how can i use my main computer to stream music to my laptop?

[gerbile5]

i have a reasonably sized music collection on my desktop that i would rather not copy to my laptop. how can i make it so i have access to this music wherever i go, or at least at home?

[gerbile5]

windows 7 on the desktop
windows xp on the laptop

[dbk21894]

You can use iTunes to share the music over the local network, and if you want it available anywhere just install Hamachi and get both machines on the same VPN. Or you could use shoutcast, doesn't allow song selection, but it works.

[mokkan]

Windows Media player also has some kind of file sharing thing, I stream music to my Squeezebox and my Xbox 360

[editline]12th March 2011[/editline]

Though annoyingly it doesn't automatically update it's library..

So you tell it to stream C:\music, then add 10gb of CD rips, and it won't pick them up unless you tell it to add the directory again

[moesislack]

Go to the file where all the music is and edit the share properties.

[Anderen2]

[url]http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/[/url]
Hope it helps ;)

[gerbile5]

[QUOTE=dbk21894;28527626]You can use iTunes to share the music over the local network, and if you want it available anywhere just install Hamachi and get both machines on the same VPN. Or you could use shoutcast, doesn't allow song selection, but it works.[/QUOTE]
can you elaborate more on this "hamachi sharing"?

[editline]13th March 2011[/editline]

ive got a hamachi network setup and both computers are connected. how exactly do i get the folder to be "Shared" though

[dbk21894]

You launch iTunes on the computer you want to share the library from, go to Edit > Preferences > Sharing (Tab), and select what you want.

Then, on the computer you want to listen to the shared music from, follow those same steps, but make sure it checks for shared libraries. You'll see your shared library appear in the left sidebar of iTunes shortly.