My considered opinion is that Apple offers very poor choices for running a dedicated media server. You need iTunes open and running on your dedicated machine, and you also need remote control over that machine, or keyboard access to it, to update the iTunes database any ways besides adding content (which can be done over the network using iTunes’ "Automatically Add to iTunes” folder). This might be feasible if you are one person and you can be relied upon to perform the management, but there’s no hope of centralisation for multiple users, you can’t download to iOS directly from the server, and unless you know of a remote-control tool for Mac it’s going to be a pain anyway. It’s not going to be the dream experience you’re hoping for, I’m afraid. My resolution has been to avoid DRM content as much as possible (which, naturally, is actually quite hard) and then store the media on a NAS, using permissions to handle it on the file server and having people manually copy over what they need into their own libraries. I have an iTunes Match subscription which means I can put into the cloud whatever collections of music or audiobooks I want access to. Then Apple TV streams wherever possible directly from Apple any content I’ve bought or matched with iTunes Match, and only if I need something on my computer do I fire up and minimise iTunes. It’s a pain, really, but it works.
I have yet to try Plex, but I know it handles music. Perhaps if it provides better remote management, a Plex server would make a lot of sense. And it’ll run on the cheapest box, or on platforms other than OS X. When I’ve a mind, and if I don’t begrudge them the money, I’ll take a look. Plex doesn’t need a cloud to work, unlike Apple’s services. -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
