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All iPads Trying to configure a music interface for my folks

R

Ravich

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 20, 2009
773
0
Portland, OR
For the past several years I have had my parents accessing an iTunes library stored on an external drive through an old laptop they didnt use anymore. It connects to their sound system in the TV room and works really well for them.

Unfortunately, they have some new furniture that makes the laptop quite impractical, and I'm trying to figure out a way to set the system up so that they can access itunes via an iPad.


The problem is that their music library is massive, so putting all of the music on the iPad is completely out of the question. From what I've researched, my options are pretty limited. I cant connect an external drive to the iPad, and even if I managed to find a wireless drive that worked, the iPad wouldnt be able to access an itunes library that isnt on the iPad's storage.

I'm trying to figure out what the other options might be. iCloud doesnt offer enough storage space, so that's a no go. I'm currently uploading their library to google play for free, but so far I havent found any promising leads on actually being able to access the music in iOS with a decent interface (search function, etc). Is there any way to allow the iPad access to a music library on another mac without having the iPad actually storing the music internally?

Would apple TV help in any way? My mom just brought one to me and said my dad bought it 8 months ago and forgot about it :rolleyes:


I might just end up getting them any sort of android device that can access the google play music smoothly, but since they like apple devices, I thought I'd give this one last shot.
 
Just a thought: Put the music on a refurb Mac mini attached to the TV (apple wireless keyboard and trackpad). Use the iTunes Remote app from the ipad to control playback on the Mac mini.
 
How much music are we talking about?

An iTunes Match subscription will get you 25k songs in the cloud, accessible from the iPad and from the ATV interface.

If that's not enough, you really need a local server, which can be any old computer with enough storage running iTunes. You can either connect it directly, as suggested, using the remote app, or if they have a computer elsewhere in the house that can do double duty, use the AppleTV and Airplay from the iPad.
 
Wouldn't Home Sharing work for this? Stick all the music on a computer somewhere in the house and access it all through the iPad that's hooked up to the stereo.

I haven't played much with Home Sharing, but I was under the impression this scenario is why it exists.
 
I just found out about iTunes match, so I'm setting it up right now.

That lets the iPad serve as the interface, but it still needs a physical connection to the sound system. Will AppleTV let me circumvent that?
 
iTunes Match turned out to be perfect. They can access their entire library from a single iPad, which is great. Unfortunately their receiver doesnt have HDMI so the AppleTV will have to wait.


What I'm wondering, though, is whether iPad can serve as a remote interface for a Mac Mini or something along those lines.

A remote keyboard and mouse would be a hassle for them, I think, but it would be quite manageable if they only had to keep track of the iPad which they will be using for other purposes anyway.
 
If their receiver has an optical digital input they can use that rather than hdmi. You can also get a small converter box to convert that to analog RCA if necessary. Their tv may also do hdmi pass through with analog out - so you'd plug in to the tv via hdmi and then take RCA out from the tv to the receiver.

Further, if they only care about audio, you could get an Airport Express which can do analog audio out directly.

What kind of remote interface are you thinking of? What do you want to control?
 
Remote interface that substitutes for a keyboard and mouse.

As in they use the mac mini that outputs video to their TV, but they control it with the ipad instead of having to carry around a separate remote keyboard and mouse in order to interact with the mac mini.
 
It's certainly do-able, but I fail to see the point for your parents. It's far more complex than them just using the appletv.
 
Ravich said:
Remote interface that substitutes for a keyboard and mouse.

As in they use the mac mini that outputs video to their TV, but they control it with the ipad instead of having to carry around a separate remote keyboard and mouse in order to interact with the mac mini.
Click to expand...

I think the remote app + Apple TV shoud do that.
 
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