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Bob Marshall

Q: Unable to play Shared Library on iMac from iPhone 5 or iPad

I have enabled home sharing on my iMac, and turned on home sharing, on both my iPhone5 and iPad.  All using the same (only one I have) Apple ID.

 

On the iPhone, I can see and have selected the shared library on my iMac, and can now see all the songs.  But when I try to play any of the content, the song tries to load, then quickly skips to the next song.  And it keeps doing this, continuing to skip through my library, unable to actually play any of the shared content.  Its almost as if there is no actual audio file, just the entry in the Library XML/ITL files.

 

On my iPad, I do not have the "more" button in the Music app, to even choose the shared library on my iMac.

 

I have gone through all the troubleshooting articles I can find here, and seem to be going in circles.

Have tried restarting apps and rebooting all devices.

 

What now?

 

iMac 24":  circa 2009, OSX 10.6.8

iPhone5:  iOS 7.1.1

iPad: iOS 7.1

Posted on Nov 21, 2014 11:52 AM

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Q: Unable to play Shared Library on iMac from iPhone 5 or iPad

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  • by Bob Marshall,

    Bob Marshall Bob Marshall Nov 21, 2014 12:52 PM in response to Bob Marshall
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 21, 2014 12:52 PM in response to Bob Marshall

    OK... Partially solved... Well, sorta...

     

    On the iMac, in addition to turning on Home Sharing under iTunes / File / Home Sharing...

    I also found that under iTunes / Preferences / Sharing, you have to "enable sharing with your home network".

     

    This got shared content flowing to my iPhone.

    And on the iPad, the "more" button appeared (briefly), but failed at 50% (as per other threads here), when I tried to select my iMac shared library.

     

    Interestingly, now the more button is gone from my iPad again.  And on my iPhone, the more button is there, but the "sharing" option is gone.  And yet I am playing shared music on my iPhone as I type this.  So its shared but not showing that way.  This is wacky.

     

    I think I am going to try rebooting my router next, to see if that is involved.  That seems to have been a culprit in other troubleshooting threads.

    I know there's no firewall filtering on my home network for LAN-LAN connections.  Only LAN-WAN connections.

    But maybe a reboot (or a swift kick) of the router is required.  Hmmm..

     

    More info as I continue the voyage.  Any info most appreciated.