Any advice on iTunes, ASUS, and NAS? Really stumped!!

[btadams]

OK, I'm about to tear my hair out!! Not really, bald enough

* I apologize if this post is to long, maybe somebody could point out how I can shorten on this forum with the same info. I have posted before and nobody answered, it was about this long. I have learned a lot here, and want to be a contributing member using the right etiquette.


After looking everywhere for correct information that made any sense, and even hiring somebody to come into my house and help me, I can not figure out the whole NAS iTunes server setup. I purchased an ASUS RT-N66u due to its ratings and claim of an itunes server when attaching storage. I understand iTunes 10.5 stopped the way Firefly served things up, but don't know any work arounds. I would have to imagine that to sell the router and claim iTunes server, they would have to find a way of actually having an iTunes server available. Not just the ability to copy your songs to the NAS and point your local iTunes to that mounted folder.


Here is what I want it to do:

1. Have the ability to access my library on the ATV even when computer is off. Important because I take my laptop on business trips and my kids have no access to the movies.
2. Be able to access library remotely through iTunes so I can watch on the road, and we can watch in our motorhome on long vacations (wifi permitting of course)
3. Using No-IP as DDNS

Here is what I have done:

I have formatted the drive as FAT32. Attached the drive to the router. Activated iTunes server on the router (and DLNA). Pointed it to the media directory.


Issues:

1. iTunes (on my mac laptop) sees the N66u in sharing, and gives me access to a shared Music category. But, only 3 out of almost 4000 songs could be seen. A really obscure MP3 that in the metadata is no different than the others. Same on DLNA device (Panasonic TV). So maybe I'm not getting iTunes serving, maybe iTunes is seeing DLNA? Didn't think iTunes saw DLNA.
2. So I scrapped that, turned off DLNA, and copied my library, XML and all, to the drive and directed iTunes server to the folder. Still didn't work, Same as above happened, but 6 files were seen in sharing through iTunes. But not in their respective playlists. Just main directory.
3. Then, I just pointed my local iTunes to the directory on the NAS, and it saw it. But, then I restarted the router and the volume unmounted. I didn't remount it, and started iTunes. It obviously couldn't find any files. I would open for instance the Beatles folder, and I would get the exclamation mark next to the song saying it couldn't be found. Makes sense, ok, but when I mounted and restarted iTunes, it still said it could not find the songs. Maddening!! And defeats the purpose of what I want to do.
4. ATV never sees anything unless I turn on home sharing and sees my laptop. That does me no good because of the laptop being gone when I'm gone issue. None of this would be an issue if ATV had DLNA UPnP support. But then remote access is a problem with DLNA. No idea what to do!

Questions:

1. Can I port forward to the drive so that I can access via http://www.xxxxx.com:7005 (example port), or even http://www.xxxxx.com/medialibrary? (Using No-IP as DDNS)
2. What options do I have with the N66U, and if not many what NAS device does work for what I want? Rather nor spend a lot more than I already have on the router and storage.
3. Any mods available to give me more options and configuration for iTunes? I read there is a mod called tomatousb. Are there others that would work for me?
4. Is there a service I don't know about other than iTunes Match that will let me serve my files in an iTunes server environment, from the cloud?
5. What would you do in my case? suggestions?

Thanks all, really appreciate the help. What started as a weekend project has grown ridiculously out of control!! I know these go off NAS topic in places, but felt this was still the best forum topic.


BA

 

[Kenneth]

Could you make it work?

 

[PrivateJoker]

Apple didn't/doesn't do traditional DLNA because music labels wanted iTunes to be able to strictly enforce DRM, which they do through their file format/s, which are incompatible with DLNA. Apple has used Bonjour for over a decade, which is a zero-config multicast networking technology that is similar, but different, from UPnP. So the problem isn't so easy as "if they just did it this way..."

And, in my experience, what you are trying to do isn't possible. I had the first Apple TV, which did allow for this kind of thing (more or less), but since they went to the harddrive-less ATV2 I don't know of a way to share iTunes content without having the latest versions of iTunes installed and all running Home Sharing. Again I think this is mostly to appease the music labels and also TV/movie content producers - iTunes is first and foremost a store, and a distant second a sharing system.

Standalone iTunes installs (ie without enabling HS) might be able to see a shared iTunes "server" volume on a NAS but definitely won't share video and, last time I checked, it didn't even pass through my album art or metadata, so I stopped trying around when the ATV2 came online and the sharing ability and mechanism changed significantly.

You can move your iTunes music folder to a NAS drive or other HD, but there's a method to do it and tell iTunes what you're doing so you don't get the yellow arrows you talked about, but I don't think it likes being on a NAS since iTunes itself is not engineered to share the entire contents of that folder between multiple computers.

Getting a used/cheap Mac (or even PC) and loading iTunes on it, connecting it to your router and enabling HS is really the only seamless way to do this. There was a time where new versions of iTunes would add a new wrinkle to the sharing with every big iteration, but I think it's been stable for awhile now.

In regards to accessing your own music remotely over IP pointing to your own server - there's definitely not a seamless way to integrate it into what an iPhone sees natively in your music app (for starters it does the whole HS thing over Bonjour, and even if you VPNed into your own router I still don't know what mechanism there is to play through (not just control from) an iOS device. They aren't "airplay" type clients, just remotes.

iTunes Match does sort of suck (I was a paid subscriber for awhile) in approximately equal proportion to its potential if they can get it working right. However, I think it is going to get better based on the automatic integration ios 7 has with your entire library of purchased music. I think iTunes Radio, and automatic purchased library access are signs that the cloud streaming & sharing is moving in the right direction, as is Apple's construction of a massive new data center in Maiden, NC. So, it's not like they are oblivious to what people want out of their stuff - in part they are constrained by a system that wouldn't ever have come into being without adhering to some pretty strict DRM, but in Mountain Lion the default file save for many apps is the cloud, I think iTunes Match will get there but today ain't the day quite yet.

 

[moosport]

itunes

When I decided to buy ATV3, i choose the route to have 1 machine serving as iTunes server instead. I looked at getting an old iMac and install ATV OS but the information is limited.

With itunes running on windows 7 in a VM has largely been trouble free. However, ATV has to be on all the time. if it goes to sleep, you will need to re-established connectivity again using Home Sharing.

I even enabled Wi-Fi Sync so i can sync various apple devices over the air.

 

[jlake]

There's a new Apple TV software update that came out last week. I updated my apple tv but haven't had a chance to see what the updates are all about.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4448

 

[PrivateJoker]

There's a new Apple TV software update that came out last week. I updated my apple tv but haven't had a chance to see what the updates are all about.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4448

It added iTunes Radio, some more iCloud syncing/play and something called conference room mode.

If you're big into Airplay two fun utilities to look at are AirParrot & AirFoil.

Also if you have HBO, the HBOgo ATV app is awesome (streams are great quality), and ATV also tends to be the highest bitrate streaming device when streaming Netflix, it pulls from a pool of servers (at least in my location) that double the bitrates my TiVos get streaming the same SuperHD content at the same time.

Another trick I've learned if you are an ATV owner, keep a Micro USB cable on hands at all times for the day your ATV gets totally frozen or refuses to update anymore, you can do a lower level firmware refresh via USB to iTunes than you can do on the device if it only has network connection.

Side note - I just realized the OP is 9 months old and he probably hasn't logged in since that last post. Well, I hope this saves someone some frustration should they dig hard enough to find it. Hah.