Sync Your Media with Every Device in Home

Do you want to stream your media in different devices of your home? Microsoft and Apple have both improved the overall home networking experience on Macs and Windows computers — making it easier to share content on a local network — but still, users want to access that content via other devices.

Thank god, a growing number of companies are developing software and services to make sharing content across devices easier. We’ve used some of these free services and have listed below :

1. MediaRover (Mac and Windows)

About It: MediaRover software automatically collects, stores, and organizes every family members' songs and playlists in a shared folder on the network. Add a song to iTunes on any computer in the house, and everyone in the family gets a copy to put on their iPods. Change the metadata in any library in the MediaRover family and everyone gets the same groomed data. MediaRover's combined central library is also available to streaming devices on the home network. Point your Sonos, Squeezebox, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, media server, streaming DVR, or streaming Blu-Ray player at the MediaRover library and play your entire family's combined collection anywhere in the house.

Price: Free

Why We Like It: MediaRover is one of the best ways to manage and merge multiple iTunes libraries. When used with an NAS, it’s also a great way to keep a backup of all of your music files across a home network.

Who Should Use: Families with multiple computers and iTunes accounts will find MediaRover useful. Even if you just have one iTunes account, MediaRover is a great way to keep music synced across machines.

[ Download MediaRover ]

 

2. XBMC (Mac, Windows, Linux, Apple TV)

About It: XBMC, recursive acronym for "XBMC Media Center", is an award winning free and open source software media-player and entertainment hub for all your digital media. XBMC is a cross-platform software available for Linux, Mac OS X (Leopard, Tiger, and Apple TV), Microsoft Windows operating-system, as well as the original Xbox game-console. With translations to over 30 languages for a worldwide audience.

Price: Free

Why We Like It: XBMC got its start as a media player mod for the original Xbox. Over the last 8 years, the project has continued to evolve and add features, as well as support for new platforms. The popular Boxee media center software is based on XBMC. XBMC is powerful, customizable and once set up, relatively easy to use.

Who Should Use: Once configured, XBMC can be safely used by people of all technical stripes. The initial configuration process, though, might be daunting and overwhelming for someone who isn’t well-versed in the minutia of HTPC setup and with the nature of setting up shared folders over a network. To get the most out of XBMC, users really need to spend time playing with the options (there are tons of them) and settings. Still, the out of the box experience is a nice compliment to a computer or laptop hooked up to an HDTV.

 [ Download XBMC ]

 

3. Libox (Mac and Windows)

About It: Libox makes it easy to access all your local high definition media from anywhere, and share it with friends and family as well. Signing up is quick and easy, using either your email address, or you can choose to connect Libox to your Facebook account. Once you’ve signed up and activated your account, you will be prompted to download the application, which is currently available for both Windows and Mac. It allows you to easily access your files remotely and share them with other Libox users. Libox offers unlimited storage, and allows you and your friends to access your files at any time, at the caveat that your computer has to be turned on, but you do not need to leave the application itself running.

Price: Free

Why We Like It: Libox is very easy to set up and use and is a great way to keep your content accessible across devices. It is a great way to solve the “what computer is that video/photo/song on?” dilemma. The latest editions to the iPhone app make sharing and accessing media from a mobile device even easier.

Who Should Use: Libox is for users who primarily access content from a computer or a mobile device. Although TV apps are in the works, Libox is a computer/laptop/iPhone/iPad device for now.

[ Download Libox ]