iTunes Sever?

[kiranmk2]

I sure hope so. I'd love to buy one. Right now I'm using a D-Link DNS-323, which is a great little unit, if a little bit slow (but that could be my WD "green" drive). It's sort of a glaringly obvious hole in Apple's living room solution.



Pretty much the ability to watch your movies and listen to your music without having to keep a computer turned on and running iTunes. It's a convenience thing as much as a power-saving thing.

For example, in my house, I have moved all of my mp3's, my movies (from non-iTunes sources), photos, etc. onto my NAS. The D-Link NAS offers DLNA streaming and iTunes sharing (the simple kind). So on any computer, I can play my music through iTunes, or I can navigate to the shared folder to access all of my other files. On my PS3, I can watch any movie or play any music. I have a Sonos home music system that can also play my music. So can my iPad. All of this can happen whether my Mac is turned on or off.

Meanwhile, I recently got an Apple TV around Christmas time. Great little box. I bought a movie from iTunes, so it's sitting on the iTunes library on my Mac. If I want to watch the movie on my TV, I need to go over to my Mac, turn it on and start iTunes first.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that if you shared your music on a NAS via a built-in 'iTunes server' (so the files show up in iTunes as a network share rather than a local library), then you can't sync these files to an iPhone/iPod. Also, does iTunes keep ratings and playcounts for for shared music?

I have my music on a NAS, but tell iTunes that the NAS is where my local library is (and turned off the iTunes server - it continuously spins the drive in my Linkstation).

 

[lukecro]

My plan is a bit of a hybrid. As I mentioned before the iMac will be home to the iTunes database, but I plan to keep the actual media files on my Mediasmart server.

I think I'll try that as well: Putting the MP3s on the NAS but keeping the iTunes library (database/index/XML) on my iMac.

So . . . I'd just go into iTunes Preferences -> Advanced and change the "iTunes Media folder location" to point to a folder on my NAS where I'll place all of my music folders, right?

Is there anything I need to do to make sure I don't accidentally move the iTunes library to the NAS along with the music files? I don't see how I'd make that mistake, but I think I have before and would like to avoid doing things wrong again

Also, once everything is working between the iMac and NAS, would it be advisable to copy my iTunes library from my iMac over to my Macbook - or should I skip that step and instead just go into the iTunes Advanced Preferences on the Macbook and set the "folder location" to look at the same folder on the NAS as my iMac, so it can index all the same files?

 

[newagemac]

I'm still trying to figure out why so many people with iMacs and Mac Minis actually turn their computers off and thus requiring these extra server solutions for iTunes when iTunes already acts as a server with Home Sharing. Desktop computers do not need to be turned off. It's actually worse on them to turn them on and off again than to leave them running 24/7. I can see doing it for laptops but not desktops.

 

[notjustjay]

I'm still trying to figure out why so many people with iMacs and Mac Minis actually turn their computers off and thus requiring these extra server solutions for iTunes when iTunes already acts as a server with Home Sharing. Desktop computers do not need to be turned off. It's actually worse on them to turn them on and off again than to leave them running 24/7. I can see doing it for laptops but not desktops.

Power consumption, mostly.

There's also some wariness about hard drive longevity. If I have a NAS, the drive powers up when I am accessing files and it can power down when I am not. If I have a computer running as a server, the drive is also in use whenever the computer decides to run updates or do whatever else it feels like doing.

But I have a MacBook Pro which goes to sleep when I'm not using it.

 

[lukecro]

I'm still trying to figure out why so many people with iMacs and Mac Minis actually turn their computers off and thus requiring these extra server solutions for iTunes when iTunes already acts as a server with Home Sharing. Desktop computers do not need to be turned off. It's actually worse on them to turn them on and off again than to leave them running 24/7. I can see doing it for laptops but not desktops.

Whether or not you actually turn your main computer off, a NAS still offers benefits:

- Save space on your computer's hard drive since your media files are all on the NAS; plus there'll be less wear-and-tear on your computer's hard drive since the NAS is serving the media.

- No need to clutter your computer desk with external hard drives for media storage and backups, since the NAS can be hidden away on a shelf or in a closet somewhere.

- Access your media files and perform backups from your other computers and devices without having to have your main computer powered-on or woken-up from sleep . . . Easy, centralized access without the need to spin up your computer's hard drive or drain your computer's resources while multitasking (e.g., my wife can watch movies on TV via the Boxee Box off of the NAS without slowing down my computer while I'm trying to do something on the iMac).

- And, like notjustjay said, power consumption! Using a modern NAS can offer great power savings, when looked at cumulatively over the course of a year, since a dedicated NAS requires less power to run than a computer, especially if it's got power-saving options and "green" drives installed. Good for the environment and your electricity bill.