The holidays have calmed down and you finally have some time to spend with your new iPad. Buying an iPad is easy, using it is another story. Streaming video to your iPad will open up a whole new world of media heaven and offer endless possibilities without clogging your hard drive. It is easy and I’ll tell you how to do it.
Watching video on your iPad can be one of the coolest functions of the gadget. Viewing media on the iPad has never been clearer but what if you have a big movie collection? Sure you can upload the movies to your iPad through iTunes but the limited space will clog your iPad hard drive quick. The solution is easy. Stream your movies from your computer to your iPad without having to download them and take him hard drive space.
There are a few different iPad apps that you can use to stream your media but the Stream ToMe app seems to be the most popular. Stream ToMe is not free but for $3 it is one of the best bargains when you consider what you get and the amount of hard drive space you will save for a few measly bucks.
Once you purchase Stream ToMe you need to then download the server companion, Serve ToMe (how cute right?). Once downloaded, open Serve ToMe. Select the folders you wish to share from your computer. Obviously your computer needs to be a network which is accessible through your iPad.
Now that Seve ToMe is open, launch Stream ToMe from your iPad. Find the computer which houses the hard drive you wish to share and tap it. Once in, search through the folders and find the media of your choice. Open it and enjoy.
Notice I didn’t mention music much at all here. That is because Stream ToMe is not a great music utility. Playing music in Stream ToMe can be a bit frustrating as the program stops after every song. You can’t play a playlist or multiple songs. If you want to hear one song, fine. If you want a jukebox, forget it. Streaming video on the other hand is not a problem since most movies are at least 90 minutes.
There are some limitations. Protected video from the iTunes Store won’t play on Stream ToMe. On the flip side, Stream ToMe offers playback on a ton of different video types including; MOV, FLV, MP4, AVI, MPG, MKV, and WMV.
For $3 you can’t beat it if you are looking to stream movies. If you are looking to stream music I’d recommend a different app like ZumoCast.