iPad2 pointing directly to iTunes library?

[carrollf]

Apple market the iPad2 as not requiring you to have a computer anymore (over the air updates etc.) however as I see it, you still need a computer to put anything onto it (music, video etc.). Is there any way to point the iPad2 (or even AppleTV2) directly to an iTunes library stored for example on a NAS somewhere? Would be great if you could do this so you wouldn't need a Mac/PC at all!

 

[sammich]

How would you put the music onto the NAS in the first place?

 

[carrollf]

I have a MBP but travel a lot and the idea is to allow my wife to use her iPad2 to play any song in the iTunes library on the NAS while I am away. If her iPad could load up the full library it would be great

 

[telephonepanda]

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This could be achieved via Home Sharing, but you need to have iTunes running in order for this to work.

For example, my setup is as follows:

TV
iPad
iPhone
MBP

All of these devices access the same iTunes library hosted via external drives attached to a MacMini (my iTunes server, if you like). iTunes is permanently open on the mini, so that at time, any device can access my iTunes library - TV controlled by the latest version of the Apple Remote app.

This all works fantastically well, but you do need to have iTunes running.