iPod Touch 4G not detected in iTunes 10.0.1.22 when using Remote App 2.0

How is this for awesome?

A late 2005 ppc iMac (with internal iSight), iTunes 9.2.1 (no more updates available), separate iTunes account (no home sharing), and same iPod Touch 4G with Remote App 2.0.

1). IMac will not detect my PC iTunes 10 Library through normal AirTunes (obviously without home sharing), but again my PC can detect my iMac 9.2.1 Library and stream music back to my PC only (no airport express).
2). IMac quickly discovers iPod Touch/Remote App 2.0 through passcode setup. Remote app then instantly shows iMac Library with full remote control functionality, and streams my changes to airport express/stereo.

Crazy.

ok, some success:

I found that if I disable computer wifi, plug in an ethernet cable, and disable the firewall altogether, I was able to get Airplay to turn on when I open iTunes. After I turn on Remote App 2.0, I did quickly see my Library become available, and was able to navigate and control my library, and even stream it all to my airport express. Turning on Wifi and disconnecting the ethernet cable seems to still work okay. Turning my firewall back on seems to work "mostly".

When I turn the firewall back on, I'm still able to navigate/control my library through the remote. I don't, however, see any "devices" section in iTunes with Home Sharing, a "speaker selection" box, or even the Airplay logo in the bottom right (but I do see a new "playlist" folder show up under Library and the standard white album list that updates/shows which album I'm navigating to on Remote App. So this is starting to seem a bit weird. iTunes 9 shows "devices" and the Remote App icon. MY iTunes 10 shows neither those, nor the airplay logo at the bottom right. The airplay logo only shows up occasionally, if I have my firewall disabled.

If Remote App is closed, and I start iTunes 10, I do see a the genius logo and the sidebar logo in the bottom right. When I then turn on Remote App, I quickly see my Library on my iPod Touch. Nothing happens in iTunes until I press the song name on Remote App. Then both the genius and sidebar logos disappear, then I start to see the "playlist" folder and can control iTunes. The entire bottom right corner of iTunes is empty. no logos or buttons of any kind. I did learn that if I remote to a Movie or TV show, the genius button and sidebar buttons reappear, but if go back to playing a song, they disappear again. Something is funky!

When my firewall is disabled, I can see which speakers are available on my remote App. When my firewall is enabled, I lose the ability to see which speakers are available on my remote app.

Interestingly, I've also learned that I can only discover my airport express through airport utility on my PC when my firewall is disabled. The only thing that I remember changing was upgrading to iTunes 10. I already had previous iTunes 9 ports enabled in my firewall (which worked for airport utility/airport express before), so I'm wondering if the iTunes upgrade made new wifi port changes that I need to find and enable in my firewall. Again, disabling my firewall found my airport express VERY quickly, but enabling the firewall hides it again. This easily explains why my speaker selection disappears from remote app when I enable my firewall.

Would someone happen to know what may have happened and how I might make changes in my firewall to work with this now? Was there a recent Airport Utility update that I'm just not remembering that may have made these changes. It's just weird.
Do I have to uninstall/reinstall Airport Utility? I don't see how this would be necessary. I really just want to understand what happened and how to fix it.

So, I guess, to summarize... Remote App 2.0 in iPod Touch works "mostly" well with iTunes 10 as long as your firewall isn't messing it up and/or is modified to work with any recent changes.

Again, any additional info or suggestions are appreciated.

thanks again to all those who have found interest in this topic and have helped me to better understand this.

Please do continue to share your thoughts.

Did a full Uninstall/Reinstall of iTunes 10, Bonjour, and Airport Utility for Windows, and also deleted firewall rules before app startups to recreate them.

So far, I think everything works correctly again.

Airport Utility quickly finds Airport Express without problem.

Remote App quickly finds Library over Home Sharing and Passcode.
I guess the Remote icon only shows up with a "devices" section when you use the 4-digit passcode. Otherwise, I don't see a devices section. I still only see a "playlists" folder appear under the "Library" section immediately under the internet radio icon (bottom of the list). Both Home Sharing and Passcode connections work very well. I now always see the Speaker Selection options available on Remote App (even with the firewall enabled, and with both windows network detection and printer and file sharing disabled.)

