Itunes shared libraries plays intermitently

I have 2 iMAC's and share my Itunes with the other iMAC. It sees the library okay, starts okay, plays several songs then just quits. I can restart playing another song but then it quits again. No rhyme or reason to how long or how many songs before this happens. Any suggestions on what to check?

Another added observation as this problem continues. Many times the computer playing the shared library will be playing and I noticed when it stops the song it stops on has an exclamation point in front of it which generally indicates Itunes can't locate it. Yet when I go back to the base machine and click on it it finds and starts up.
Seems to me whatever mechanism indexes all the songs on the home machine may be corrupted. Is there a way to re-find all the songs so iTunes knows where they are?

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ITunes Sharing Libraries Issue

I have been having a serious issue sharing my main computers iTunes library over my network and have exhausted my limited networking/computer knowledge trying to fix it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
*My Setup:*
My music is stored on an EHDD that is connected to a PC Desktop. I have 2 laptops and an iPhone (use as remote) that I want to share the library with. The laptops are an HP and a Macbook.
*The Issue:*
I have set all iTunes on all computers up to share libraries. I have named them all the computers (work laptop, macbook, desktop). All libraries show up on all other computers shared drives in iTunes. However, the sharing works bidirectionally between the HP laptop and Macbook, but nothing works bidirectionally with the Desktop. The Desktop PC can read the music on the laptops and play the songs, but the laptops can not connect to the Desktop PC.
Secondly, this bodes true for my iPhone's remote app. It is recognized by all computers, but only works with the laptops.
I get an error message when trying to connect any device/laptop to the PC Desktop. It seems like something is blocking the intrusion.
*My Troubleshooting:*
I have uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes once.
I have reinstalled Bonjour only as well.
I have forward the port 3689 (or whichever it is) on my router.
I have disabled my firewalls.
I have even connected the Desktop PC wirelessly to the network to make sure that the router isn't the issue and it didn't work.
To no avail, I still can't connect to the Desktop PC iTunes library where all of my music is stored. It's driving me insane!! Please help me if you can.

When I set up my home network for sharing, for some reason even though I had Windows sharing and Mac sharing all comfigured correctly, I couldn't get iTunes sharing to work everywhere until I disabled the Windows firewall on my Xp desktop and XP laptop.
Then once itunes sharing was OK, I re-enabled Windows firewall on both XP machines, and itunes sharing still worked.

ITunes shared libraries

I'm struggling with AppleScript & iTunes and need help from your AppleScript gurus. I want a script that will connect to a shared library and play a song (I download podcasts on my desktop PC, but want to play them on the machine connected to my receiver in the living room), but I don't see anything in the iTunes dictionary that permits me to do that. Curiously, the shared libraries don't even appear in the list of sources nor any of the playlists in those sources until you click on one of the shared libraries in the iTunes UI.
I've even been playing around with clumsy attempts to simulate clicking on the libraries with something like the function, getSharedLibraries, at the end of this post which goes through, connects to the shared libraries and returns whether it found any shared libraries or not.
A couple of questions:
1. This seems like a really clumsy way of accomplishing what I was trying to achieve. Seems like I shouldn't have to resort to "enable access for assistive devices" and interfacing with the "System Events". Does someone know a better way to do this via AppleScript using only the iTunes dictionary?
2. This seems to be conditional on the iTunes state. E.g., if I've got the album artwork window in the lower left corner, then the reference to "splitter group 1" becomes "splitter group 1 of splitter group 1". Is there an easy way to test for this?
3. This works fine when I run it from the AppleScript editor (or create an app or whatever), but when I try invoking this from the script menu in iTunes (by installing the script in ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts), this doesn't work anymore. Why is that?
on getSharedLibraries()
    activate application "iTunes"
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "iTunes"
            set shared to false
            -- if album art is showing, change ref to "splitter group 1" with
            -- "splitter group 1 of splitter group 1":
            repeat with the_row in every row of outline 1 of scroll area 1 of splitter group 1 of window 1
                -- figure out the name
                set the_name to value of static text 1 of the_row
                -- the menu we look for to switch off connecting
                -- (localised?)
                if ((the_name is "PLAYLISTS") or (the_name is "GENIUS")) then
                    return shared
                end if
                if shared then
                    -- show the context menu ...
                    perform action "AXShowMenu" of the_row
                    -- ... and then dismiss it
                    key code {49}
                end if
                -- the menu we look for to switch on connecting
                if the_name = "SHARED" then
                    set shared to true
                end if
            end repeat
        end tell
    end tell
end getSharedLibraries

