Want to highlight a helpful answer? Upvote!

Did someone help you, or did an answer or User Tip resolve your issue? Upvote by selecting the upvote arrow. Your feedback helps others! Learn more about when to upvote >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Family Sharing, Home Sharing or iTunes Match?!

I'm confused.


MY PARTNER

My partner and I have the same of everything - an iMac each, an iPhone each and an iPad each.

He has a lifetime of music, video and book purchases and I don't have any, and he is subscribed to iTunes Match.

He is away from home 4 days per week, so prefer to Sleep or Shut Down his iMac to save power.


ME

iTunes on my iMac is logged in under his account name so I can access his purchases.

iCloud on my iMac is setup under my Apple ID for syncing calendars, contacts, passwords etc.

My iPhone and iPad are logged in under my own Apple ID for iCloud, iTunes & App Store purchases.


FAMILY SHARING

I have set this up today with my my partner being the main account holder.


SETUP

Wondering if this setup is ideal or if anything should be changed?

Have tried Home Sharing but find most of the time it times out and is painful waiting for library to display on my iPad or iPhone, and also as he is away from home 4 days per week, his iMac is either Sleep or Shut Down, but I'm guessing Home Sharing or Family Sharing is way to go?

What I want to do is have his music show up (sync?) on my iMac so I can play his music. I also want to import purchased Kids DVDs on one iMac only - so presume his would be better than mine so everything is kept together in one master iTunes library? I want to be able to stream to Apple TV kids movies, and play Playlists on my iPhone or iPad.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Sep 28, 2014 11:09 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Sep 29, 2014 6:26 AM

I don't use either Home Sharing or Family Sharing but from what I have read it sounds like FS is what you need. I don't know about all the details and realize that it is unlikely any one service will have all features you want.


Tunes: How to share music and video - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2688 - about Music Sharing and Home Sharing


Alternatively, just keep his Mac turned on. Mine has been running 24/7 since 2006. Yes, it uses a bit of power but no more so than leaving on a security light or two.

1 reply
Question marked as Best reply

Sep 29, 2014 6:26 AM in response to Sparky030405

I don't use either Home Sharing or Family Sharing but from what I have read it sounds like FS is what you need. I don't know about all the details and realize that it is unlikely any one service will have all features you want.


Tunes: How to share music and video - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2688 - about Music Sharing and Home Sharing


Alternatively, just keep his Mac turned on. Mine has been running 24/7 since 2006. Yes, it uses a bit of power but no more so than leaving on a security light or two.

Family Sharing, Home Sharing or iTunes Match?!

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.