Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Wayne Thompson]

I need some help with Itunes server in a DNS-321. This is my 1st time using this product. I'm using Itunes 10.1.1.4 and the DNS-321 shows up under shared like it should in Itunes. My question is why does the files (songs) show up in a long list? not in their own album folder like it does in a library. I check and unchecked the "ROOT" in the server set up (not sure what that does) and see no changes. I have 2.4GB of music in the music folder to start with and a lot more go go but I'm not sure of the advantage of using the server. I really don't want a 15000+ list to go thru.

Thanks for your time,

Wayne

[Wayne Thompson]

jamieburchell,

You seem to know a lot about these storage units can you comment, I would like to see the files in Album list, Grid list and Cover flow. If you open up Itunes and click on the shared DNS-321 drive the files only show in a long list. In the upper right hand corner of Itunes there is 4 buttons with the view options.

One more thing, I'm transfering file from my NAS Buffalo drive to this DNS-321 and getting 1.34Mb/sec, does that sound correct..

Thanks for your time, and if anyone else wants to comment please do!

Wayne,

[dkarim]

Wayne, I am no expert but I did try the server setting on the DNS and noticed the same thing. I didn't like that it was displaying everything as a simple list so I decided to turn that off. Instead of using the itunes server, you can just populate your itunes manually by dragging the files from the DNS mounted drive to the itunes window. You need to make sure that under iTunes preferences (Advanced) you uncheck the "Copy Files to iTunes media folder when adding to library". This means that it will only put a pointer on iTunes to the original location (your DNS drive). I decided that I want my music with me everywhere so I am keeping my music files on my laptop and just backing that up periodically to the DNS. For my Video files, which are much larger, I only have copies on the DNS drive and I am putting these pointers on iTunes. Everything works fine when accessing the Video files as long as I am at home. When I am away, since the DNS is not visible, these simply show up in iTunes as broken links.

Regarding your file transfer speed; are you sure that is 1.34 Mb/s and not MB/s? If it's 1.34 Mb/s that is awfully slow but to see where the problem is you need to say the type of wi-fi you are using (802.11a, b, g, or n) or if your laptop was connected via cable. If it's 1.34 MB/s, that's around 9 Mb/s which would be reasonable.

[jamieburchell]

I don't use the iTunes server, although I have played with it before. It seemed quite limited as to what it could do. For that reason, I just access the media through simple shares (SMB). E.g. \\NAS\Media\Audio\...

As commented, you can still drag your music from the NAS in to iTunes (and have it either make a copy locally or simply point to it). You can also host your actual iTunes library files on your NAS. Unfortunately I also tried the latter and discovered that it made iTunes painfully slow.

How are your devices connected together? If you are going from Buffalo > Router > Wireless G > Laptop > Router > NAS for example, it could be slow.

[Wayne Thompson]

Thanks so much for replying.
The buffalo and the DNS-321 are connected to the same Dlink switch DGS-2208 (gigabit) from there it goes to a Linksys E3000 router, this is wired with Cat5 or 6 cable about 20' between the router and switch. I use my notebook wireless B,G to access explorer to move the files to my new DNS-321 from the 1T Buffalo drive. Buffalo was getting full so I wanted to split it up. I bought a sony SMP-N100 Network Media Player so I could watch my videos and veiw my pics. I thought the Itunes thing was going to be cool, not so!. I thought if I point to the drive and folder in Itunes without copying that Itunes would incript it. Back to the network, When I move files of size like 150Gb it took 27 hours. I thought that was slow and long. I have not check the wire yet, I bought at LAN tester and plan on checking the cable and/or put new ends on the cable between the router and switch. If I use a wired PC to move the files would it go faster? I tought the files moved between the two drives without the use of the PC after I click move. I have 2 notebooks with B,G and 2 Notebooks with B,G,N 10/100/1000 and 1 desktop with a 10/100/1000 card and some older desktops. The desktops are connected with wire.

Again thank you for your time!

Wayne

[jamieburchell]

If you are moving files between your 321 and Buffalo using your Wireless B/G computer, it will be slow. This is because the transfer is actually going via your laptop. Regardless of how quick the wired connection is between the 321 and Buffalo, you will only be transferring at the maximum speed your wireless can reach.

[Wayne Thompson]

Thanks for the tip.
I plugged in the notebook and it toped out at 3.54MB/sec. Then I tried it on the newer desktop windows 7 and it's plugged in (wired) and it did about the same. 

[blairhogg]

I'm looking at using the iTunes server, I thought I read that when you added files to the designated folder it would automatically add them into iTunes, but after reading the comments about the limitations this might not be the way to go.

I enabled the server and pointed it to the directory I created, but it doesn't show it in iTunes. Any ideas why?

The problem I have with iTunes is that I have all MP3 files in a directory, when I add new ones to that directory I have to go into iTunes and manually add just the new directory. If you add the whole share you get duplicates. I thought that this might be a way to avoid that.

Thanks!