I've got 2 upgraded Mac Minis with 750 GB hard drives sharing content for the home right now. One Mini is hosting music and apps and the other, TV and movies. We combined those with 6 of the new Apple TVs, 4 Airport Expresses, 1 Airport Extreme to host and a few iPhones and iPods to control things with.
Problem is, I've just about maxed out the HD space on both and there aren't very many options on where to go from here.
Switching over to an iMac (for iTunes hosting alone) is a huge waste of resources, electricity and a big pretty screen. Further, we've already got an iMac and a Mac Pro. Those machines are dedicated for work and play and I don't want to use them to host gobs of data. Buying another Mac Pro is absurd and forget the notebooks.
What is left in Apple's product line for us to use? Yet another Mac Mini to spread data around? Then we need to connect to the correct library just to fish out content that should be accessible in one place.
Suffice it to say, there doesn't seem to be any Apple products that fit this bill and that seems like a somewhat glaring omission in the product mix. Why isn't there an "Apple Media Server" or something like that - easily connect with an iPad or similar and add content via iTunes, network or USB transport.
I know there are other options like building a noisy small form factor PC shell stuffed with a few HDs. But again, even that seems like a waste of resources.
What about using a NAS with an iTunes server? I've been looking at the Synology NAS DS410 kit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108050
According to the Synology website, this NAS kit does support iTunes server. Anyone have any experience setting things up this way? Does it stream well? Is it easy to browse and buy new content? Can I, for example, log onto the Synology NAS system and buy content off the iTunes store, watch it download then quickly stream to an Apple TV? OR, do we need to buy from another authorized machine, then transfer to the NAS first? In which case, not a very family friendly option.
Your input and assistance is appreciated. Thanks.
Problem is, I've just about maxed out the HD space on both and there aren't very many options on where to go from here.
Switching over to an iMac (for iTunes hosting alone) is a huge waste of resources, electricity and a big pretty screen. Further, we've already got an iMac and a Mac Pro. Those machines are dedicated for work and play and I don't want to use them to host gobs of data. Buying another Mac Pro is absurd and forget the notebooks.
What is left in Apple's product line for us to use? Yet another Mac Mini to spread data around? Then we need to connect to the correct library just to fish out content that should be accessible in one place.
Suffice it to say, there doesn't seem to be any Apple products that fit this bill and that seems like a somewhat glaring omission in the product mix. Why isn't there an "Apple Media Server" or something like that - easily connect with an iPad or similar and add content via iTunes, network or USB transport.
I know there are other options like building a noisy small form factor PC shell stuffed with a few HDs. But again, even that seems like a waste of resources.
What about using a NAS with an iTunes server? I've been looking at the Synology NAS DS410 kit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108050
According to the Synology website, this NAS kit does support iTunes server. Anyone have any experience setting things up this way? Does it stream well? Is it easy to browse and buy new content? Can I, for example, log onto the Synology NAS system and buy content off the iTunes store, watch it download then quickly stream to an Apple TV? OR, do we need to buy from another authorized machine, then transfer to the NAS first? In which case, not a very family friendly option.
Your input and assistance is appreciated. Thanks.