Mac Mini G4 as media server

[lowonthe456]

I see them everywhere for cheap. What would be the drawback? I could see maybe using an aftermarket wifi adapter and an external hard drive.... Maybe jut a wiress drive? Or maybe uses iTunes on it to serve an appletv?

Thoughts?

 

[Aldaris]

More and more we are seeing this, and the only drawback is longevity in my mind... Question is when will Apple stop supporting iTunes with PowerPC (G4/G5) machines?

In the meantime I think it's the best solution out there especially with wifi syncing. It runs cooler, and quieter than most desktop setups, could easily work headless (remote control and screen share from another mac). Add a decent amount of external storage too.

 

[lowonthe456]

I feel the same.

I guess, as you stated iTunes won't run forever on G4, so I suppose it could just be a wireless drive.

My issue has been that my 2011 13" MBP is my only computer. I have an ATV2 and want some sort of wireless media server to host my iTunes so:
A) to not eats up the paltry 320 gb hdd on the MBP
B) for ATV to always have access to my media.

I was so disappointed that the Time Capsule refresh didn't offer that this year, it seemed a perfect fit and a way for Apple to allow consumers who only have ios5 devices to be able to continue to consume iTunes downloads long past their storage capacities.

If ATV could get movies and music like it can TV shows via iCloud this would be a non issue....but that isn't the case right now.

 

[chenks]

I see them everywhere for cheap. What would be the drawback? I could see maybe using an aftermarket wifi adapter and an external hard drive.... Maybe jut a wiress drive? Or maybe uses iTunes on it to serve an appletv?

Thoughts?

they work great.
i've been using one for a few years now (in headless mode).

bear in mind though that you are limited to using Leopard (no SL or Lion).