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iTunes NAS

bwfc0907

bwfc0907

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 27, 2008
265
14
Bolton, UK
Is it possible to put all my iTunes music, movies, apps, etc on a NAS so I don't need to turn on my PC & stream from that? I do have music match so not sure if it's needed for music. I stream to an AppleTV.

Would it be capable of streaming movies to 2 different AppleTV's at the same time?

Need as cheap as possible if anybody could recommend one & this would work.
 
You can if you jailbreak.
Out of the box, the ATV can only stream from a computer running full-blown iTunes but once jailbroken there are apps like Plex and XBMC that can stream from an NAS.
Streaming to two at once would depend on the NAS and your network but it should be doable.

There is no jailbreak yet for the ATV3 but give it time.
 
I Have a synology nas that works perfectly and i dont have wireless n network.

I have two apple tvs in the house and havnt had a problem when running both.

The atv needs to be jailbroken. Firecore is installed on both and i find the setup and navigation much easier than xbmc or plex. Both of those have a more polished view with the scraping of metadata for info and artwork but can be laggy and need to reboot every now and then. Also i find it annoying to have to come out of the programs to use other atv features.

Pick up a synology 212+ or an older 211+ (what i have) on sale. The nas has a ton of useful features and a meadi server and torrent client built in.

No problems playing back low bitrate 1080p or any 720p rip ive tried.

Best part is that to use the atv you wont need any computer on and the nas has an auto on/off timer function built in.
 
Need as cheap as possible if anybody could recommend one & this would work
Click to expand...

Build a Windows Home Server 2011 using an old pc or cobbled together components (needs to be a 64 bit processor ). Install iTunes and iHomeserver (runs iTunes as a service) and you can access your itunes library from any iOS device on your network with the added advantage that you are not reliant on jailbreaks being available.
 
I've never understood why people are recommending used Mac mini's to use as an iTunes server. You could get a netbook, PC laptop or PC desktop for a lot less doing the exact same thing. In this case, Windows or OS X doesn't really matter.
 
Gjwilly said:
You can if you jailbreak.
Out of the box, the ATV can only stream from a computer running full-blown iTunes but once jailbroken there are apps like Plex and XBMC that can stream from an NAS.
Streaming to two at once would depend on the NAS and your network but it should be doable.

There is no jailbreak yet for the ATV3 but give it time.
Click to expand...

But would that mean i need to leave the tv turned on right?
 
hafr said:
I've never understood why people are recommending used Mac mini's to use as an iTunes server. You could get a netbook, PC laptop or PC desktop for a lot less doing the exact same thing. In this case, Windows or OS X doesn't really matter.
Click to expand...

Same here. I got $150 in parts and put together a brand new PC tower that runs 24/7. The sole purpose of which is to serve a full on iTunes all the time, and also serves as my downloading machine. Hard drives are the expensive piece of the equation.
 
hafr said:
I've never understood why people are recommending used Mac mini's to use as an iTunes server. You could get a netbook, PC laptop or PC desktop for a lot less doing the exact same thing. In this case, Windows or OS X doesn't really matter.
Click to expand...

Tiny physical footprint. Equally tiny power footprint. Zero hackage to get everything to work (although this is less important than the other 2 reasons since iTunes runs on Windows, as you point out).

Edit: forgot to add - trivial to run it headless and remote administer via screen sharing from another Mac. Although again, you can do this on Windows too with RDC.
 
alFR said:
Tiny physical footprint. Equally tiny power footprint. Zero hackage to get everything to work (although this is less important than the other 2 reasons since iTunes runs on Windows, as you point out).

Edit: forgot to add - trivial to run it headless and remote administer via screen sharing from another Mac. Although again, you can do this on Windows too with RDC.
Click to expand...

Get an Acer Aspire One and your max power consumption will be pretty much at the most what a Mac Mini uses in idle mode, the physical footprint is smaller (a bit wider, but not as deep and not as high) and you have a screen/trackpad/keyboard which removes the need to remote control it. (I like being able to remote control a server, but not needing to do it.)

As you say it's a bit trickier, but in no way is it difficult-difficult. As I said, I still can't see why a Mac Mini would be to prefer. Unless you're willing to pay the premium for the design, I'd rather have a Mac Mini visible than an Acer Aspire One ;)
 
bwfc0907 said:
Why a used mac mini. Does the AppleTV need to still be jailbroken?
Click to expand...

It's cheap. It's powerful. It's silent. It's guaranteed to be compatible with your Apple TV. It uses little power (15-20 watts at idle). It's expandable with USB and Firewire. Mac OS X will do RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 if you want redundancy.

If you have an Airport Extreme base station, you can let the mini sleep and the AEBS will wake it for you automatically on demand when the Apple TV needs to talk to iTunes.

You don't have to jailbreak anything, you don't have to deal with Windows (or the Windows version of iTunes which is reputed to be nowhere near as nice as iTunes for OS X).

A.
 
hafr said:
Get an Acer Aspire One and your max power consumption will be pretty much at the most what a Mac Mini uses in idle mode, the physical footprint is smaller (a bit wider, but not as deep and not as high) and you have a screen/trackpad/keyboard which removes the need to remote control it. (I like being able to remote control a server, but not needing to do it.)
Click to expand...

