Hello! My wife recently won a 16gb Ipad off a radio station and we had a few questions. First off I apologize if this has been posted elsewhere; I've done several google searches and looked through the stickies for a definitive answer.

Neither of us use ITunes or have any apple products. We have a small home network of 3 pc's and an Xbox 360 that we use to share pictures, music and stream videos. We're trying to decide if it's worth keeping this device or rather Ebay it and buy a new laptop. I can not seem to find a simple yes or no answer on if the Ipad will be able to stream videos from our home network?

I see there are a few 'apps' that you can purchase that might or might not stream vids, but can the Ipad itself do it without these? I'd rather not go through a load of hassle having to convert mkv, avi, ogg, etc files to whatever the Ipad needs to read and then have to transfer them. It would be a definitive keeper for us if it has the ability to stream like our Xbox 360 does from our network with Pictures, Music and Video.

Another question is how does one transfer files from your home network/pc to the Ipad? I see suggestions of emailing pictures and music, which seems a little crazy for what should be an easy plug in fix? The Apple site shows it comes with a "Dock Connector to USB Cable" - is this not a simple usb transfer cable one could use to transfer files? Can't the Ipad simply connect to our network and open up a folder and copy + paste? We're a little bewildered as PC users to the difficulty we've had in finding out answers to what seem to be easy questions. Then again we're clueless when it comes to Apple products, which is largely the issue .

Again we're not very familiar with Apple products, so please excuse our ignorance. Thank you for any and all help/tips!

1. You can stream video from your network but you have to download an app for it.

2. If you want to actually put video on your iPad you have to convert it.

3. Depends on the app you have. For example, Good Reader will read PDF documents and the like. Something like Documents to Go will read all of the Office documents. Both apps will allow you to put the respective files on the iPad via iTunes. Music also goes through iTunes.

The iPad is not an external hard drive, so just erase anything like an external hard drive where you plug and play out of your mind.

An iTunes account is mandatory for setting up an iPad. You'll need to install iTunes on a home computer and register. You won't have to buy anything from it, but you will have to get the program and the account.

I should mention that I only ever use Windows and I still love this device. It's not hard to get a hang of.

Thanks so much for the quick responses and assistance! So you can connect to your network and browse through pictures, music and video from your ipad correct? To simply play music it has to be ITunes and for video it has to go through an app?

What about pictures, can we run a slideshow of pictures from our network or do they have to be transferred?

If at all possible we'd really like to keep and use it, if it has the ability to hop onto our network and stream from our large library of digital movies, shows and music without having to transfer them to the small 16gb Ipad space without having to deal with huge converting issues.

Honestly I would sell it. All you seem to want to use it for is to connect to your network. It's meant to hold it's own things. Using it to connect to the network is not nearly as useful as just using the device. It can be done, but I really don't see this as a device for you based on what you are describing. You can stream videos and music but it's not just plug and play...and you can do it with another device that is about 100+ dollars, the Airport Express...even that isn't as simple as just plugging and playing.

You can stream almost anything from your network with an app, but it's not just plug in and go. You don't seem to want to use iTunes whatsoever...so I would just get rid of it ASAP and buy something else or pocket the money.

Or better yet just try the darn thing out and if you don't like it, sell it.

Originally Posted by holo7

Thanks so much for the quick responses and assistance! So you can connect to your network and browse through pictures, music and video from your ipad correct? To simply play music it has to be ITunes and for video it has to go through an app?

What about pictures, can we run a slideshow of pictures from our network or do they have to be transferred?

If at all possible we'd really like to keep and use it, if it has the ability to hop onto our network and stream from our large library of digital movies, shows and music without having to transfer them to the small 16gb Ipad space without having to deal with huge converting issues.

You might want to look at Air Video Streams Any Video to Your iPad, Is the Best $3 I've Spent in the App Store

Remember that you can do many things with your iPad and more apps are coming out for it every day. I've used iTunes on my PC since I got the original iPhone a few years ago. It works great.

Also remember that you can sync you contacts and calendars. I sync to Google (using Exchange through google -- free) and keep the same calendars and contacts on all my moble devices.

Don't forget that first and foremost the iPad is a multifunction mobile device. It is an eReader and an Web browser. It is a map, a PIM, a weather station (with a weather app and internet access), a game device, a news and magazine reader, a digital photo frame. Yes you have to put your photos on it, but if you do it though iTunes, it does it automatically and make them the right size so as not to take up so much memory.

But as said above, try it and see what you can do with it. If not, put it on eBay. There are still enough countries that can't get them, and they are still in short enough supply that you should get a good price as long as you keep it in top condition.

I hope after you try it, you like it and decide that the only problem is that you really need a 32 or 64 GB model.

Well if it won't do what we're looking for, certainly that's what we plan on doing is selling it . If it will then excellent, saves us the trouble of ebay and then finding a $500ish notebook to do what we're looking for. We came here to find out those things and get a feel from existing users who are in the know .

We just can't seem to find a simple answer that it will
A) connect to our existing home network
B) stream pictures, music video from our network

It seems like a nifty device for watching media in random rooms throughout the house and reading the occasional ebook, if it can from our existing library . From the answers it seems that with an app or two it can?

Otherwise we're not really interested in the gimmicky games for it - has that new 'Wii' feeling for all our know how currently. And that thing has been collecting dust for ages

*edit* Great advice gail, response was to matth above before seeing your reply.

You cannot stream eBooks from your network. And we already gave you the answer that it CAN stream the other stuff but not plug and play. It really does NOT sound like the device for you. BUt that's just my opinion. Try it out. Or sell it.