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iTunes home sharing

Can my husband download music onto his PC from our Home sharing that I have set up on my Mac? If I turn off my computer he is unable to access the home sharing library. He would like to access the music in our home sharing library when my computer is not on. Hope this makes sense.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 15, 2020 12:01 PM

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Posted on Jan 15, 2020 12:08 PM

For Home Sharing to work the computer that holds the shared library, must be turned on. Otherwise, there's no way to access the shared Library.


However, yes, he can download items from a home shared library and import them into his own library. In which case those items no longer need to be accessed through home sharing but can instead be accessed directly in the recipient library without requiring the other computer be turned on.


See here: Import media using Home Sharing in iTunes on PC - Apple Support

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 15, 2020 12:08 PM in response to Vikki Green

For Home Sharing to work the computer that holds the shared library, must be turned on. Otherwise, there's no way to access the shared Library.


However, yes, he can download items from a home shared library and import them into his own library. In which case those items no longer need to be accessed through home sharing but can instead be accessed directly in the recipient library without requiring the other computer be turned on.


See here: Import media using Home Sharing in iTunes on PC - Apple Support

Jan 16, 2020 7:47 AM in response to Vikki Green

The steps are in the link provded above. Here it is again: Import media using Home Sharing in iTunes on PC - Apple Support

  1. In the iTunes app on your PC, choose a shared library from the pop-up menu at the top left.
  2. Click the Show pop-up menu at the bottom of the iTunes window, then choose “Items not in my library.”
  3. Select the items you want to import, then click Import.


You should also be able to right click on an item and then on Import on the context menu.


Jan 20, 2020 2:40 AM in response to Vikki Green

Family Sharing and Home Sharing are different services. See If you don't see your family's shared content - Apple Support for more on Family Sharing issues. Thinking about it the reason you may not have seen the import options might be that you are using simple network sharing rather than Home Sharing, where both computers would need to have been signed into the same Apple ID.


tt2

Jan 19, 2020 6:45 PM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for the info but all of this is old information for the way Apple has it set up now. It took us a few hours but found it in the apple account then in the drop down to choose the family member you can see the purchases and import them. You choose one and view the music however you choose by artist or album etc. Then right click on the download cloud icon.


Thanks everyone for the info but the directions are outdated.



Jan 20, 2020 8:42 AM in response to Vikki Green

Sounds like you were trying to share Apple Music subscription music, and not purchases.


Songs and albums from the subscription service are not shareable over Home Sharing, you need Family Sharing and a Family Plan to the Apple Music subscription service for that and its access the way you describe.


2 different things, for 2 different purposes.



iTunes home sharing

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