I never use "Genius" or "Ping" (both turned off). These icons (along with Airplay/Speaker icon)do appear when I'm not using the Remote App. When I do use the Remote App, the only icon I see is the Airplay/Speaker one. Specifically (as before), the Genius and Sidebar icons only appear when using remote app to navigate movies/tv shows/etc, or when not using the remote app at all. They do not appear when using the remote app to navigate music. The good news is that the Airplay/Speaker icon does now always appear, so I'm able to detect my airport express directly through iTunes again.

I believe full-functionality has been restored.

Being a new Remote App user with my first iOS device, I was hoping someone could confirm if the Home Sharing "Playlists" folder under the "Library" section is normal for iTunes 10 (vs a Remote icon under "devices" when the Passcode is used)? I just find that inconsistency a bit odd.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this discussion. Your input has been very appreciated.

I will keep this thread available for a while in case some of you have any questions you would like addressed. Please let me know if you would like any help.

evo,

to be more specific, Remote App can't find iTunes because iTunes must first find your Remote App. The issue is iTunes 10's inability to discover wifi devices (which is due to its broken upgrade process). Your iPod Touch/Remote App should both be fine. The ability to use "Teamviewer" on your touch is not related, as it is simply a connection to the computer, not iTunes 10 directly.) I imagine your "Teamviewer" app uses different ports, which would also explain why it is still able to connect well.

Have you double-checked to make sure you setup sharing by opening TCP 3689 and UDP 5353 on your 3rd party firewall safe networks. I also had to create a new Windows Firewall rule to enable iTunes to connect to the Remote App while NetworkDiscovery / PrinterFileSharing was turned OFF (I don't like allowing Windows to connect to anything/everything all the time.) Other than that, I believe the full uninstalls/reinstalls cleared up any issues that the iTunes 10 upgrade process broke.

You may want to see if this works for you as well. I have a hunch it may.

Good Luck!

Oh, and thanks for mentioning Teamviewer. I want to give that a try now! 🙂

Let us know what happens.

Eco,

I had the same exact problem with my firewall before my uninstall/reinstall: iTunes, Bonjour, and Airport all had full/unlimited access through my firewall, and I was still unable to connect. It was really weird and very frustrating.

I spoke with others in the Airport discussion section who also noticed that iTunes 10 broke their airport connectivity. They said that an iTunes 10 uninstall/reinstall fixed all their problems. I decided to give that a try, but wanted to include Bonjour and Airport Utility for Windows in the process just to take care of everything.

Working with restoration points, I downloaded iTunes 10 into a separate folder, uninstalled iTunes, restarted, and then installed the new iTunes from that folder. This repaired both iTunes and Bonjour. On the final screen of the wizard, I made sure NOT to open iTunes upon completion. I then opened my firewall and deleted all the rules for both iTunes and Bonjour (except two "system settings" where I keep my TCP 3689/UDP 5353 iTunes sharing rules for my safe network. I use AVG. The system settings is a different section from your main application settings section.). Once I restarted iTunes AVG setup the new application rules automatically, which I haven't changed from their default settings.

I then repeated this whole process for the Airport Utility for windows (support.apple.com/downloads then select airport and search for the newest version and download that into a separate folder). Uninstall/reinstall Airport Utility, restart, delete firewall rules and start the app to create the new rules. I used the default again. This process alone seems to fix any issues. You don't need full/unlimited open port access for all these apps, you just need to fix the installation.

Snack, I've used macs for years (though admittedly not with iTunes 10), and think that uninstalling/reinstalling both iTunes/Airport Utility (with Admin privileges) should work for you as well (easier than PC) as long as all your computers/devices are able to access the same wifi network. Please give this a try if you are willing. Again, once you finish reinstalling both, make sure you enable "iTunes Music Sharing" in "Apple/System Preferences/Sharing" and make sure to click the "Advanced" button there to disable "UDP Blocking" (from 10.4.11). If this doesn't work for you, then please let me know more about what is happening, so I can try to help you further. We'll figure this out. No worries!!

Hope his works for you both. Let me know.
Good Luck.