What is the point of an iTunes server?

I have a Synology NAS and I use their apps. The one for audio is called DS Audio. You can create playlists etc. and you use the data on the NAS directly with it, which plays on the iPad/iPhone and you can of course Airplay it from the iPad/iPhone to the HiFi through the Apple TV. Look for "Synology" in the AppStore. The apps are free and as far as I can tell they work well and have a neat interface. I like the "remote desktop" view of the NAS, which has two modes, "mobile" and "full screen" where you can do everything with the NAS just the same as from a PC, including switching it on remotely.

I don't know the iPad remote app so I can't help you on that now but I think you can only remote the Apple TV with it and ATV can not browse the NAS directly so I think you can not use the iPad remote app to browse the NAS.

As the other folks have already explained you would have to have a PC or Mac running with iTunes on it to get to the NAS from the Apple TV.

brgds

Earnie

Yes, it is really odd, isn't it?

There are NAS/iTunes solutions for just about every device on the market, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone... what have you...

EXCEPT for the AppleTV.

My understanding is that this is a decision from the marketing people at Apple alone.

Please reconsider this decision.

Some people have loaded itunes on their nas; such as Windows Media Server back in the day; which resolves the plugin; unless you have a true NAS where you can't do that.

I don't think the lack of NAS/iTunes solutions in itself is a marketing decision. Apple deliberately eschew complexity to make their devices as accesible as they can to ordinary people. Ask ten people in different generations of your family what a NAS is and you will get a very low percentage of correct answers. Nevertheless, this would be a useful feature for some users and easily solved if/when Apple open an App Store for Apple TV

The lack of an App Store could be considered a marketing decision or could simply be an engineering one. Until then - either work within the wonderfully simple system Apple have created or investigate options such as those mentioned by some other posters. BTW - I think it is within Apple Support Community Guidelines to mention a developer called Firecore, who offer an elegant looking iPad App (infuse) through the iOS App Store that can access media on a NAS or other device

You will find more about this app at http://firecore.com/

You don't need iTunes server running for Sonos to be able to work. A simple pathname (and username and password if applicable) to where the music is stored is enough. I have Sonos working using a drive plugged into a USB port on the router (and so no iTunes server) but am about to transfer my music to a NAS, hence reading this thread to see whether iTunes server would give me anything extra, but I don't think it will.

I've spent years switching between methods of streaming media to devices and have gone full circle.

You can use a NAS and various apps to stream to DLNA devices and play films and music but they all have failings and you end up using a PC or Mac along with a NAS which means you're running two devices to play anything nuts.

The best way in my opinion is to use a PC or Mac attach a large storage device USB 2 is ok but you're better to use FireWire USB 3 or a lightning connector this will allow high speed connection which is important when you want to stream multiple high definition films to several devices. I've managed to stream 4 HD films to 4 devices without missing a beat not that is normal usage just to prove it works.

On my iMac I then have two apps one called playback this will publish your iTunes library as a DLNA server so DLNA divides can see you library. However I have found that DLNA is lacking in how it displays films and is a flat file format so you have to scroll up and down to find the films but it works.

Next I have stream to me which will allow you to access all your media remotely and stream to your iPhone or iPad when out and about. You need to load this onto your iMac/PC and iPhone/android device there's some good user guides on how to do this is not overly complicated but you will need to set up port forwarding on you router to access remotely.

Ultimately the best way to view your media at home is to connect an apple tv to your tv this will display your media beautifully and play it directly, all controlled from your iPhone or media device. The only other thing you need to do is enable your mac to be woken up over wifi then when it goes to sleep the Apple TV or when connecting remotely can wake up and play your media.

Remember when your mac goes to sleep it's only using about 3 watts of power and only looks to see if anything is trying to wake it over the LAN or WAN.

This is not the only way to stream movies and music but after endless hours of trying different methods and apps I've found this to be the best, plus it's simple my wife and kids have no trouble using it. A couple of Apple TV's and a large hard drive are far cheaper than a NAS and if you want you can easily take your hard drive with you.

