iOS 8.4 Removes Home Sharing for Music

[oldmacs]

I can't comment on the performance of 8.4 on A7 devices, but I will say this. 8.3 was kind of jittery on my iPhone 6... after playing with iOS 9 for a while, I decided to go back to 8.3 by doing a clean install as new, and I haven't experienced performance like this since the iPhone 5 on iOS 6. 8.4 runs just as well, too. I did this on Monday, and there are only 18 entries in my Diagnostics and Usage log- I was getting dozens of entries per day on 8.3 prior to updating my phone to iOS 9. I'm no expert, but I think the earlier versions of iOS 8 were so awful that their negative effects persist until you set up a device as new on at least 8.3 or 8.4. iOS 9 is much more promising than iOS 8 ever was, so I think Apple learned their lesson on releasing half-polished software.

Now, regarding the music app, I think it is a much better app in 8.4. That is of course because I'm actually using Apple Music. The ability to ask Siri to play any song in the Apple Music library while I'm driving is a game changer for me. I imagine that someone who doesn't plan on Apple Music (and especially someone who uses home sharing) would have mixed feelings about 8.4 at best, and I understand that. But my point is, it is a vastly more useful app for many people, so you really can't say that it is objectively a worse app than it used to be.

Apple doesn't make it any harder to switch to Android than Google makes it harder to switch to iOS. As long as you have your iTunes library, it's a trivial task to move whatever songs you want onto an Android device. If you use Apple Music, that's coming out for Android soon. If you use any other streaming service, you're good to go right now. No matter which platform you're on, you have to pay for apps all over again. Neither Apple or Google make it artificially more difficult to switch platforms, it's just the nature of the beast.

And if you keep buying Apple products despite your concerns, you're letting Apple know that you're accepting their dick moves. Apple devices do everything I want them to do, so don't rely on me to rally for your cause. I understand and sympathize with your concerns, but you need to be the one to vote with your wallet, just as I would vote with mine if Apple took away significant features that I depend on.

iOS 8.4 is still the same jittery mess on the 5 iPad Airs I've installed it on so far, albeit a bit better. My Mini 2 has more predicable jitter than my iPad 2 which is a worry.

It is a worse app, because a better app would have included all the features of the old one. Its pretty simple. Apple has a lot of money so they can afford to do that.

It is extremely difficult to switch off the Apple ecosystem. Can I copy my data from my iPhone to an Android phone? Not so much. I've used Macs my whole life, and while I do also use Windows and a Windows tablet, my iPhone and iPad are my primary devices. Until you can use iCloud + iMessage on an Android device it is very difficult. Put simply, Apple is still better than the rest, I just don't see why it needs to continually pull moves like this.

My way of expressing my concerns is through filling out feedback for Apple. Honestly if nobody complained, Apple would get away with anything and everything.

My point is people will and should complain. Its how things get fixed.

 

[gixxerfool]

Fine, I think it is a dick move to accuse Apple of only having their bottom line in mind when deciding about features. If you have an unmetered internet connection at home, you can stream all your music for free during the three-months free trial. Only if Home Sharing doesn't return before the end of that, would I start to make a stink.

A lot of my music is ripped from CDs. I don't subscribe to match. A lot of what I listen to isn't available on iTunes which is why it's ripped from CDs so when I want to stream MY music from MY Mac, an option that's been there for a while, then what? I buy music for the purpose of using it locally so I don't have to worry about bandwidth or data connections. What are my options now that Apple has pulled the feature?

 

[AdonisSMU]

Why did Apple remove this feature? It's still needed. I never used the feature but still. That was a dick move. Apple should've highlighted that they removed this feature.

 

[jcmeyer5]

Taking away features is not inherently bad, over time it's positively essential. However, it has to be the right features for the right reasons. You'll always upset *somebody* no matter which feature you take away, but if something is only used by 1% of your users (for example), then sooner or later, upsetting that 1% is worth it.

Bull****. One of the most useful music features (and one that would "clash" with their bull**** streaming service) gets DISCONTINUED in the same update as the bull**** streaming service is launched. It was a ******** move to strong arm people into using their bull**** streaming service. Go ahead and kiss their collective arses for it if you want... but unless you are have your head completely up their collective rectums, you cant call it anything but a massive F*** YOU from Apple.

