I was thinking about my old polycarbonate MacBook from years back and how much I loved it. I then remembered how I used to be in a public space and when I’d hop onto iTunes, you could see other people using a Mac and you could listen to their listed music in their library. You couldn’t download it, but you could listen to it while they were there. A very cool feature! Why did Apple get rid of that? There was something cool about finding new music and also the air of mystery that it’s someone nearby you but you have no idea who it is.
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Why did Apple remove iTunes library sharing long time ago?
- Thread starter delsoul
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Your iTunes library is not gone, but your purchased music should be available inside the Music app. Apple Music is a subscription service, but Music app doesn’t require a subscription.
Thank you, but what I’m talking about is a feature that allowed iTunes users on their laptops to publicly share their music with others connected to the same WiFi network. For example, I’d have iTunes opened and it would show me something that says, “Sophytaylor6’s Music”, any music playlists you made public on there could be accessed by me and others to listen to. Once you left the WiFi network, the music is gone and we couldn’t listen to what you had any longer. It was an awesome feature and it disappointed me that Apple got rid of it. I’m just trying to figure out why they axed it
Likely licensing issues. You were sharing your music with everyone on your LAN. In large work spaces, that means sharing your music freely with a *lot* of people.
It was quite nice when I worked at universities. Loads of free music to listen to, new stuff to experience.
It was quite nice when I worked at universities. Loads of free music to listen to, new stuff to experience.
Are you sure it's not working anymore?
Apple Support - Share iTunes libraries on a local PC network https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/itunes/itns3018/windows
Apple Support - Share iTunes libraries on a local PC network https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/itunes/itns3018/windows
No this is exactly it. Apple merely moved the sharing from the iTunes settings to the macOS system settings and added sharing of other media like videos (and maybe ebooks?) as they introduced their tv app, and I think podcasts too with the podcast app.
Even the tech behind it with Apple's Bonjour is identical. I have been an Apple user for a long time just like you and I did use that same feature myself back in the day (nowadays with streaming I have no need for the crappy music app anymore). It was never turned on by default though and still isn't so unless you find someone with a Mac who has that turned on intentionally you will never see other libraries pop up in public.
The chances of that happening in 2025 are very low because most people use phone hotspot wireless and Spotify. The current music app on macOS is iTunes leftovers so even people who want to manage their music locally are unlikely to still use this.
I was going to mention something along these lines - the days of owning media and playing it locally is long gone; it's all about streaming and the cloud. Hence why features like this, which highlight playing media locally, is deprecated or hidden behind some obscure setting in media apps.
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That WAS fun, in many settings.
I'm betting Apple Music licensing forced them to stop sharing.
Why have an option to share for free when you can charge a music streaming service for the family and get money instead?
could've been a vector for security issues too...IMHO...
