IPhone – Can’t I use iTunes playlists from a shared library on another computer

data synchronizationiphoneitunessmart-playlist

I've got a media center running iTunes, and it has some smart playlists set up.
I've also got a desktop computer running iTunes, with which I sync my iPhone.

I want to use the music and the smart playlists from the media center, and not the few songs I've got on the desktop computer. I thought that I could set up the media center to share its library and select that in the iPhone sync settings, but I don't see it.

I do see the media center's shared library on my desktop, and the songs play, so that bit works. I don't see the media center's smart playlists in the desktop's iTunes and also not in the desktop's sync settings.

Is this just not possible, or what did I miss? Both computers are running Windows, but I'm hoping that iTunes would work the same way regardless.

Bonus points for getting the star-rating changes I make on the iPhone synced back to the media center…

Best Answer

You can only sync local music (music that exists in the iTunes library on the computer you sync your iPhone with).