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I think I'm going to go with the all Synology method of dealing with music. I've loaded the media server packages and the Synology app is streaming the music well. I'm going to use a bluetooth receiver to stream to the stereo. We'll have a dedicated device in the living room to control the music (my Dad's old iPhone). Total cost: $30 for the bluetooth receiver.
Everyone can also stream to their own devices with either private or public playlists. Plus we can all have private music collections that merge with the public one. I think it should be pretty cool. The only downside is that playlists can only be created via the web interface.
On my setup, the library files (xml metadata and the .itl main library) are all on the NAS as well. I just have to make sure the NAS is mounted as a share before I start up iTunes on my laptop so it will read the correct library.
I have no idea how the iTunes sever works on my NAS, just that it's available. It sounds a lot more complicated than the Synology media server, but I imagine it would be great with an Apple TV unit.
Jessica -- It sounds like you're not using an iTunes server on the NAS; you're simply storing all your files (including the metadata) on it. So, you couldn't have more than one person connected to it at a time?
Gudanov -- Are you saying that the old iPhone will be the bluetooth transmitter for the living room? Cool idea! Please report back on how the Synology solution works for you. I've done some googling and a common thread seems to be that iTunes servers are very frustrating and don't really do what people would like them to do. It would be cool to know of an alternate superior solution to a central server with many clients.
I store all my iTunes files on the NAS, and I also point share software at it as well as iTunes. So the XML is there, as well as anything the other software likes, and when I rip new music, everything is updated.
Jessica -- It sounds like you're not using an iTunes server on the NAS; you're simply storing all your files (including the metadata) on it. So, you couldn't have more than one person connected to it at a time?
I guess - we have such a small apartment that it's never come up.
Yep, that's exactly what the the old iPhone will be for. I know the app works just great so far. The question will be the bluetooth streaming.
Gudanov -- Are you talking about the "Audio Station" referred to here? How do you add music to your library with this system? Is there a desktop app for PC/Macs or do you have to use a web-based app?
You have to use the web-based app or PC/Mac. I just set Window Media play to use the share as a library instead. I'm not a huge fan of the web-app, though it would be okay if you could access it directly instead of having to go through the DSM portal. The nice thing is that if you already have a NAS all of this stuff is free.
I add music by copying it into my music share which audio-station uses as it's library. It's all just file based, which I like.
So Audio Station periodically scans the files in its Music folder to add new ones to its database?