Pierre, many thanks for your assistance.
Actually, I didn't investigate if that could be done using only the iTunes dictionary. But I suppose that Paul Mison wouldn't have resorted to GUI Scripting if he hadn't been forced to. GUI Scripting is often the only way to go. That's better than nothing. Does enabling access for assistive devices cause a problem?
No, as far as I know "enabling access for assistive devices" doesn't cause a problem. It feels like I'm weakening security by doing so, but I've got nothing to substantiate that concern. (If there's no reason not to leave it on, why does Apple give you the option of turning it off, to say nothing of defaulting to it off.) But my apprehension of GUI scripting is that it's fragile (e.g., if you look at Paul's original script, it's broken by the introduction of Genius lists, something I corrected in my script), relies on something other than the iTunes developers intended programmatic interface (and thus easily broken in future releases), possibly is susceptible to problems arising from language localization settings, requires iTunes to be in a certain visual status (e.g., not minimized), requires you to tweak you accessibility settings, etc. It's just a kludgy way of solving a problem. But, you're quite right, it's better than nothing.
Yes. You could use the following lines of codes ...
Many thanks. I'm a little new to AppleScript (used to be PC guy and controlled iTunes through COM interface, which incidentally suffers from the same "shared libraries" problem as AppleScript), so this helps a lot.
I had no problem running the script from the “Scripts iTunes” section of the Script menu. However, in Mac OS X, the script file must be put into ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/iTunes/, not into ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts.
Hmm, I'm confused. I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.2 and when I've got it in the ~/Library/iTunes/Script library, I see the scripting menu right in iTunes (between the "Window" and "Help" menus). When I just moved them into ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/iTunes/, and restarted iTunes, there was no scripting menu in iTunes. Moved it back to ~/Library/iTunes/Script, and the scripting menu appeared again.
As an aside, when in ~/Library/iTunes/Script, all of my scripts that simply "tell iTunes" work fine. But when I invoke this particular script (or, more accurately, have some AppleScript code that actually invokes this getSharedLibraries function) from the scripting menu in iTunes, it freezes at the "tell application System Events" line, eventually timing out. Consider this simplified test script:
    display dialog "before communicating to System Events"
    tell application "System Events"
        display dialog "inside tell application System Events"
    end tell
    display dialog "all done"
When I invoke this from iTunes, I see the first dialog message, but it times out ("AppleEvent timed out") before getting to the second dialog message. When I invoke the script from the same directory from the AppleScript editor, it works fine and I see all three dialog boxes. It's behaving like you can't "talk" to "System Events" when invoking the script from the script menu in iTunes itself. It's curious.

ITunes shared libraries not showing in Mac OS Lion (but OK in Win7!)

