iTunes home sharing and WD TV Live Hub problems

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iTunes home sharing and WD TV Live Hub problems

Hi

Apologise if this has been answered elsewhere but I can't seem to find a solution.

I've transferred all my music that was stored on my laptop (running Vista) across to my WD TV Live Hub (with the iTunes server turned on) and changed the library so it loads music from the live hub library whenever iTunes (using the latest 10.5.1) is booted up. This works fine on my own laptop but my girlfriend also wants to access this music from her laptop (also running Vista) which also has iTunes but her own library.

I was under the assumption that with an iTunes server enabled with the Live hub, another user using iTunes would be able to access the Live Hub under the sharing panel in iTunes, but whenever I try to access it using iTunes continuously says it's loading but never gets any further. I've left it for hours but still no luck.

Anyone got any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks

Sony VAIO, Windows Vista

Posted on Nov 17, 2011 1:55 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 17, 2011 6:44 AM in response to toynlet

On your laptop are you connected to your iTunes library on the WD TV Live Hub by configuring the iTunes preference to store its library directly on the WD TV Live Hub's hard drive or are you copying the music tracks using the Windows Explorer file manager and connected to the shared library?

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Answer 2

toynlet Author

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Nov 17, 2011 6:56 AM in response to Gino Cerullo

The iTunes library file is on the Live Hub and I've configured the preferences to direct any music to the Live Hub aswell. My music downloads to the laptop but I move it onto the Live Hub before I play anything using the Explorer file manager. If I look at a music files location in iTunes, it's always showing the Live Hub on the network as the source.

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Answer 3

Nov 17, 2011 7:30 AM in response to toynlet

The fact that you have iTunes preferences set to store the media files on the Live Hub may be your problem. The Live Hub may not like the file structure created by iTunes. At the bottom of page 29 of the Live Hub manual it talks about "Media Library Compilation." Did you do that step?

It works for you since your iTunes is directly connected to the Live Hub but your girlfriend's iTunes may be having problems because the Live Hub doesn't know how to index the files and share them since iTunes on your computer has control of the file structure.

This is a guess but you may want to look into it. You may need to manually copy the media files from your computer to the Live Hub using Windows Explorer only and then let the Live Hub perform its own 'Media Library Compilation' and share it out to both you and your girlfriend's iTunes using the sharing function. No more setting your iTunes to store its media library on the Live Hub the way you have been doing.

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Answer 4

toynlet Author

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Nov 17, 2011 7:42 AM in response to Gino Cerullo

Thankyou. I don't recall setting the Live Hub for media library compilation, I will look into that later.

I've read there has been some trouble with NAS drives and the iTunes 10.5 update. Do you think this could be part of it?

Thanks

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Answer 5

Nov 17, 2011 7:50 AM in response to toynlet

I don't know but if you are treating the Live Hub like a NAS then that may be your problem. The Live Hub is not a NAS, it is a media server. There is a difference. A NAS is a hard drive connected to an ethernet port where you can store stuff. A media server is a place to store media files that are shared out to the computers on the network but you have to let a media server index the files and share them out it's own way.

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Answer 6

toynlet Author

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Nov 17, 2011 7:57 AM in response to Gino Cerullo

I see. It's not really much of a problem, I use it store music then use iTunes and an Aiport Express to play music with over my Hifi, it works just fine, just thought it would be easy to setup for other users to access the library if they needed.

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Answer 7

Darkwii

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Dec 6, 2011 6:42 PM in response to toynlet

I have the same problem - It looks quite well documented on the Western Digital support forums. It appears Apple made a change to the way it handles DAAP requests in itunes 10.5 to a format not much supported by non-apple devices. The solution is to await a firmware update from western digital that fixes the issue (the latest one didn't have a fix applied).

I suspect that the reason yours is working and not your girlfriend's is that like Gino touched upon, you're directing your main itunes library to the WD TV live and in effect using the media server as just a NAS, whereas your girlfriend is trying to connect to it as a true media server, letting the WD TV box do the serving.

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