[Macworld]

Post your comments for Organize and play your media from a NAS here

[bastion]

 Macworld, on 08 November 2011 - 04:01 AM, said:

However, if you want to create playlists, you must do so within the NAS’s interface inside your Web browser. I prefer to manage this kind of thing just as I would if my media files were stored on my Mac. Plus, using this scheme, you can create different playlists on each Mac.
...
Using ChronoSync I created a schedule on my Mac Pro that, at the end of each day, synchronizes iTunes’ database files (found in the iTunes folder)—Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, iTunes Library.itl, and iTunes Library.xml—between the Mac Pro and the other Macs scattered around the house.

You go on to note the little flaw here. In light of that, it's almost pointless to call attention to the potential value of having customized playlists on each machine earlier in the article. What you really need is a tool that will compare the local library database to the media collection, and report and resolve discrepancies. Sharing iTunes library files among users weakens one of iTunes' most powerful consumption features: Smart playlists based on personal factors like ratings, last-play-time and the like.

Also, there's no value in copying the XML file. iTunes never reads it unless explicitly directed to do so and recreates it every time any information in the real (binary) library file changes.

[btb83]

1) You don't mention syncing media to iOS devices. I assume the NAS would not change this. However, most people I know sync playlists to their iOS device (since the alternatives are syncing everything or individually selecting what gets synced). In our family, it would be a nuisance for everyone to have to have everyone else's playlists (iTunes needs a way to organize playlists... and iPhoto needs a way to organize albums, etc.).

2) When a laptop leaves home, it no longer has access to the NAS (if you have remote access, still applies to a situation where the laptop leaves home and has no internet connection). You said that you did not delete the original files from each computer, but it iTunes is "pointed at" the NAS, it can't manange the local files.

All in all, I like the idea of an NAS as a central repository (e.g. burn entire CD collection to NAS), but then use it as a source to copy music to individual computers (laptops), which would have their own playlists. For a computer that never leaves home, the NAS can also be the location for its iTunes library as you did here for your MacPro.

3) You didn't share your backup strategy for the NAS. You do have a backup strategy, don't you Chris? I'm surprised you didn't get a two-disk NAS for that purpose?


4) off-topic: has something changed with the log-in here? I usually type comment and then log-in; this time that caused the comment to disappear (or else I'm about to duplicate it).

[bastion]

 btb83, on 08 November 2011 - 06:29 AM, said:

2) When a laptop leaves home, it no longer has access to the NAS (if you have remote access, still applies to a situation where the laptop leaves home and has no internet connection). You said that you did not delete the original files from each computer, but it iTunes is "pointed at" the NAS, it can't manange the local files.

If you retain the pre-merger library database filled with references to local content, you can get iTunes to use it by holding down option at launch and opening it explicitly.

Quote

All in all, I like the idea of an NAS as a central repository (e.g. burn entire CD collection to NAS), but then use it as a source to copy music to individual computers (laptops), which would have their own playlists.

This can be a terrible waste of space, especially for machines that are used as portables and thus typically don't have access to aribtrary amounts of local storage.

Quote

3) You didn't share your backup strategy for the NAS. You do have a backup strategy, don't you Chris? I'm surprised you didn't get a two-disk NAS for that purpose?

FWIW, our media collection is on a mirrored RAID attached to our AirPort base station. I also periodically use rsync (wrapped up in an automator action and available through the Scripts menu) to maintain an up-to-date copy on the same drive my desktop uses for Time Machine.

[Chris Breen]

 btb83, on 08 November 2011 - 06:29 AM, said:

3) You didn't share your backup strategy for the NAS. You do have a backup strategy, don't you Chris? I'm surprised you didn't get a two-disk NAS for that purpose?

Of course. But I wanted the article to be strictly focused on a NAS as media server rather than "5 Things You Can Do With a NAS."

That doesn't mean that such an article won't one day appear, but it's not this one.

[Chris Breen]

 bastion, on 08 November 2011 - 05:26 AM, said:

What you really need is a tool that will compare the local library database to the media collection, and report and resolve discrepancies. Sharing iTunes library files among users weakens one of iTunes' most powerful consumption features: Smart playlists based on personal factors like ratings, last-play-time and the like.

I'd love a tool like that. What do you recommend?

[bastion]

 Chris Breen, on 08 November 2011 - 07:54 AM, said:

 bastion, on 08 November 2011 - 05:26 AM, said:

What you really need is a tool that will compare the local library database to the media collection, and report and resolve discrepancies. Sharing iTunes library files among users weakens one of iTunes' most powerful consumption features: Smart playlists based on personal factors like ratings, last-play-time and the like.