I have recently bought my first Mac and so far everything is great. Except iTunes.
I'm still using iTunes on a Windows PC and I now have my iTunes Media all on a D-Link DNS-323 NAS.
I want to be able to listen to the same music (stored on the NAS) either on my PC, or my MacBook, or anywhere else in the home. So I'm using the NAS iTunes Server.
iTunes on Windows can see and access the NAS iTunes server no problem, but the MacBook (Lion) cannot even see it.
I also tried sharing my both my libraries on Windows (where my main iTunes Music Library was made over the years - now referencing media stored on the NAS) and on my Mac (the library is empty even though I've told it all my media is on the mounted NAS!). However, whilst Windows iTunes can see the (empty!!) Macbook iTunes library, the Mac again cannot see the Windows Shared Library.
So it seems my Macbook has a problem seeing shared libraries, regardless of whether they are on my Windows PC or the NAS drive.
Both the PC and the Macbook are running latest iTunes (10.6 on the Mac) and for the sake of testing, I have disabled ALL firewalls on the router (Huawei), Mac and Windows. So there should be nothing blocking the IP traffic across my home network (which is very simple!).
Any ideas on:
1) How I can get iTunes 10.6 on Lion to see my DNS-323 iTunes server
2) Or how I can get all my media in my Macbook's library without it fighting for control over my library with my PC
many thanks

I have the same problem. REading some other threads, there is no obvious solution, other than perhaps that apple silently is suppressing Windows to enable more mac sales? I know, a bit rude to say, but that is the impression one gets if there is no simple/obvious solution despite the "Mac just works" reputation. If am wrong, I apologize, please direct me to the thread or faq that gives the solution, thanks.

Itunes Sharing Libraries- Assistance Required

I have just had one of my computers upgraded and I now cannot share the libraries as I could in the past- all settings are correct ie both computers preferences are to look for shared libraries.
The issue is firstly that visibility of the shared library in itunes is intermittent. I have attempted to work with the firewall settings but I cannot solve this.
Secondly when it is visible, and you click on the library, it starts to load and then before it completes the library disappears and is not visible again.
Any thoughts on the matter?
Windows XP

From a networking point of view, there are two basic things that happen. First, the serving computer sends a muticast message advertising its presence. That's a UDP packet containing its Library information to the multicast address 224.0.0.251 on port 5353. It doesn't send these packets often. There's some algorithm which decreases the frequency of these packets over time, to avoid excess chattiness on the network. You could be experiencing that. Try stopping and starting Tunes on the serving computer.
The second thing that happens is that the client computer establishes a connection to the server computer on port 3689. If you have a firewall, you need to open up this port. It does seem wrong not to get an error message when the connection fails. Sounds like a bug. But I'll wager that's what's happening, and why the link disappears. I suppose it could also be a password error, check the Keychain for old iTunes passwords.
God luck. Sometimes it requires a reboot on the client computer to get things working.

Three computers iTunes shared libraries, how do I play any one?

I have three Macs at home, mine, my sons and my wifes.
I have entered my Mac I.D.as the user.
I want to stream films and music from any one of the three to the ATV.
How do I do this?
Thanks
P

Unchecking songs can create other issues down the road. Easier method is this: select the song and use Command + Shift + N. This create a new playlist with the single song. (The playlist will also appear in your Source list...so if you don't want to keep it, make sure to delete it later.)
You could also control-click the song and choose Show in Finder, then play from there. There may be other methods which are easier, these are just ones that I know of.

ITunes Shared Libraries Dissapear as soon as iTunes is opened

I am running a music server that shares iTunes music via iTunes Library Sharing. The server is running Mac OS X 10.4.11 and the clients are running 10.5.1 (all clients are set to NOT share Library). All are running iTunes 7.6 and all are up to date with all other Software Updates. None of my computers are running a firewall software or the built-in firewall. All of these computers are on one LAN and the same subnet.
Basically, whenever you open iTunes on any of the client computers, the server stops sharing the library and you can't see it from any computer. The only way to connect is to open iTunes on the computers I want to listen on, then relaunch iTunes on the server.
Any thoughts?

