iOS 4.3 to bring Home Sharing to mobile devices

Today brought news of a great little feature being added to iOS when version 4.3 is released later this month: iTunes Home Sharing:

Now you can play your entire iTunes library from anywhere in the house. If it’s on your Mac or PC, you can play it on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch over a shared Wi-Fi network. And not just music. Watch a movie or TV show. Play a podcast. Or listen to an audiobook. On whichever device you want — without having to download or sync.

This is a great addition to iOS. Now, if you’ve got media in an iTunes library, it can be streamed to an iOS device without having to sync the device first.

This meets one of my biggest complaints about iOS currently. I keep very little media — besides photos — on my iPhone. If I’ve wanted to listen to something in the bedroom or watch a TV show out back in the yard, I’ve had to sync my phone. No more.

Currently, Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil and Airfoil Speakers Touch can be used to stream music from a computer to an iOS device, but Home Sharing should make this a lot cleaner and simpler.

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him… Full Bio