I'd love a tool like that. What do you recommend?

Unfortunately, the only one I know of is the one that I wrote to manage our setup at home. My wife's notebook with only her account, my notebook with accounts for me and our daughter and my desktop with accounts for all 3 of us. It's functional but I've never gotten a chance to really polish it up to the point where I'm comfortable with a general release.

[Chris Breen]

 bastion, on 08 November 2011 - 08:03 AM, said:

Unfortunately, the only one I know of is the one that I wrote to manage our setup at home. My wife's notebook with only her account, my notebook with accounts for me and our daughter and my desktop with accounts for all 3 of us. It's functional but I've never gotten a chance to really polish it up to the point where I'm comfortable with a general release.

Bummer. And there's the rub. I did explore other ways to do this but couldn't find a tool like you described, so yes, normal people are left with a not-quite-ideal solution where you manage your media from a single computer. Still -- at least in my case -- that's a small price to pay for its broader availability.

[davidagalvan]

Another great how-to-home-media-management article by Chris Breen! I'll bookmark it as I'll probably need to address this some time in the future.

[icerabbit]

Excellent article, Chris

I have been in a similar situation with files scattered around systems and network drives. Hopefully this winter I'll finally get on top of sorting all files (not just media).

I'm surprised you didn't spring for a dual drive NAS, for the built-in redundancy.

I think you made a good choice with Synology. I like them. They're not perfect and tend to have a few bugs in their firmware, but at least they respond to issues, continually work to fix things and roll out new features with updated versions of disk station manager. Unlike some other manufacturers, where you're stuck with what you have. That was a large part of my decision to try synology several years ago.

[Chris Breen]

 icerabbit, on 08 November 2011 - 09:18 AM, said:

I'm surprised you didn't spring for a dual drive NAS, for the built-in redundancy.

Although it's all true, there's a measure of artifice to the story, as there is to all stories like this. And that is that I tried to not scare off readers with the price of admission. If I'd gone with a multi-bay NAS, populated with high-capacity, fast drives, lots of people would have reacted with "Sounds cool, but more than I can afford. Next!" I wanted to show that this could be done without breaking the bank.

I agree that redundancy is a good thing (and I have that in the form of copies of my media on other drives not integrated with the NAS).

[btb83]

 bastion, on 08 November 2011 - 07:16 AM, said:

 btb83, on 08 November 2011 - 06:29 AM, said:

All in all, I like the idea of an NAS as a central repository (e.g. burn entire CD collection to NAS), but then use it as a source to copy music to individual computers (laptops), which would have their own playlists.

This can be a terrible waste of space, especially for machines that are used as portables and thus typically don't have access to aribtrary amounts of local storage.

If you copy "everything". But you have to copy something if you want music on the portable when there is no access to the NAS.

In the case of music, the NAS might have lossless versions and you would compress the copies on the portable.

[btb83]

 Chris Breen, on 08 November 2011 - 08:11 AM, said:

 bastion, on 08 November 2011 - 08:03 AM, said:

Unfortunately, the only one I know of is the one that I wrote to manage our setup at home. My wife's notebook with only her account, my notebook with accounts for me and our daughter and my desktop with accounts for all 3 of us. It's functional but I've never gotten a chance to really polish it up to the point where I'm comfortable with a general release.

Bummer. And there's the rub. I did explore other ways to do this but couldn't find a tool like you described, so yes, normal people are left with a not-quite-ideal solution where you manage your media from a single computer. Still -- at least in my case -- that's a small price to pay for its broader availability.

If you select the "Add to Library..." command in iTunes and point it to the iTunes media folder that it is already using, it will scan that folder and add any new music to it's database (without duplicating what it already knows about). This is one way to keep the various computers updated (relative to the central repository) without having to share all the playlists or lose the playcounts. I haven't tried it, but it might be possible to write a script to have iTunes do this every time it is opened (annoying as you can't use iTunes until it finishes) or maybe once a month at 2 AM. I've just done it "manually" after adding music. One drawback (there are probably others) is that if you delete music from the central repository, iTunes won't realize that and update the database accordingly (true to its name, this command only adds, and will not subtract).

[spacekid]

I've tried using an iTunes folder on a MacMini running the server SW, but when my other MacMini using this remote iTunes folder reboots, lately it has trouble seeing it and reverts to the local iTunes folder. I then have to point it back to the server and having it clean things up. Not very friendly. It would be interesting to see if the NAS storage works better.