iTunes Library & VPN

[Mufasa804]

Greetings!

I’ve recently purchased an iPad Mini 4 and it’s fantastic! When at home I tend to go into my iTunes Shared library and stream movies or TV shows before bed or while eating breakfast.

Then I got an idea, what if I bought OS X Server for $19.99 from the App Store (I’m currently running 10.10.5, I’m staying away from 10.11) and setup VPN. I could then use that service on my iPad when at work or on the road (I will have data) to access my iTunes shared library that way.

My question is, does this work? Does anyone here currently have this kind of setup?

In case you’re wondering why I would do this instead of just adding the media I want to watch to the iPad internally, sometimes I just want to browse and watch other things

 

[apunkrockmonk]

It could technically work but you'd need to be fairly knowledge with firewall configuration to make it work. The native home sharing utilizes bonjour which does not work by default over a VPN as far as I know.

I use StreamToMe, although it hasn't been updated in awhile and may never again be updated it works great on my iPhone 6s + and on my iPad mini. Both of which are running iOS 9.

StreamToMe works without a VPN using only port forwarding, check it out.

 

[satcomer]

You could get a VPN Server for less then $10.00 from GreenWorldSoft.com.

 

[o0OBillO0o]

Greetings!

I’ve recently purchased an iPad Mini 4 and it’s fantastic! When at home I tend to go into my iTunes Shared library and stream movies or TV shows before bed or while eating breakfast.

Then I got an idea, what if I bought OS X Server for $19.99 from the App Store (I’m currently running 10.10.5, I’m staying away from 10.11) and setup VPN. I could then use that service on my iPad when at work or on the road (I will have data) to access my iTunes shared library that way.

My question is, does this work? Does anyone here currently have this kind of setup?

In case you’re wondering why I would do this instead of just adding the media I want to watch to the iPad internally, sometimes I just want to browse and watch other things

It works. Has lots of bugs.

- use a small library, under 10K songs (I have 50,000 song, doesn't work. Other users on my network have about 10k songs and are able to load). You may have to create a special user account and enable home sharing https://www.apple.com/support/homesharing/getstarted/
- only works for me with computers running OS X with a VPN connection to another computer running OS X thru iTunes, not iOS and Music App.
- bonjour gateway helps.
- use a fully qualified domain name

Note: hit up the Todd Oltoff videos on YouTube.

Plex is a much better solution at this time. ($149)

 

[donlab]

if you're willing to spring $20 on server, why not an extra $5 for a year's worth of iTunes match?

 

[o0OBillO0o]

if you're willing to spring $20 on server, why not an extra $5 for a year's worth of iTunes match?

Good thought, but iTunes Match is, at best, okay. Just search here and on the Apple Support Forums; lots of issues.

Further as a 3 year iTunes Match subscriber, it generally jacked up my library and had sever mismatches. Smart playlists do not work well, if at all. Avoid, avoid. Better off with Apple Music if you are lazy.

iTunes Match is for users who exclusively buy through iTunes Music. I can't stress that enough.

 

[Mufasa804]

Thank you guys for your responses!

I've decided to not go through the process (Although had it worked perfectly I would've spent the time to get the project going) of setting up the VPN and instead I decided to buy the $5 App "AirVideo HD" and so far so good. It works great!

 

[apunkrockmonk]

Thank you guys for your responses!

I've decided to not go through the process (Although had it worked perfectly I would've spent the time to get the project going) of setting up the VPN and instead I decided to buy the $5 App "AirVideo HD" and so far so good. It works great!

Interesting... looks like a more current version of the app I recommended.

I may have to upgrade!

Edit: I ended up buying it for my ATV4, although the developer's website claims the app is universal you have to re-buy it for iOS. Works nicely on the ATV 4 though!

 

[o0OBillO0o]

Interesting... looks like a more current version of the app I recommended.

I may have to upgrade!

Edit: I ended up buying it for my ATV4, although the developer's website claims the app is universal you have to re-buy it for iOS. Works nicely on the ATV 4 though!

Apple TV 4 is great:
-I find that Soundcheck is not the same between my iTunes library via Aiplay vs Homesharing Library
-I found that the smartplaylists do not update in realtime (as in iTunes) and even though "Homesharing devices" statistic button is checked, there is some lag in updating (vs iTunes).

What I do. I send iTunes Airplay (via ethernet) to (using the Remote App) my AppleTV 4. Works great for parties, plus no one can mess with your collection.