100 MACWORLD SEPTEMBER 2020
PLAYLIST APPLE MEDIA SHARING LIMITS EXPLAINEDincluding on the go and geographically
dispersed? Plex.
(It’s obligatory and morally necessary for
me to point out that none of this advocates
sharing media in a way that’s prohibited by
the terms of what you’ve purchased or
been given access to. Those rights tend to
be either explicitly broader or carved out
through court cases for media shared within
a family or in a single residence.)
APPLE’S VERSION OF SHARING
Family Sharing. This free option allows up
to six people you claim in the same family
to give each access to a common set of
apps (if the app developer offers sharing),
purchased media, and optionally to one
iCloud storage subscription, even though
the storage is still private to each
individual. (Starting with the next release of
Apple’s operating systems, including Big
Sur, developers can also let Family Sharing
include sharing in-app purchases and
subscriptions.)
Family Sharing doesn’t include any
items you’ve added to a media library, like
iTunes, Music, or TV. That includes omitting
music that you’ve purchased or ripped and
rely on iTunes Match to find high-quality
copies of and sync across your own
iCloud-linked devices. Only purchased
music and other media is shared.
Home Sharing. Separate from Family
Sharing, Home Sharing isn’t primarily
designed to let you share media with
different people, but to share it among your
own devices on a local network. You can
authorize up to five computers and access
it from mobile, too. Guests have access as
well, including to media you have in your
libraries that’s not purchased from Apple.
Turn on Home Sharing in Mojave and
earlier in iTunes: iTunes → Preferences →
Sharing and check Share My Library on My
Local Network. In Catalina and later, use
the Sharing preference pane, select Media
Sharing, and check the Home Sharing box
and Share Media With Guests.
Apple Music. To complete shared
offerings, Apple offers individual and family
subscriptions (go.macworld.com/fmsb) to
Apple Music. If you purchase a family
subscription for Apple Music and have
Family Sharing enabled, it automatically
shares it to those family members; if not,
you have to enable Family Sharing.
Across none of these scenarios can
you and others share all your media in any
given location, though a combination of
them may provide you with access at
home to everything, albeit not all in the
same fashion.THE PLEX ALTERNATIVE
The Plex (go.macworld.com/plxt) software
and service is the best alternative for Mac
users, and even better for people using
media across Apple and non-Apple