Apple iTunes 7 support (DAAP client with iTunes 7 compatibility)
#1
Question 
Hi Guys,

Updated my Mac to iTunes 7 yesterday and now XBMC can't connect to the share. Has anyone else noticed this?

I have also noticed that it can't download movie trailers from the Apple site anymore.

Any ideas how long a fix for these will be?

Thanks!
Luke.
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#2
Yes, it is a known issue.

I believe you can't connect to an iTunes 7 share using an older version of iTunes either, so they must have changed <something> in the connection protocols.

Someone needs to sniff the network traffic connecting between iTunes 7 and iTunes 6 and vice-versa, and between iTunes 6 and iTunes 6, and iTunes 7 and iTunes 7 and document the process.

My understanding is it's all done with HTTP requests with certain key items in the headers.

Without this documentation, a fix is unlikely to arise. Unless Apple has a bug in v7 which they fix ofcourse (unlikely).

Cheers,
Jonathan
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#3
I have also found the same thing using the mac version of iTunes 7... it's hard to say what they did with it, but I can tell you that iTunes 7 is hardly a finished product... for the first time in a long while, Apple has pushed something out the door before it was ready, a la, Microsoft-style. There are literally dozens of problems with the application both on Macs and PCs.
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#4
Hello, I am having the same problems with my setup, iTunes 7 simply refuses to share to older versions of iTunes and XBMC. If you want to there is a workaround to sharing your music with a SMB share. You can set up a Share using Sharepoints or some other type of folder sharing software. After it is set up you can modify your sources.xml file in XBMC with a bookmark like this:

<bookmark>
<name>iTunes Share (SMB)</name>
<path>smb://username(colon)password@ipaddress/name of share/</path>
</bookmark>

I'm not going to post on how to use Sharepoints as there are hundreds of places out there to figure it out, but this will allow you access to your music. Only thing is you won't be able to share all your iTunes playlists, but it works as a temporarily solution.

Hopefully iTunes gets overhauled ASAP, it's looking pretty beta.
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#5
I'm experiencing the same problem. The weird thing is, i get full connections...(5...^^) every time i open a share (no PW). This is not supposed to work through my router (wlan off, 2 systems running, blocked the ports for testing). Actually the sharing tab says "local network"...Like i said...weird....

Besides i wonder what Apple could have changed inside daap. I guess the prob is, that there won't be specs for daap again, thus no reversed engineered solution for some time. Back to smb it is then....but zapping through 9000+ tracks via smb sucks big time...reaction is much quicker through daap.

If anyone got the time to get into the problem, please try to implement daap passwords as well....thx...Rolleyes
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#6
Same problem here.

I think it might be to do with the fact that iTunes now has multiple libraries, not just one anymore. There would probably have to be some reference that we now need to supply xbmc to point to the right library.
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#7
monitron, that's actually a misnomer about iTunes 7, all the metadata is still held in one database/library. iTunes 7 simply reads that data and separates it on the UI into types of media such as shows, music, movies... I am still trying to figure out why they are referring to this as "multiple libraries" when it's really just a change in the way the information from the single library is displayed. It is possible to manage multiple libraries in iTunes (and has been for a couple of versions) by holding down the option key on your mac when launching the application.
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#8
Lightbulb 
Hi there,

So I believe, according to what I've read from the developers of Slim Devices' Squeezebox, that the incompatibility with iTunes 7 comes not from a change in the DAAP protocol per se, but instead a change in the library XML schema. This makes sense, because you can see that iTunes 7 still lists a user as being connected when XBMC attempts to connect.

Apparently, the Squeezebox (and more specifically the SlimServer software which runs on it) required little to no modification to handle iTunes 7. I would suggest that the developer(s) working on the iTunes 7 problem might want to ping them on their boards to ask for documentation on the XML schema changes:

http://slimdevices.com/dev_resources.html

Their software is also open source, so you might be able to glean something there, though obviously that would be far more time-consuming than just asking them. Wink

Hope that helps,
-petsounds
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#9
I believe they're talking about playing from the slimserver to iTunes, not the other way around.

The authentication routine has changed.

Note that iTunes 6 can't connect to an iTunes 7 share, but iTunes 7 can quite happily connect to an iTunes 6 share.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#10
jmarshall Wrote:I believe they're talking about playing from the slimserver to iTunes, not the other way around.

The authentication routine has changed.

Note that iTunes 6 can't connect to an iTunes 7 share, but iTunes 7 can quite happily connect to an iTunes 6 share.


Hi there,

Actually, the Squeezebox (and the Slimserver software which runs on it) is basically designed to stream a remote source to your stereo, not to house your music library (though it can be used to stream to iTunes as well). Most people use iTunes as the source for their Squeezebox.

This thread seems to indicate that the Squeezebox/Slimserver hasn't had much trouble with using iTunes 7 as their music source:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread...ght=iTunes

In particular this quote: "SlimServer has no issues with the slightly expanded XML schema in iTunes 7's metadata store." while not from a developer, seems to indicate that people are generally only having problems with the new album art format, and not basic music playback.

-brett
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#11
I don't have time to read all about it, but from a quick scan, it seems pretty clear it's using the iTunes xml database to get the song details, not using the DAAP protocol to share the tunes at all.

ie the slimserver software scans the underlying music files (and iTunes xml database file) and uses that to stream the files. People are just using iTunes to organise them - not to stream.

This is quite different than what XBMC is doing - XBMC acts as an iTunes client - all the streaming is handled by iTunes. Apple has changed the authentication (again) to try and stop this behaviour.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#12
jmarshall Wrote:I don't have time to read all about it, but from a quick scan, it seems pretty clear it's using the iTunes xml database to get the song details, not using the DAAP protocol to share the tunes at all.

ie the slimserver software scans the underlying music files (and iTunes xml database file) and uses that to stream the files. People are just using iTunes to organise them - not to stream.

This is quite different than what XBMC is doing - XBMC acts as an iTunes client - all the streaming is handled by iTunes. Apple has changed the authentication (again) to try and stop this behaviour.


I see, thanks for the clarification, and I'm sorry it wasn't of any use to you.

You know, as an Apple product(s) owner and a stockholder, I'm not too keen on Apple's strongarm tactics to protect its little fiefdom. They have no sense of community, and though they claim to beat the competition through innovation, they seem time and again to rely more on closed formats (taking a page from Microsoft) to keep their userbase locked in. And the message that sends is, "We don't believe our innovations are enough to compete on a level playing field with others." Open standards do not preclude one from innovating with software, and yet they only comply to such standards when market forces dictate they have no alternative. Paradoxically, they have always been on the forefront of establishling new hardware standards.
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#13
Here is some output from my network. I ran iTunes after starting the packet dump, loaded the remote iTunes library, and started playing a song.

http://prashant.is.here.googlepages.com/daap.pcap

I captured DAAP, but it also has some extra crap (SMB stuff from windows).

Anyway, hope this helps.
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#14
Any idea when we will see a fix to get XBMC working with iTunes 7? Seems something is wrong now with this new version of iTunes, can it be fixed?
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#15
Not easily, no. Apple changed the authentication protocol.

Cheers,
Jonathan

PS: Please search the forums before you post - I've answered this at least twice Wink
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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Apple iTunes 7 support (DAAP client with iTunes 7 compatibility)0