Movies Anywhere, Google Play Music lets you stream iTunes library on NVIDIA Shield
If you’re an iTunes user, and have bought music and movies from Apple, you can now stream your library on NVIDIA Shield.
You just need to take a few simple steps to tap into your purchases from the iTunes store.
For movies, this method also allows you to pull together whatever you have bought from iTunes, VUDU, Google Play, Prime Video and Fandango Now. Even as recently as a year ago, this kind of thing wasn’t so simple.
A lot of people have tried various workarounds due to restrictions caused by DRM (Digital Rights Management). Movies Anywhere changed the need for most of that when it launched late last year.
Google Play Music has been around for a while, but it’s upload feature that allows you to stream iTunes music is an under exploited one. There are still some limitations to what I’m going to show you. I’ll get back to that.
What we’re doing is importing our iTunes music library into Google Music Manager and aggregating our various movie collections to Movies Anywhere. Here are the steps you need to take.
Stream iTunes Music on Google Play Music
- Download purchased music to your MAC or PC
- Configure Google Music Manager to sync iTunes music (up to 20,000 songs)
- Play Music on SHIELD using Google Play Music app
If you’re using a Windows PC like me, you’ll want to do this with a Google Chrome browser before going to Google Play Music. Once you have the music manager open, you just need to upload your music files.
Watch iTunes movies on NVIDIA Shield with Movies Anywhere
- Create a Movies Anywhere account
- Link your media accounts (iTunes, Prime Video, etc.) to Movie Anywhere
- Add Movies Anywhere app to NVIDIA Shield
- Watch movies purchased on iTunes on any partner app, including Google Play Movies
For the purposes of testing this out, I bought a 4K HDR version of “Blade Runner: The Final Cut” through the iTunes store. Once I purchased my movie and completed my transaction, I just hopped over to my Movies Anywhere account and linked my iTunes account. That’s all it takes.
The beauty of using a Movies Anywhere account is that you can legally aggregate movies that you bought from a number of platforms like iTunes, Amazon Prime Video and VUDU. So you don’t have to go hunting through your apps to watch a sweet 4K HDR movie on the Shield.
Limitations to know about with Movies Anywhere, Google Play Music
With importing your iTunes music to Google Play Music, there is one limitation. You’re maxed out on 20,000 songs. The upshot is using this method will make your music collection accessible in more ways than one, especially if you own any Android smartphones or other devices.
Movies distributed by Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate do not support Movies Anywhere. At least not yet. Hopefully that may change soon. But this is the best way to get movies and music from your iTunes library over to your Shield TV. So that’s it, now you can easily stream iTunes movies and music on the Shield.
What’s the first thing you’re going to watch or listen to from iTunes on the Shield? Tell fellow readers in the comments below.
Founder and Editor of The Cord Cutting Report. Before launching the site in 2016, he worked for more than two decades as a staff writer or correspondent for a number of daily newspapers, including The Boston Globe. His enthusiasm for tech began with the Atari 2600. Follow @james_kimble
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