Apple introduces iOS 4.3
Submitted by mark brown on March 13, 2011 - 1:40am
To begin the sharing and synchronization in all your devices, you need to turn on ‘Home Sharing’ in iTunes on each of the Macs and Windows PCs, whose libraries you want to share.
To activate this feature, go to ‘Advanced Menu’ in iTunes and click on ‘Turn On Home Sharing’ and then enter your Apple ID and password in the desired fields.
Once you activate ‘Home Sharing,’ the users will be able to listen and view the contents of each other’s library.
Another interesting feature is that, you can copy content from other iTunes accounts. In the library, click on the item you want to copy and hit on ‘import.’ You can copy any of the five types of purchased content, from a different library.
Shortcoming
However, there is a shortcoming in this feature. The computers sharing the same iTunes account can access ‘Home Sharing’ together.
This means, if each of your family members has different iTunes accounts, you'll have to opt one for ‘Home Sharing.’
To set up the ‘Home Sharing’ facility in iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad go to ‘Settings’ and click on ‘iPod’ on your iOS device, and you will find the ‘Home Sharing’ section.
All you need to do is enter the same Apple ID and password of the account you used for ‘Home Sharing,’ on your personal computer.
Music sharing
Once it’s done, you can launch iPod app to access music on an iPhone or iPad. To start the same facility in iPod touch, initiate Music app. On the iPhone or iPod touch, click on ‘More’, then ‘Shared.’
It will show you a list of available shared libraries. Tap on the library you are interested in.
On the iPad, from the main screen of the iPod app, tap on ‘Library’ in the sidebar, then choose a library from the pop-up menu.
Video sharing
The video sharing process from an iTunes library varies, depending upon the device you are using.
On an iPhone, the same iPod app handles both audio and video content. But on an iPad or iPod touch, you'll have to launch the Videos app.
On the iPad, you'll see the available libraries but on the iPhone or iPod touch, you'll need to tap ‘Shared’ to see the list of available libraries.
The ‘Home Sharing’ feature is certainly an exciting update in iOS 4.3. Now you can easily access all the entertainment contents on the computer, in any Apple portable device on your network.
An iPhone, iPod and iPad user can listen to or view anything in his library, when within reach of his wireless network.
