7.5, iTunes 11.4, hard-wired to my Apple Extreme, and I cannot get an iPad Air with iOS 8 to load a shared library.  I am also using Apple network  I patched/restarted my iTunes server, and cleared all running apps and restarted my iPad.  It is inconsistent - I have had it work, but now it is hanging 25% loaded.  My Apple TV v2 loads the library fine.  My iPhone 6 has the same problem.

     

    I see things like this via Xcode device console:

    <Warning>: Unhandled code in item response: aeSP (1 bytes long)

     

    It works instantly on a Mac (with Mavericks and iTunes library of just about nothing).

     

    I really like to be able to watch in the house on ipads/iphone without copying all media local to the device.  I used to be able to do this.  This functionality has been degrading slowly and is now completely broken and unusable.

     

    I strongly desire that Apple will fix it. I would like to see the same interface on Apple TV able to be used in iPhone/iPad for MUCH better navigation - more like a netflix navigation style.  But I would settle for "it works again".

  • by Grafton Reed,

    Grafton Reed Grafton Reed Oct 1, 2014 9:10 AM in response to Lee Farber
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Oct 1, 2014 9:10 AM in response to Lee Farber

    Lee - I play my iTunes Library through Plex Media Player. It works flawlessly with your playlists, works both local and remote, and will play your movies as well. You can also authorize anyone else to access or share their media as well. I've been using the software for over 4 years now. Also, the price is right.......Free! The observations are correct here....... How can iTunes share so seamlessly with AppleTV, or other iMacs, yet fail when attempting to share to iPads or iPhones. It's bewildering that Apple won't fix the problem.

  • by Grafton Reed,

    Grafton Reed Grafton Reed Oct 1, 2014 9:37 AM in response to pds6
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Oct 1, 2014 9:37 AM in response to pds6

    ISub doesn't work anymore. Developer walked away from it. i don't think people want to pay 20 or 30 dollars for the other app you recommend. I use PLEX also. Loads super fast, very stable, and awesome interface. Plays remotely also. Used it for over 4 years. Cant recommend it enough.

  • by Christoffee,

    Christoffee Christoffee Oct 1, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Lee Farber
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 1, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Lee Farber

    I'm in it for Plex too!

     

    I recently updated one 4S to iOS8. Kept the other 4S on iOS7.

     

    Consistently, the iOS8 iPhone successfully loaded the library (albeit as slowly as ever), and the iOS7 phone failed. So perhaps improvements have been made. I can't be bothered to do a longer term test or test connectivity consistency though.

     

    Just use Plex.

  • by ChefMikeG,

    ChefMikeG ChefMikeG Nov 1, 2014 4:51 PM in response to Getting Tired
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2014 4:51 PM in response to Getting Tired

    I'm having the same issue and I'm dumbfounded why Apple won't fix this! So much for seamless functionality between devices!

  • by dacari345,

    dacari345 dacari345 Nov 1, 2014 11:53 PM in response to Lee Farber
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Nov 1, 2014 11:53 PM in response to Lee Farber

    This is Bull crap Apple!...home sharing one of the main reason I stick with apple...might be time to say bye bye

  • by Groovecontrol,

    Groovecontrol Groovecontrol Nov 7, 2014 4:33 PM in response to dacari345
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Nov 7, 2014 4:33 PM in response to dacari345

    There was another thread on this subject about a year or two ago. It had about 130,000 views last time i checked, still no fix.

     

    Apple TV and the apple Remote app can handle the large libraries, WHY CAN'T APPLE FIX THE MUSIC AND VIDEO PLAYERS?

     

    This problem is years old. shame on you Apple. Oh and while i'm at it...  LET PEOPLE DOWNGRADE IOS LEVELS INSTEAD OF THROWING THEIR PHONES OUT BECAUSE THEY ARE SO SLOW.

  • by airneffect,

    airneffect airneffect Nov 7, 2014 8:02 PM in response to Lee Farber
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2014 8:02 PM in response to Lee Farber

    So I had this issue and scoured the internet for an answer. I came across a post on the Macrumors forum that got me in the ballpark, and ultimately got everything working correctly. Right now I have two iPads and my AppleTV playing the same movie. They are playing through Home Sharing, coming from my iTunes library, on my 20TB Drobo, through my new iMac 5K. I don't know if the iMac is a factor but the playback is flawless and fast. Essentially, the issue for iPads is during the loading of the library, iPads tend to go to sleep. When that happens the transfer gets "corrupted" and will not work or will not work well. The very simple trick is (assuming you have Home Sharing set up correctly) reboot the iPad find the correct library you want to connect to (under the shared  tab at the top ) once you have connected keep your iPad from going to sleep (keep tapping on the screen until it loads your library) It may take a short time but not several minutes as before ) once you are able to see your shared library it should work well. I only have 30 or so movies in my library so that may be a factor as well. Either way is is working Awesome for the first time in years. here is the post from Macrumors: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1746398

    I hope this helps...

  • by airneffect,

    airneffect airneffect Nov 7, 2014 9:29 PM in response to Lee Farber
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2014 9:29 PM in response to Lee Farber

    First I went back and read your original post to make sure I understood and addressed the issue. As far as the half circle thing (library not loading) this happened to me very often, it is still hit and miss. What I do to fix it is to get out of iTunes on the iPad and go back in, then get to the part of my house where the WiFi signal is the strongest.  I go It seems to work consistently but there are times I have to do it a couple or more times. Below is how I fixed the library losing slow or not loading  once you get a check mark by the shared library you want to use.

     

     

    this part is reposted because I couldn't re-edit

     

    So I had this issue and scoured the internet for an answer. I came across a post on the Macrumors forum that got me in the ballpark, and ultimately got everything working correctly. Right now I have two iPads and my AppleTV playing the same movie. They are playing through Home Sharing, coming from my iTunes library, on my 20TB Drobo, through my new iMac 5K. I don't know if the iMac is a factor but the playback is flawless and fast. Essentially, the issue for iPads is during the loading of the library, iPads tend to go to sleep. When that happens the transfer gets "corrupted" and will not work or will not work well. The very simple trick is (assuming you have Home Sharing set up correctly) reboot the iPad, find the correct library you want to connect to. (under the shared  tab at the top ) Once you have connected keep your iPad from going to sleep (keep tapping on the screen until it loads your library) It may take a short time but not several minutes as before. Once you are able to see your shared library it should work well. I only have 30 or so movies in my library so that may be a factor as well.  Either way is is working Awesome for the first time in years. here is the post from Macrumors: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1746398

    With the Apple TV I restarted and then went to Computers, My Library showed up and it worked as well.

    I hope this helps...

  • by cprom,

    cprom cprom Nov 8, 2014 3:18 AM in response to airneffect
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2014 3:18 AM in response to airneffect

    Your help is certainly appreciated, but the fact remains that we absolutely should not have to jump through all those hoops for something as trivial. As Groovecontrol and others have pointed out: Apple TV and the Remote app handle (very large!) libraries flawlessly and without any noticeable delay. I don't see any excuse why this cannot be adopted by the Music and Videos apps. Maybe there is one, but with Apple's approach to dealing with customer feedback, we'll probably never know. This is really frustrating!

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