What is the point of an iTunes server?

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.

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.

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.

I may have also missed the info put out about my question, please forgive me if this is the case. I have three Mac's, three AppleTV's and three iTunes libraries. My content is stored on three external drives for each computer for a total of 9 external drives and a total library of about 10 terabytes for each computer. My problem is updating new content in each computer's iTunes. When I import a movie or TV show that I have ripped from a DVD, that I have bought, I transfer it to the other computers via a home network but then I have to update each iTunes library with the movie/tv show name, date, episode number, and content description. Is there a way to sync my content across the network? The reason I have three AppleTV's is to allow each of my TV's to have its own and because of the iTunes limitation of only being able to sync with one AppleTV at a time. I want to be able to AppleTV in the living room while the wife AppleTVs in the bedroom and the son AppleTVs in his room and we are all watching something different. I posted here because the NAS solution might help but I am not sure. What would be great would be to have a NAS with all my content on it and iTunes running on it also. With iTunes being a true network application and allow multiple users to access the iTunes library content at the same time. I do understand that even if this is possible that two users would not be able to access the exact same movie/song/video/tv show at the same time. I do believe that what I want is not possible at this time but maybe a syncing solution with my current setup is possibe. Thank you for any information or direction.

Bruce Patrick1 wrote:

I transfer it to the other computers via a home network but then I have to update each iTunes library with the movie/tv show name, date, episode number, and content description. Is there a way to sync my content across the network?

Yes, in my case I rip DVD movies on my Mac using one of several ripping programs.

I then run the ripped and converted file through a piece of software (available in the Mac App Store) called iDentify.

iDentify allows me to modify the metadata for common movies, searching by title, and customise less common movies to include names, types, artwork et cetera

(If iDentify does not find the movie online I can simply copy and paste descriptions and artwork from Amazon or elsewhere)

I then, thanks to File Sharing, drag the finished file into the folder 'automatically add to iTunes' on the Mac where I wish it to live.

(If I hold down the command key while dragging the file disappears from my own machine on completion)

iTunes on the destination (if running) will automatically add the movie to its library and Apple TV will then see the metadata added using iDentify.

Bruce Patrick1 wrote:

The reason I have three AppleTV's is to allow each of my TV's to have its own and because of the iTunes limitation of only being able to sync with one AppleTV at a time. I want to be able to AppleTV in the living room while the wife AppleTVs in the bedroom and the son AppleTVs in his room and we are all watching something different.

I think you may have over-thought this.

In my case I have a permanently switched on computer with iTunes running.

On this computer I have activated home sharing (important) using my iTunes account)

I too have multiple Apple TVs, but to ensure any tv can wirelessly receive anything from any Airplay Capable device

As part of this, on everybody's Apple TV, Mac, iOS device or even (but not in my case) PC running iTunes I have also activated home sharing using the same account.

This dedicated computer has a large amount of storage attached and hold a single copy of everything that I want to be available to everyone else on the devices.

Multiple people can access this library on their devices at the same time as long as they are on the same Wi-Fi network

I have used a recent, but not the latest, AirPort Extreme for several years and have had no problems (or at least no complaints) when accessing this single library with multiple devices

The Mac which runs my media centre as described above is directly connected to the AirPort Extreme using ethernet and is simply a broken down old MacBook (one of the white MacBooks from around 2007 with a screen that is completely smashed) running 10.8 with a few terabytes of storage attached

Bruce Patrick1 wrote:

I do understand that even if this is possible that two users would not be able to access the exact same movie/song/video/tv show at the same time. I do believe that what I want is not possible at this time but maybe a syncing solution with my current setup is possibe. Thank you for any information or direction.

As I write this I have the same movie running independently on my MacBook and iPad at the same time

By all means try a NAS, but I'm not a fan.

I prefer something that is universal (in my Apple centric household)

I prefer not to have to train the family

A dedicated Mac running iTunes, a ton of storage, a decent network, multiple devices and half a clue give me all I need

Bruce, I found this article: http://gigaom.com/2011/03/30/itunes-101-multiple-devices-one-itunes-account/, which has some good tips on managing iTunes for multiple users. Also, I use a Synology NAS for my iTunes library (shared) and although it does work, there are issues. If you want to know more about that, I am following this discussion.