How to Share Your Music Library with Another PC or TV at Home

Most homes keep their music in one place - one PC with all the albums, films, music videos and karaoke songs. With Digital Center, that PC can share its libraries with the other screens in your home, so the TV in the kitchen or the screen in the kids' room plays the same music without copying a single file. This guide shows how to set up sharing on the main machine, connect the other screens with a six-digit code, and decide who gets what.

How it works

One machine - usually the PC where your music already lives - shares its libraries over your home network. Every other Digital Center screen in the home adds that machine once, and from then on its music, films, music videos and karaoke songs appear in that screen's own centers, side by side with anything the screen has itself. Nothing is copied: the files stay on the main machine and are played from there when someone presses play.

Guests never see where a song comes from - it is simply in the library. Only you, in Administration, can see which machine holds what.

What you need

• A main machine with Digital Center Home or Professional and your libraries - music, films, music videos and karaoke.
• One or more extra screens - each a Windows PC with Digital Center, for example a small PC behind a TV. An extra screen can run Room, Home or Professional.
• A home network that all the machines are on.

Step 1: Turn on sharing on the main machine

On the main machine, go to Administration and choose Sharing (in the Machine group).

1. 1

   Switch sharing on

   Turn on Share the libraries with other screens. It is off until you turn it on.
2. 2

   Choose what to share

   Four switches appear: Share the music, Share the films, Share the music videos and Share the karaoke songs. All four are on to begin with - switch off any library you want to keep to this machine.
3. 3

   Name the machine

   Under The name other screens see, type a name such as "Living room". Leave it empty to use the computer's own name.

While sharing is on, the main machine stays ready for the other screens even when Digital Center's own screen is closed, and it no longer goes to sleep - its display may still turn off. Turn on Start sharing when the machine turns on if the shared libraries should be available again after a restart without anyone opening Digital Center on that machine.

Step 2: Let a screen in with a code

The quickest way in a home is the card Share with all my screens on the Sharing page. Choose Share and show a code. The machine makes sure sharing is on, sets up one person called "Home" with access to everything it shares, and shows a six-digit code.

The code works once, for five minutes. For the next screen, show a new code.

Step 3: Add the main machine on the extra screen

Go to the extra screen - the one in the kitchen, say.

1. 1

   Open Other machines

   In Administration, choose Other machines (in the Playback group).
2. 2

   Search

   Press Search for machines. The screen looks for Digital Center machines on the network and lists the ones it finds by name and address.
3. 3

   Choose and type the code

   Pick the main machine and type the six-digit code it is showing. The screen says Connected to the other machine, and the code is used up.

Within moments, the shared music, films, music videos and karaoke songs appear in the extra screen's centers. On the main machine, the code card confirms which screen got in.

Step 4: Decide who gets what (optional)

"Share with all my screens" gives every screen everything. If you want more control - for example the kids' room gets the music and the children's films, but not the rest - use the other two cards on the Sharing page instead:

• People who may connect - choose Add person. Give the person a name and password, and choose which libraries they may see. For each library you can also pick certain folders; pick no folders to give them all of that library.
• Connect a screen with a code - choose who the screen should get in as (Let the screen in as), then Show a code, and type it on the other screen as in Step 3.

A screen that got in with a user name and password instead of a code works the same way: on the extra screen, choose Add a machine and Use a user name and password instead.

Step 5: Fine-tune on the extra screen

On the extra screen, Administration, Other machines lists every machine it plays from, with how many songs, films and videos each one lends out and when it last answered. For each machine you can choose:

• Hide songs this machine already has - if the extra screen also has music of its own, a song both machines have is shown once - this machine's own copy.
• Show which machine a song comes from - marks shared songs with the machine's name in its own color. Only shown while the kiosk is unlocked, never to guests.
• Show its library while it cannot be reached - keeps the machine's songs visible while it is switched off (they play again when it is back).

When the main machine is switched off

If the main machine is off or unreachable, its songs disappear from the extra screens' libraries and queues, but they stay in your saved playlists. When the machine comes back, they return on their own - nothing is lost and nothing needs to be set up again. The extra screen keeps checking quietly and picks the machine up within about a minute of it coming back.

Taking access back

On the main machine, the Sharing page lists Screens with access. Remove a screen to shut it out at once - for example a screen you have sold or moved to another home. The other screens are not affected.

Questions people ask

Do the files get copied to the other screens?

No. The files stay on the main machine and are played from there over your network when someone presses play. That is why the main machine has to be switched on.

Can a screen with its own music also play from the main machine?

Yes. A Home or Professional screen can have its own libraries and play from the main machine at the same time. Both appear together in the same centers, and Hide songs this machine already has keeps songs that both machines have from showing up twice.

Does it work over the internet?

Sharing is made for the machines in one home, on the same network.

Can the phones follow along?

Yes. Phone remote control works on every screen, and guests pick shared songs from their phone just like local ones.

See the editions on the pricing page, or read the manual.