True: can you run the Aspire One with the lid shut though? If you can't, it could be more difficult to fit on a shelf/rack.

hafr said:
As you say it's a bit trickier, but in no way is it difficult-difficult. As I said, I still can't see why a Mac Mini would be to prefer. Unless you're willing to pay the premium for the design, I'd rather have a Mac Mini visible than an Acer Aspire One ;)
Click to expand...

Horses for courses really, either is a good alternative. Some might prefer to stay all-Windows or all-Mac which might push them one way or the other.
 
alFR said:
True: can you run the Aspire One with the lid shut though? If you can't, it could be more difficult to fit on a shelf/rack.
Click to expand...

yes why wouldn't you be able to?

alFR said:
Horses for courses really, either is a good alternative. Some might prefer to stay all-Windows or all-Mac which might push them one way or the other.
Click to expand...

it really doesn't matter once you have iTunes installed apple Bonjour service does the rest, you literally just set up and go.

@Alrescha, what of that can't be done on windows? plug in a couple of external hard drives all netbooks come with at least 2 USBs, WoL works perfectly, iTunes is, in my experience, exactly the same as on a mac,
remember the computer in question doesn't need to be able to play the files only has to be able to push them over the network meaning 1080p stuff will work perfectly. no hacking/jailbreaking required.
 
alFR said:
True: can you run the Aspire One with the lid shut though? If you can't, it could be more difficult to fit on a shelf/rack.
Click to expand...
Yes, just tell Windows not to do anything when the lid closes.

You used to be able to do this in OS X as well, don't really understand why they removed the option of keeping the laptop running in clamshell mode...

Horses for courses really, either is a good alternative. Some might prefer to stay all-Windows or all-Mac which might push them one way or the other.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, I'm sorry if I came across as completely bashing the Mac Mini. I'm just curious to why Mac Mini "always" is the go to solution for an iTunes server according to most people (here on MR).

As I see it, there would be three acceptable reasons: you can't be bothered with setting up remote desktop on a Windows machine and want to stick to OS X for simplicity, you really love the design and don't want to have your iTunes server tucked away in a closet or something, or you're a fanboy.

That being said, if I'd get a server that's meant for more than just iTunes, I'd probably get a Mac Mini for simplicity...
 
alFR said:
True: can you run the Aspire One with the lid shut though? If you can't, it could be more difficult to fit on a shelf/rack.
Click to expand...
You can run pretty much any Windows laptop with the lid closed. You just have to set the Windows behavior for when the lid is closed.

On Windows 7 it's in Control Panel-> Power-> Choose what closing the lid does

Set both Battery and Plugged in to "Do Nothing".

Easy peasy.
 
Last edited:
hafr said:
You used to be able to do this in OS X as well, don't really understand why they removed the option of keeping the laptop running in clamshell mode...
Click to expand...

They didn't. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131

Absolutely, I'm sorry if I came across as completely bashing the Mac Mini. I'm just curious to why Mac Mini "always" is the go to solution for an iTunes server according to most people (here on MR).
Click to expand...

You're kidding, right? You're on MacRumors.com and you don't see why people might be a bit pro-Mac?

As I see it, there would be three acceptable reasons: you can't be bothered with setting up remote desktop on a Windows machine and want to stick to OS X for simplicity, you really love the design and don't want to have your iTunes server tucked away in a closet or something, or you're a fanboy.
Click to expand...

You appear to be one of those folks who thinks that Windows is the preferred solution and one needs exceptional reasons to use a Mac. There is a large body of folks who think the opposite. Or you're a hater.

A.
 
hafr said:
Get an Acer Aspire One and your max power consumption will be pretty much at the most what a Mac Mini uses in idle mode, the physical footprint is smaller (a bit wider, but not as deep and not as high) and you have a screen/trackpad/keyboard which removes the need to remote control it. (I like being able to remote control a server, but not needing to do it.)

As you say it's a bit trickier, but in no way is it difficult-difficult. As I said, I still can't see why a Mac Mini would be to prefer. Unless you're willing to pay the premium for the design, I'd rather have a Mac Mini visible than an Acer Aspire One ;)
Click to expand...

I got an Acer Aspire Revo 3700... it's a nettop. It has the innards of a netbook in a Mac Mini sized PC. It runs iTunes like a champ, and for 300 bucks it was a lot less of an investment. I use a combo of SplashTop Remote and Windows Remote Desktop to control it without a monitor. Though, in all honesty, since it sits under my TV, I also got an HDMI cable. That way I can use it with my TV if I really need to.

For my money that was the way to go. Add a NAS or an external hard drive for another little bit of money and you've got all you'll need if you're just looking for an iTunes Server.
 
alFR said:
Tiny physical footprint. Equally tiny power footprint. Zero hackage to get everything to work (although this is less important than the other 2 reasons since iTunes runs on Windows, as you point out).

Edit: forgot to add - trivial to run it headless and remote administer via screen sharing from another Mac. Although again, you can do this on Windows too with RDC.
Click to expand...

Also add to the list the "wake on network access" (the Mini sleeps when not in use, but wakes automatically via the Bonjour proxy when needed). I don't know if this can be done with a windows machine.
 
One important factor to consider is that running a NAS without iTunes running essentially means you cannot stream any DRMed media content (movies, TV shows etc) purchased from iTunes.

For those who mainly get their content from iTunes, neither jailbreaking or an iTunes server is the answer.
 
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