[Kraetos]

I have my notebook which I carry with me basically everywhere, and my desktop Mac at home, which is primarily used as a media center and a gaming machine. I'd rather not have to sync my two libraries together, especially considering that only the music would fit on my notebook, and none of my movies. That, and syncing is a pain.

What would be ideal is if I could stream my library to my notebook. My first, obvious question is: why is this not built into Back to my Mac? I use BTMM all the time to get files from my home Mac if I realize I need them when I'm not home. Even the screen sharing works well enough to be useful. Seems to me like this would be a great enhancement for iTunes' already-existent local network sharing.

But until that happens, what's the best way to access my home music from my notebook? My first idea was: point iTunes at the iTunes library on my home Mac over BTMM. But iTunes crashes before the Library loads. I'm also not a big fan of this approach because, a while ago when I tried it over a local network, it fucked up the permissions on my iTunes library file. Simplify Media looks nice, especially with the iPhone streaming abilities and the fact that its free. Has anyone tried this? Does it work well? Does it hiccup on protected music files?

Hopefully this will just get built into BTMM. Until then, who here has already figured this out?

[rasmits]

Coincidentally, I just setup SimplifyMedia between my iMac and iPod Touch. Works amazingly well - no hiccups. I didn't notice a significant drop in sound quality either, so I think it streams at full quality which is pretty cool.

The only thing is, it doesn't work with Fairplay tracks and no video.

[Kraetos]

Originally Posted by rasmits The only thing is, it doesn't work with Fairplay tracks and no video.

Unfortunately, that's a deal killer. I have a lot of FairPlay tracks...

I know, I know. In the back of my head there's a little voice going "noooooo! DRM!"

On the other hand:
- I use Apple devices exclusively.
- I get a lot of free iTunes tracks for various reasons.
- There's next to no risk of the iTunes store going under and taking my library with it.
- I trust Apple to continue to fight against DRM, and remove it from existing tracks when they win. (à la EMI and iTunes plus)

So I'm tied to FairPlay at the moment.

[dfiler]

The get a bigger hammer solution...

Buy a VPN equiped home router and pretend you're at home all the time.

[Yontsey]

Originally Posted by dfiler The get a bigger hammer solution... Buy a VPN equiped home router and pretend you're at home all the time.

This has me intrigued. Please elaborate.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by dfiler The get a bigger hammer solution... Buy a VPN equiped home router and pretend you're at home all the time.

I was thinking about suggesting the same thing.

If you REALLY want to get your hands dirty, pick up a Linksys WRT54GL and throw OpenWRT (a Linux distro for consumer routers) on it. Install pptpd and with the proper configuration you could have a nifty little VPN server.

I don't actually recommend this, however. It's a fair amount of work.

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by Yontsey This has me intrigued. Please elaborate.

VPN = Virtual Private Network

Typically companies use them so that when employees are out of the office, they can connect as if they were directly plugged into an ethernet jack right in the building. This is done by using any internet connection to establish a secure VPN link back to the company. The remote person has to run a VPN client and the company has to have a VPN gateway configured.

Basically, it requires special software at each end in order to initiate an encrypted connection. Some routers have this software built in, some don't. Home VPN use isn't too common but not terribly unusual at this point either.

[FFL]

I haven't tried this yet, but it looks very interesting. It's specifically targeted at letting you use services such as iTunes or iPhoto Sharing over the Internet.

Basically, it makes setting up your own VPN very, very easy - it even offers an auto-configure function for your router.

http://www.yazsoft.com/st/sitepages/tour.html