Multiple issues with iTunes Sharing. Help?

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Level 3

668 points

Multiple issues with iTunes Sharing. Help?

I have a Mac mini running 10.6.8 with iTunes 11.0.2 (and all other updates) connected to my living room television. I use it as a storage/playback system for my movie collection and a small amount of MP3s (about 250). This evening I decided to enable Home Sharing on all of my devices because, why not? All of my devices share the same Apple ID.

First up was my daughter's iPad (original model) running iOS 5.1.1. It also had no problem with any of my media from the Mac mini, and still allows me to play locally-stored media giving me the option of using the iPad media or the Shared media.

Next, an old iPhone 3GS. My daughter uses this primarily as a camera and as an MP3 player for when she's outside. It has no SIM card but is happily running iOS 6.1.2. This is where I had problems. While the 3GS is able to see and play back all of its locally-stored media, the only Shared media it will play is the MP3 library. When I use the "Video" app it doesn't even show the option for Shared media, only showing me the locally-stored media.

So now I pull out my iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1.2 and it can see and play everything, both locally-stored and the Shared library.

It's then that I realize there's something else amiss. I have two other Macs on my network with shared iTunes libraries under my Apple ID including an iMac (10.7.5, iTunes 11.0.2, and all other updates) and a second Mac mini (10.6.8, iTunes 11.0.2, and all other updates). My wife also has her MacBook Pro (10.7.5, iTunes 11.0.2, and all other updates) although she has her own Apple ID. With all Macs turned on, on the same network, and with iTunes running and sharing enabled:

iTunes on the first Mac mini sees all three shared iTunes libraries (my iMac, my wife's MacBook Pro, and the second Mac mini).
iTunes on my iMac sees none of the shared iTunes libraries.
iTunes on my wife's MacBook Pro sees all three shared iTunes libraries (my iMac and both Mac minis).
iTunes on the second Mac mini sees all three shared iTunes libraries (my iMac, my wife's MacBook Pro, and the first Mac mini).
All of the iOS devices sees ONLY the first Mac mini's shared iTunes library, none of the others.

I've done a ton of troubleshooting attempts to figure this out; multiple restarts and cold reboots of every device, rebooting the router, deleting preference files, creating new user accounts, restoring iOS devices to factory defaults, you name it. One disappointing result occurred when I deauthorized my first Mac mini. Suddenly it disappeared from all iOS devices. Figuring I was on to something I reauthorized that Mac mini — but it never returned on the iOS devices. So although I did have my first Mac mini successfully shared at first, now I don't.

I did notice that Apple says I have four authorized computers on my Apple ID. I'm not sure what the count is there. Does that include iOS devices? I know my iMac and my first Mac mini are authorized under my Apple ID but those are the only "computers" that are authorized.

What ever happened to "Macs just work"?

Posted on Mar 7, 2013 5:52 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 9, 2013 10:10 PM in response to ÜberMacHead

As far as I remember, I have no problem when I did this using iTunes 10 and iOS 5. But I've started had the same problem since yesterday, when I tried to watch a movie from my iPad 2 with iOS 6.1.2 from my MacBook Pro,5.5 with iTunes 11.0.2. The caching progress stopped in a halfway to 100% and then stopped. I've tried to reset the sharing option in iTunes, relaunched the Video app, but still can't fix the problem. The Shared option in Video app doesn't even appear any longer after I re-enter my Apple ID password.

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Answer 2

myuill

Level 1

0 points

Mar 14, 2013 5:10 AM in response to ÜberMacHead

I am having the same problem but might able to shed some light on the authorized computers listed:

Did you ever have an old mac not in use anymore that was authorized? Even if you formatted the hard drive or reinstalled the OS is would show up as authorized unless you took the step to deauthorize it first. I had this problem when I upgraded my laptop - even though I formatted it I never deauthorized it so I had to "Deauthorize all" to get rid of it.

Also - I've read on this board that even installing a new OS will add an authorized computer count. Simplest solution is to deauthorize all then reauthorize your two computers. Don't worry - you won't lose any data or media in your iTunes. It will just tell you you're not authorized to play that media (for media with DRM).

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