Is there any way to hide certain artists/albums in my iTunes library from Home Sharing?

Question

Is there any way I can hide some of my music from other people, like my sister, while they are accessing my iTunes library with Home Sharing?
I have a few personal recordings that I don't want anyone but me to have access to.
Is deleting them from my library the only option?

Answer 1

It's not an ideal solution ... but have you considered creating a second library (called, say, "Private Library") containing just the personal recordings?
To create the private library, hold down the shift key while launching iTunes. Click "Create Library" in the dialog that comes up.
Once you've created and opened the "Private library", don't activate home sharing for it. Now go "Edit > Preferences". In the "Advanced" tab, select "Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library", as per the following screenshot:
... and click OK.
Now add the personal recordings to the Private Library.
To get back to your original library, quit iTunes. Hold down the Shift key while launching iTunes ... but this time click the "Choose library" button. Browse to the iTunes library file for your original library and doubleclick that. You should now be seeing your original library.
Delete the personal items from your original library.
Now, in order to see those recordings in iTunes, all you have to do is do a "Choose library" when launching iTunes, and open Private library. Because Home sharing isn't activated for Private library, your sister won't be able to access those recordings. (She won't be able to access your original library either, though, when you have Private library running.)