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Lane

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 10, 2007
12
0
Need some clarification - I have and Apple TV, but I want to be able to play music on a second AV system and I dont want to have to have a computer on with Itunes running. I THINK that a first generation Apple TV will work to do that and I'm looking at some on Ebay but want to make sure.... with the originals stream my music to my system without a computer?
tHANKS
 
You have to first sync the media over, they run hot and don't really have a "low power mode", can be slow/stubborn.
 
just for clarification. you have to sync the music to the hard drive and you can play the ATV without iTunes. however, you cannot "stream" the music. the atv must be physically hooked up to your stereo system.
 
Thanks,
Stream wasn't the right choice of words... I did mean, just that I want to be able to play music through my audio system without having to have a computer on and running Itunes like I have to do with the newer ATV.

It sounds like this will do what I want do do - and I hope that I can control it with my Harmony remote?
 
It sounds like this will do what I want do do - and I hope that I can control it with my Harmony remote?

I believe you can. I think Harmony remotes have an Apple TV profile. If not, the Apple TV can learn a new remote.
 
Thanks,
Stream wasn't the right choice of words... I did mean, just that I want to be able to play music through my audio system without having to have a computer on and running Itunes like I have to do with the newer ATV.

It sounds like this will do what I want do do - and I hope that I can control it with my Harmony remote?

Yes to both. Once you sync your music to it, you do not need to have a computer on. And I can confirm that it works with a Harmony remote -- both the Gen1 and Gen2 ATVs have worked with mine.
 
Great... thanks!

Now - about syncing my current iTunes librarie(s) to the ATV - how is that done? Does the ATV show up as a device and I somehow sych it, or do I need to copy my libraries to it?
 
Now - about syncing my current iTunes librarie(s) to the ATV - how is that done? Does the ATV show up as a device and I somehow sych it, or do I need to copy my libraries to it?

It works the same way as syncing content to an iPhone or iPod. The AppleTV shows in the Devices list in iTunes. Then, you click the tabs for Music, Movies, etc. and tell it which items you want it to sync (=copy) to the ATV. Other items in your library which are not synced will be available for streaming when your computer is turned on.
 
OK - thanks again...

Now, another question - I have three PCs with iTunes on them. I'm also also pretty iTunes dumb. I need to consolidate the music from all three PCs into one place so I can ponit the ATV to it and get all my music and playlists.

I have googled a ton of instructions about how to consolidate libraries and also how to move everythign to one place (like my external HD). But, as I say, I'm iTunes dumb.... cant figure it out. Is there a simple/straighforward way to do this?
 
I've never used it, but I think iTunes Home Sharing could automatically sync your libraries across the network.
 
I've never used it, but I think iTunes Home Sharing could automatically sync your libraries across the network.
I've used Home Sharing on two Macs and it allows me to sync the iTunes libraries so that I have the same content on both (I use it as a means of backup). However, I'm pretty sure that it periodically misses some files so you MAY want to manually verify that everything has been merged or copied BEFORE you delete anything from either system.
 
Good... thats what I'm hoping to do. I got home sharing set up on all three of my machines. I can see the other libraries, but have not yet figured out how to actually get them to merge into one - or do they?

I wonder if I should be putting all of my files on a separate drive?
 
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