 

[Flojomojo]

A lot of my music is ripped from CDs. I don't subscribe to match. A lot of what I listen to isn't available on iTunes which is why it's ripped from CDs so when I want to stream MY music from MY Mac, an option that's been there for a while, then what? I buy music for the purpose of using it locally so I don't have to worry about bandwidth or data connections. What are my options now that Apple has pulled the feature?

iTunes Match is super cheap and gives you mobility. I think that's the cheapskate option right now. Personally, I like Apple Music and don't miss the home sharing options. I guess that makes me an Apple fanboy or something.

 

[jcmeyer5]

Fine, I think it is a dick move to accuse Apple of only having their bottom line in mind when deciding about features. If you have an unmetered internet connection at home, you can stream all your music for free during the three-months free trial. Only if Home Sharing doesn't return before the end of that, would I start to make a stink.

They modified the support document to remove music from iOS Home Sharing... and you think that means it might return? Wow... the fan boys are exceptionally delusional today.

 

[DynaFXD]

No, I do own my music. Almost all of it. I purchased cd's.

You own the piece of aluminium and polycarbonate that contains the music. You are granted a license for personal use with the purchase. You are also granted some additional uses through fair use (for example, make a back up copy which you are supposed to destroy if you ever move the physical media to someone else). You do not "own" the music on the disk. All ownership and rights remain with the rights holder. If you want to test this, set up a music sharing site and share 'your' music with whomever you like and see how long it takes to get a nasty gram.

 

[jcmeyer5]

iTunes Match is super cheap and gives you mobility. I think that's the cheapskate option right now. Personally, I like Apple Music and don't miss the home sharing options. I guess that makes me an Apple fanboy or something.

No, it just means you don't use the feature... just like us that are complaining about the feature being removed aren't Apple haters (yet). At the end of the day, there was no reason to remove the feature from a functionality perspective. The two could have co-existed.

 

[manu chao]

They modified the support document to remove music from iOS Home Sharing... and you think that means it might return? Wow... the fan boys are exceptionally delusional today.

The funny thing is that if it turns out that Apple adds Home Sharing back, you will call this a fluke and still insist that I was delusional. You have your preset opinion about the world and everything that runs counter will only ever be a fluke. There is nothing that ever will change your mind.

 

[manu chao]

A lot of my music is ripped from CDs. I don't subscribe to match. A lot of what I listen to isn't available on iTunes which is why it's ripped from CDs so when I want to stream MY music from MY Mac, an option that's been there for a while, then what? I buy music for the purpose of using it locally so I don't have to worry about bandwidth or data connections. What are my options now that Apple has pulled the feature?

As much as I understand it, anything you ripped from CDs is available for streaming within Apple Music.

 

[gixxerfool]

iTunes Match is super cheap and gives you mobility. I think that's the cheapskate option right now. Personally, I like Apple Music and don't miss the home sharing options. I guess that makes me an Apple fanboy or something.

It doesn't make you a fanboy. You prefer their services and that's fine. I prefer to have access to my music my way without paying extra. The experience I've had with their purchased music has given me reason enough to not pay for access. I buy the largest storage options they offer for local access. Their services go down enough and my purchased library is a mess cause they restructure the metadata and it splits albums because of guest artists. It's a mess. And for the record I consider myself quite the fanboy but moves like this leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[manu chao]

No, it just means you don't use the feature... just like us that are complaining about the feature being removed aren't Apple haters (yet). At the end of the day, there was no reason to remove the feature from a functionality perspective. The two could have co-existed.

Complaining about the removal is fine, drawing conclusions as to whether it will be added back before the end of the three-months free trial of Apple Music is however premature.

 

[macfacts]

"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

 

[Val-kyrie]

I do use Home Sharing within my home regularly, as do my spouse and daughter. We purchase our music on physical media and we stream [via iTunes Home Sharing] music to our iOS devices which function as portable speakers. The Home Sharing service was a convenient solution to the need to have separate CD players with speakers/headphones/earphones for each person to listen to music. (I still possess all of our physical CDs.)

Part of our reason for purchasing a Mac Mini Server and iPhones for the family was the ability to share music within the home. The removal of this feature, which they pushed to sell these devices, is reminiscent of bait-and-switch tactics and it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. I still need to use a Mac for my profession, but the future of the iOS ecosystem in my home is now up for grabs.

I did leave feedback for Apple under the iTunes form and I hope you all will as well.

 

[bladerunner5]

For music streaming from your own library anywhere try Subsonic it is similar to the old Simplify Media and there are many other of these types of solutions out there.

 

[dallardice]

As much as I understand it, anything you ripped from CDs is available for streaming within Apple Music.

Not if you have over 25,000 songs. Which you may well have if you had a large CD collection before iTunes came along.

