Duke Weber

I upgraded from the previous Mac Mini (w 4G) to a the new one (with 2G). I was concerned that Pure Music would complain, but that hasn't happened. Make sure to install the right version of Pure Music, the one that says it's happy with 2G. Sound is great, and Menu Meters have yet to show any need for more memory. It tracks usage, and 2G has been plenty for everything I've played. Bel Canto Dac only talks to Mini at 24/96, so that might change w a new DAC that goes to 192. You can definitely upgrade (ie replace) the 2G in the mini, with up to 8G. I planned on doing that, but can't see any reason to do so yet.

Some NAS users have made had the nasty surprise of discovering that iTunes on a music server will occasionally reset its library from the one on the NAS to the local default. It happens when the network hiccups, and leaves you with imported music in two libraries. A bummer. I've been fighting this for months, and may have found a solution on the website for a program called Supersync. "One tip we can share is that sometimes when you reboot a computer, the network share is offline. When you start iTunes with it pointing to the offline directory, iTunes won't be able to find your music. To prevent this, you can create an alias (or Windows shortcut) of your iTunes application, save it somewhere on the network drive, then use that to start your application. If your hard drive is offline, your Mac or PC should prompt you to connect the drive! " Really hope that works. Full link is http://supersync.com/docs/index_nas.html Anybody here using this?

Any suggestions on managing multiple iTunes libraries? Apple's "hold the option key while starting" is one choice. Libra is another. Is there an easy way of moving items from one library to another?

Correction on the file loss - it did its switch to the old HD library again, so the files were not seen, when I changed back to the NAS they were there I have a QNAP TS-439, with latest firmware, connected via AFP. Would SMB make any difference? I'll try your suggestion later today. Thanks

Before taking the NAS path, see the "This is bizarre" thread in the forum here. I started with a new Mac mini about two months ago, moved my old PC iTunes library over and was very pleased. I ripped hundreds of CDs to the new setup, in lossless. When space became tight, I moved the library over to a NAS, and everything was fine for a while. Then, after a minor network change, iTunes reverted to the original library location, and it has been computer audio hell since then. Others on this forum and elsewhere have been discussing this problem. There does not seem to be a fix yet. Simply changing the library location back to the NAS in iTunes preferences has created all sorts of file loss problems, detailed in the forums. So far, nothing to solve this from the NAS company or from Apple.

It seems others are having the same issue. http://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=25261 This is show stopper for the mini NAS combo with iTunes. It happens often and seems to revert to old mpeg versions from the mini HD library, losing weeks of lossless rips. I may have to switch to a USB drive and use the NAS for backup. What a pain.

Thanks for the advice. It seems that almost any kind of network glitch or power down sequence makes iTunes revert to the location on the MacMini instead of the NAS. I have both the "Keep iTunes Media Organized ...: and "Copy files..." boxes checked on iTunes preferences. Question: What happens when those boxes are NOT checked, and might that solve our problems? D

I am on 10.6.4. and iTunes 9.2

http://www.anyware.co.uk/2005/2010/01/12/apple-itunes-and-nas-usage-please-fix-it-steve/ From a UK blog. Apparently, we're hosed till apple fixes this.

Thanks for the pointers. This process is something of a pain. Is there a way to prevent iTunes from reverting to the old miniHD setting for the library when the network hiccups and staying there, even when the problem goes away? Or at least having it tell us this "feature" has activated?

That's what I thought I was doing, in a way that would also include the files added after the net failure switched the library back to the mini's HD. It's running now, but I notice the size on the NAS is going up dramatically, more than would have been added. I'll let it finish (many more hours), but will have a large deduplication task, including removal of older MP3 versions that were replaced. Any advice on good dedup progs for large libraries? thanks

...with a QNAP Not sure if this is a bug or a feature. I hope Apple gets on it. I tried adding the old library to the new one, with settings to move media turned on. This has been running overnight, and I suspect I will have 1000s of duplicates, and then have to do more cleaning.

If you're using the iTunes remote app, it's the same for now on the iPad as on the little guys. You can blow it up to the 2x blurry version like other apps designed for the iPhone, but that alone wouldn't be a reason to get an iPad. Airports all around are very satisfying, and wired 1000 network makes life easier. That assumes you've already got a great DAC, and analog elements - amp and speakers.

Six months ago, I decided to upgrade from the vintage collection of FM/mpeg quality digital music stuff (laptops, squeezebox, PC server, etc) to a serious audiophile tweak system (Mac mini, QNAP, Bel Canto, Lossless & HD) level. Plan A was to be able to play material, of which I had exactly one album from Reference Recordings. It turns out that getting there is a royally expensive pain. You have to move into stratospherically priced pro gear and lots of obscure gadgetry. 24/96 sounds great, and is only a marginal pain to deal with, once you get the FLACs into iTunes. The satisfaction of stuffing a few thousand 16/44 CDs into a NAS, and browsing the collection using the remote apps on iPhones/Pads is very high - most of us have more music than we know, and the rediscovery aspect is fun. Throw in the ability to go whole house with Airports/Airfoil and even the long suffering spouse is (mildly) impressed. So now plan B is to wait on 192 until there is more to listen to, and the gear moves down from the 99.999th tweak percentile. Kudos to those with the wallets and patience to make it work.

I was about to order more Airport Express units, and hook them to DACS or Amps in multiple rooms, some of which already have computers and speakers (sounding pretty good with NuForce uDACs). The main music server was easy to control with Screen Share, or via shared iTunes library, and was streaming to an AExpress near the office computer. I happened upon Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil program. For $25, it lets the other computers act like Airports, and I can move the actual Airports to other locations. Sound is very good. The iPhone/iPad iTunes remote app lets you choose whatever you want to hear from anywhere in the house. Very cool. I've done analog whole house systems, and this smokes them all.