I tried home sharing yesterday, and the only thing showing up on my iDevices is that it can see that there's a library on my PC. But it doesn't show any tracks.
Well, I haven't purchased tracks via itunes. I rather have ripped all my CDs (which are now gathering dust in the basement) a loooong time ago.

Does home sharing only work with itunes tracks or did I miss anything???

Home sharing is only going to work through iTunes.

You do not need to buy music from iTunes. It will happily import your current music. You can either let it duplicate it in it's own library, or have it leave the music where it is.

First go to the Advanced tab in iTune's Preferences and choose whether you want it to try and organize your music and/or copy the music to it's own folders. I you say no to both it will leave your current folders untouched, so that you don't have to worry about your original music files. That will probably cost your some neatness in the way iTunes presents the music.

Then go to the Files menu and choose add library. Navigate to the folder with you music and add it. I believe this method will leave you with whatever organization you had in the folders in iTunes. But now you'll be able to share and play your music.

Probably, anyway. Can't say I've done this myself, so no guarantee. But the method doesn't effect your original music, so even if it doesn't work satisfactorily, all you've lost is some time.

Added Note: There are other solutions to stream you music from you computer to iPad. Home sharing is probably the easiest way to do things if you already use iTunes for your media, but a little research on your part might net you a method you'll like better.

Originally Posted by twerppoet

Home sharing is only going to work through iTunes.

You do not need to buy music from iTunes. It will happily import your current music. You can either let it duplicate it in it's own library, or have it leave the music where it is.

First go to the Advanced tab in iTune's Preferences and choose whether you want it to try and organize your music and/or copy the music to it's own folders. I you say no to both it will leave your current folders untouched, so that you don't have to worry about your original music files. That will probably cost your some neatness in the way iTunes presents the music.

Then go to the Files menu and choose add library. Navigate to the folder with you music and add it. I believe this method will leave you with whatever organization you had in the folders in iTunes. But now you'll be able to share and play your music.

Probably, anyway. Can't say I've done this myself, so no guarantee. But the method doesn't effect your original music, so even if it doesn't work satisfactorily, all you've lost is some time.

Added Note: There are other solutions to stream you music from you computer to iPad. Home sharing is probably the easiest way to do things if you already use iTunes for your media, but a little research on your part might net you a method you'll like better.

I had added all my tracks like you describe in the first part. I'm just not sure if I did the part where you say "add library". So I'm going to check tonight.
Thanks for the hint.

You might also have to turn on HomeSharing in iTunes, it is found under 'Advanced->Turn on HomeSharing'.

For adding music to iTunes:
File->Add folder to library->Browse to your music folder and press Select folder

Side note: itunes will always leave your original music the way it is, but if you don't change the iTunes settings as mentioned above, it will just create duplicates in an iTunes organized folder.

Not only do you have to have Home Sharing turned on you have to be signed in to your itunes account on your computer and have itunes open. I'm really loving home sharing, for my music and movies. I have 2 Apple TV's and the wife just loves them.

Make sure all the music you want to 'home share' has that not-so-pointless check mark, actually checked before the song title in iTunes.

Originally Posted by Bluesjam

Not only do you have to have Home Sharing turned on you have to be signed in to your itunes account on your computer and have itunes open. I'm really loving home sharing, for my music and movies. I have 2 Apple TV's and the wife just loves them.

I had to sign in to activate Home Sharing. But does this mean I have to be connected to the internet all the times?
I wouldn't like that as I'm on a 5GB dataplan and with some programs downloading updates without my knowledge...

Originally Posted by Mike_73

I had to sign in to activate Home Sharing. But does this mean I have to be connected to the internet all the times?
I wouldn't like that as I'm on a 5GB dataplan and with some programs downloading updates without my knowledge...

You only have to be connected to the internet the first time you activate home sharing. This is to verify that your account details are correct, afterwards they are stored locally, so home sharing will work offline.

Originally Posted by Bluesjam

Not only do you have to have Home Sharing turned on you have to be signed in to your itunes account on your computer and have itunes open. I'm really loving home sharing, for my music and movies. I have 2 Apple TV's and the wife just loves them.

Ditto! Home Sharing is a great feature.

When I try to enable home sharing in my iPad, it keeps saying "unable to turn on Home Sharing" ....any ideas?

Take care,
Rob