 

[Bubba Satori]

The epicenter of walled garden.

 

[Arran]

Not if you have over 25,000 songs...

Or anything you took the time and trouble to rip as lossless.

 

[AdonisSMU]

As much as I understand it, anything you ripped from CDs is available for streaming within Apple Music.

That's not true particularly for mixes of various songs.

 

[APEuroHis]

Plus, with the new match, uploading your songs then downloading them, you'll find they have DRM on them.

We've jumped the shark, I think.

Yes, beware the new DRM. Music is going the way of all video purchases made via iTunes. Up until Maverick came about one could copy their iTunes' purchased video onto 3rd party wireless hard drives for use on road trips or areas where there is no internet. That is now NOT possible as the DRM code was re-written so one cannot do that. Currently the only work-around is to use 3rd party software (run video through software removing DRM) then copy it onto the portable wireless hard drives. It was explained to me via this site and the Apple forum that Apple "fixed" the DRM issue and that moving forward no one will be able to copy iTunes' purchased video onto 3rd party hard drives.
Well, now it is the same thing for music. Regardless of whether you purchased the music there is a belief that you are only "lending" the music from Apple. It is ironic that supposedly the music industry gave up attempting to control music company/artist rights via online services. I wonder if the Swift upheaval pushed Apple to take the position of the music industry. Or, what if in the end Apple is attempting to make money by forcing people to use their iCloud? Force people to use their "cloud" in an attempt to corner a bigger share of this market.
I tell people ignore iTunes on all future purchases and instead purchase the dvd or cd, get Wondershare (or some similar software copier), and one can avoid this kind of crap.

 

[Arran]

I tell people ignore iTunes on all future purchases and instead purchase the dvd or cd...

Good advice. I've been doing that since iTunes was born. Still have over 500 CDs stored away as "backups"

Today, I try to buy new release CDs as soon as possible. Just in case Best Buy, Target or Barnes & Noble don't restock it after a few months. Failing that, there's Amazon. With "AutoRip" on many Amazon CDs, you can download an mp3 copy immediately while you wait for the CD to arrive in the mail.

Vinyl came back, much to everyone's astonishment - so this might bring back CDs? I hope it does - freedom is good.

 

[seamer]

Plex is free

I tried setting it up on a personal Linux server a while back and all the cool features wanted $.

 

[bergert]

Home Sharing on iOS has been broken for years (~since iOS 7). If Apple wanted to fix it they would have done so a long time ago. This is certainly one way to get rid of bugs.

I think you are correct - as much as hate to say it. I'm using home sharing every single day. And for large libraries - like mine - it's been broken ever since iOS5. Only aTV works for me.

 

[gixxerfool]

As much as I understand it, anything you ripped from CDs is available for streaming within Apple Music.

Maybe I'm a cynic but that leaves Apple even more reason to leave it out. I'm skeptical as it still seems to be an option on other devices. Since the free trial changes according to when you start it, or so I have read, it's rather arbitrary to when it could return.

 

[Jim L]

. . .
Part of our reason for purchasing a Mac Mini Server and iPhones for the family was the ability to share music within the home. The removal of this feature, which they pushed to sell these devices, is reminiscent of bait-and-switch tactics and it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. I still need to use a Mac for my profession, but the future of the iOS ecosystem in my home is now up for grabs.

I did leave feedback for Apple under the iTunes form and I hope you all will as well.

Val-kyrie, you should leave feedback for Apple and I encourage everyone else to!

However, if I hear one recurring solution that is being offered in this thread it's switch to PLEX!

It's one of the best decisions I made a few years ago because I wanted to access my OWN media locally on my devices and on my network. The Media Server app is free for Mac or PC. The iOS app costs a little ($4.99 last I checked), but is well worth it. The server allows you to stream movies, music, home movies and your photo library to all your devices. The software UI is very nice and simple and stable. When I use it (almost daily) I wonder why Apple doesn't create things like this anymore.

You certainly have the hardware for it (mac Mini for the server). I have tested it on my own modest system (dual core mac Mini) and can simultaneously stream 5 different HD movies to different devices (Macs, ipad, iphone) before it starts to sputter a bit. For music (which is much less bandwidth) these limitations would be nonexistent.

I am a fan of Apple's hardware and ecosystem, but this is one area where there are better solutions out there besides Apple's. Do yourself a favor and give PLEX a try. I leave my music in the iTunes library database and just point PLEX to it to consume as part of it's defined media library. It doesn't change the data at all and you I can still use iTunes and PLEX side by side.