Ever been out, about, and away from your Mac’s music library when a song’s stuck in your head? If you want to stop being tempted to give iTunes another $1.29 to redownload it, the solution is an SFTP client on your iPad or iPhone that connects to your Mac back home to download the song to your iOS device. The best part of a setup like this is that you can keep using iTunes to manage your music without interrupting streaming to your Apple TV. You’ll also be able to stream any tunes that are DRM-free to your iOS devices over the internet with a 3G or EDGE connection, and you can access many other Mac-based files as well.
SSH is easy to set up on your Mac and will allow you to access all of your files while on the go.
The first step is to set up SSH (secure shell) on your Mac—it’s a protocol that allows you to log in to your Mac over the internet, but as a side benefit, you also get SFTP (or secure file transfer protocol) access to your Mac. This process is relatively easy and many of you probably have it up and running already, but if you need a refresher, we have all the details waiting for you at bit.ly/ssh_ml.
Files Connect isn’t the only SFTP client available, but it provides more features.
Next, buy Antecea’s universal app Files Connect ($7.99), and once it’s installed on your iOS device, open the application. Tap the plus button next to the Saved Places area, and then tap SFTP (SSH) on the New Computer dialog that appears. Type in the login details provided when you set up SSH. Click Save to add your Mac. Ensure that the Path field contains a single forward slash (“/”) in order to initially load files from the root directory of your Mac.
With a playlist, Files Connect lets you queue up music stored on your remote machine.
After setting up your Mac in Files Connect, tap it in the Saved Places area of the app and navigate to your iTunes directory (located in ~/Music/iTunes). From here, you’ll see a folder called iTunes Music that contains an alphabetical listing of all of the artists in your library. If you have a newer version of iTunes, your music may be stored in iTunes Media/Music. When you come to a song you’d like to play, tap it, then tap the Playlist button to add it to your playlist. You can then manage your currently playing tracks and playlist by tapping the music icon in the lower corner of the app. Victory!