Good luck

To address the original post...

if you do not own a computer, but you do own an ipad and an apple tv, then you can use the NAS as an itunes server. This is what lets you stream the songs on the NAS to your TV. If you have a computer, then it doesn't matter, you're probably doing the same thing through sharing itunes on your computer. But if you have downsized and have the ipad, appletv, and a NAS (in my case my WDTV Live hub does the same thing) ... the NAS acting as an itunes server is pretty handy.

Sorry if someone else answered this, I read a dozen or so posts and didn't feel like reading 4 pages of petty bickering. All of you guys should grow up a bit, plz.

I only use iTunes to sync devices, tweak metadata and build smart playlists, not for listening.

I don't care about video. I've been interested in trying iTunes server package, but some of

the answers here have surprised me.

Given iTunes on a MacBook and an "iTunes server" (DAAP) package on a server or NAS,

• Can the iTunes client play music from the server?
• Can the iTunes client modify music (tags) on the server?
• Can the iTunes client sync music from the server onto an iDevice?
• Can the iTunes client create playlists referencing music on the server?
• Can the iTunes client play/modify/save playlists on the server?
• Can the iTunes client sync playlists from the server onto an iDevice?

Does the iTunes client only read from the server, not write to it?

So you have to manage your files on the the server?

Thanks,

-troy

So, if I have an Apple TV,

And a NAS where all my music and videos are stored,

I should not despair,

All I need to do is to get an IPad to use as

A front end preprocessor to the Apple TV

And thereby double the network utilisation.

How smart does that sound...

That's not quite right. I have my itunes library content on a Synology NAS and can access the content with my Apple TVs with home sharing. The way I set it up was to leave the itunes library files on my MacMini but direct itunes to my library on the NAS. I do have to keep the Mini on all the time but that's one reason I got a Mini, low power consumption. I do not use Synology apps just Apple's remote app on my mobile devices.

Yes, isn't it annoying. You have a competent NAS with all your music, images and video on it. It can even act as an iTunes server, if required. And you have an AppleTV that can give you access to music, images and video from all over the world. BUT when you want to play your own music you have to put in a hardware bridge in the form of a PC, a MacMini, an iPad or similar machine. My feeling is that the AppleTV has been crippled deliberately.

Forgive me if I missed this in an earlier post but I just got a Synology NAS and I am able to play movies directly from the NAS to my Apple TV. Either through the DS Video App on my phone or from the Video Station on the NAS. There is an Airplay button built right into the video interface that seamlessly pushes it to your Apple TV. No need for itunes servers, just a common library shared on the NAS.

Yes, you are right, these aternatives have been covered earlier.

But these are not "direct" means as defined in this thread.

When you have your NAS with all your music (and images, and videos) and your Apple-TV with a screen, speakers and a keyboard/remote and when the NAS even can play the role of an iTunes server, then "directly" means that you can select your music from the Apple-TV (just as with other media sources) and just play it through its speakers.

If you have to fetch, or purchase an iPhone first, or if you have to start up your PC, or even buy one, to access a button on the NAS interface, then that is not considered "directly" in this thread.

An Apple-TV is competent enough to be able to play music directly from an iTunes server on your network without the need for intermediate devices. Please unlock its power, Apple.

MacAke wrote:

An Apple-TV is competent enough to be able to play music directly from an iTunes server on your network without the need for intermediate devices. Please unlock its power, Apple.

Actually, that is already possible - unfortunately the means cannot be discussed here as the comment would get deleted.

I realize the original post is a little dated but I will post this for people who read this thread in the future.

I have a Synology NAS which I use solely as my iTunes library. The Synology iTunes server allows you to connect to your library stored on the NAS without iTunes running anywhere. Synology apps access the NAS directly. Presently there is no app for ATV but there are apps for Android and iOs devices. They allow access from anywhere if you set the NAS up for remote access.

I have used the video app a few times and the music app only once. They are pretty sluggish and do not update your play counts nor do they use your iTunes playlists. The iTunes server does not communicate with iTunes at all, it simply streams the library content to devices.

Hope this helps answer the question.