I have an anomalous observation which may be similar.
We have 3 Macs -- two Leopards and a Tiger -- each sharing both others' libraries. Sometimes the Tiger's library will not be showing on the Mini-Leopard, but will still be showing on the G4-Leopard. I haven't figured out what triggers this situation. The fix is to relaunch the Tiger's iTunes.
--Gil
iTunes versions:
Mini-Leopard - 7.6.2
G4-Leopard - 7.6.1
Tiger - 7.6.2

Can an iTunes shared library be 'loaded' using applescript

When looking at iTunes shared libraries they either have a triangle on the left of the library name or not. If you click on the library name then the triangle appears if it wasnt there before. This may take some time to happen and whilst it is going on iTunes states that the library is being 'loaded'.
If the library isnt loaded then i get an error -1728 if i try any access to it, otherwise i can access the library without problems.
Is there a way of 'loading' the library using AS ?
This script illustrates and the open statement doesnt work but was my attempt to load the source
set shared_library to "iBook Music"
tell application "iTunes"
set source_list to (get every source)
set source_names to (get name of every source)
try
set playlist_count to (count of playlists of source shared_library)
on error errMsg number errNum
if errNum is -1728 then
log "* The source is not 'loaded'"
open source shared_library
else
log "* " & errMsg & errNum
end if
end try
end tell
Message was edited by: Guy Facius

Yes, although there are a couple of things to check and do.
First of all, when the iPod is connected to iTunes, look on the Device/iTunes U pane and make sure that Sync iTunes U is ticked ON and that the options below the tick-box are set as you want them. (Mine are automatically include all items of all collections.)
After the Sync has finished, look on the iPod:
audio - under Playlists/iTunes U. (No, I've no idea why they should be only there...)
video - under Video Playlists/iTunes U or Video/Video Playlists/iTunes U. (Still no idea why...)
One point to note, if the video is in a format that the iPod cannot play, then of course, you won't find it on the iPod, but if you have set it to Sync to the iPod, you should see a message at the end of the Sync process informing you that they haven't been transferred.

Iphone/Touch App that allows remote control of shared libraries

Hey all,
Curious if anyone has found this. I want to plug my macbook into my TV and play movies, music and tv shows on. All my content is stored on my imac in my other room. I can use front row to view the content on my macbook with the provided remote but I cannot use the Remote app for the touch to control my macbooks itunes shared libraries, only the itunes within the macbook.
Simply put, you know when you open up front row, you can access shared libraries on other mac itunes accounts? You cannot access the same libraries through the Remote app when controlling the itunes on the same computer.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Tim

There are only other users here. You aren't talking to Apple.
Give a Apple your feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Windows iTunes won't play video from shared libraries

Hey guys.
There are 4 computers with itunes in my house. I have a MBP and a Mac Mini with 10.6.4. Also, my brothers have 2 PCs with Windows 7.
I store my media on the Mac, but would like to share it with them thru iTunes on the other PCs. So, we all set up library sharing and updated to iTunes on all machines to 10.0.1.
Problem is: The windows PCs can't play any shared video.
Whether it's from Mac or PC, iTunes on the Windows PCs can't stream any videos from any of the other 3 shared libraries. The Macs do it fine from the other sources, Windows PCs don't.
All that being said, the Windows PCs do play video in their own libraries. Just not Shared ones.
As I said, all 4 PCs have the latest OSs, iTunes and QT. Any ideas?

It has to do with how I was transscoding the videos. Handbrake tags the videos in a way that makes it impossible to play in Windows. Retagging with a program like MetaX will solve the issue.

ITunes does not show Shared libraries

I have a Mac, my husband has a PC. We both use iTunes. We have shared music just fine for years. A few months ago, my iTunes started to act oddly. The shared libraries vanished, and I cannot play to external (or multiple) speakers.
My husband can see my library, but when it is selected, it comes up blank, and then vanishes in a few minutes.
We both have our libraries set to share, we are on the same network and share files, etc, without issues. What can I do?

To anyone who is having problems with Home Sharing an iTunes Library from a Windows PC,
turn off syncing over Wifi for any devices (iPod, iPad, iPhone) that sync with that Library.
I beleive this is causing interference with "Home Sharing" functionality.
FYI,
I also deleted iTunes Configuration files, but am not certain that is a necessary step

Sharing itunes : macmini can play playlist not a precise song...

I've my music on an Imac (MacOS 10.5.8 and itunes 9.02). I can play whatever song i choose, hopefully !
I've also a Macmini (MacOs 10.4.11 and itunes 9.02). But when i want to listen my music from the Imac, i can only play the playlists i've created before on my Imac... If i want to play particular song i want, it saies 'impossible de lire ce morceau." "unable to play this song"....
Any advice ?

Just another datapoint to add...I tried a few different things yesterday and I can get the following files to play:
1. Free Downloaded video from iTunes (Horton hears a Who - Anatomy of a Scene)
2. Digital Movie (Bolt) that requires some authorization from the iTunes store.
The movies that won't stream from one XP box to the other XP box are all encoded using Handbrake (they work fine going to the AppleTV though.) I'm wondering if it has something to do with DRM or specific tags/metadata that needs to be included in the encode.
Also, this is something new for me (i.e. I haven't tried sharing libraries or streaming from one iTunes instance to another prior to upgrading iTunes to 8.1) My daughter got a laptop and we wanted to keep all of our media in one shared location in the house. Hopefully this will work at some point.
Thanks,
Mike

Cannot access iTunes Protected Content in Shared Libraries on Apple TV 2.3

Hi all,
Does anyone else have this problem?
In Apple TV 2.3, I cannot access any protected content in SHARED libraries. The primary computer that syncs with Apple TV works fine, and I can listen to protected music, movies, etc purchased on iTunes, but from the other 4 computers in our household I cannot listen to their PROTECTED content, instead getting "Your Apple TV is not authorized to play this content".
If I revert to factory defaults (Apple TV 1.0), then I can listen to protected content in my own library and shared libraries without problems, but I cannot view movies I have purchased as they require Apple TV 2.0 or above.
I can reproduce this perfectly every time, basically if I upgrade to 2.3, I can't have protected content on shared libraries, and if I use 1.0 I can't have my movies...
All non-protected content is fine on both my synced library and the shared libraries.
I have tried all the Apple suggested fixes on their support page (factory reset of Apple TV, deauthorizing/authorizing iTunes on all the computers several times, and the internet connection definitely works - I tested it by buying a song via my TV).
A solution would be much appreciated, but I'm convinced that this is probably a bug since I can reproduce it over and over every time...

No I don't have the other's authorized with my computer, but I don't see why it would matter though as the Apple TV is its 'own' device isn't it?
All of us have our own iTunes accounts so each of the shared libraries would be under a separate email address.
That said, in 1.0 it isn't an issue to access the DRM'd content in shared libraries under the various user accounts, it only seems to be 2.3 that has broken this for us.
I've logged a bug via that feedback page, do they actually get resolved though?

Can't find "Look for shared libraries" in the Sharing pane of iTunes preferences. How can I find it?

I am trying to set up Home Sharing between my computer and my wife's. Sharing keeps disappearing from the side bar although Home Sharing is turned on for both computers. Using the Help tab it says to check the "Look for shared libraries" in the preferences/shared box. The problem is that "Look for shared libraries is not there to select. Any ideas how I can sort this out?

I'm having a similar issue even after the "Shared Libraries" box is checked in General preferences on iTunes...
On early verisons of iTunes i had no problem with sharing or remote access via iPad. I really need to figure out how to get this working.

ITunes 9.1.0.79 No longer shows shared libraries.

Hi all. If you install this version and you no longer see any shared libraries on the network anymore, then do the following.
1. Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs
2. Uninstall Bonjour (this seems to be the problem with sharing)
3. Then, if you can get hold of it, install the previous version of Bonjour (the one that came with iTunes 9.0.3)
4. Restart iTunes and your shared libraries should now be showing.
Good luck, this is the only solution I have at this stage.

Hi, just follow the steps above, it should bring it back. Alternatively, after installing this version and rebooting your PC sometime solves this problem.
Good luck

Itunes shared libraries plays intermitently

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