mac mini - just itunes

Originally Posted by chefklc 

Easy answer, yes, it's very worth it even if only used as an iTunes music player.
It's wise to want to eliminate wireless as much as possible, a wired system is much more reliable; any older Mini would work much more smoothly for your needs, as long as it has 1) ethernet and 2) optical audio out to connect directly to your Marantz. Essentially that means any Intel Mini. Instead of NAS hacks fudging iTunes functionality you just run an official instance of iTunes on the Mini, point its iTunes Media folder location to the NAS volume, and bask in the "glory" that is iTunes used the way Apple intends. It won't care where your media actually resides. There will be a few things to tweak--do you let the Mini sleep or just keep it running 24/7--and there will be some things you'll have to figure out how to do in OS X, like mounting network volumes and keeping them mounted--but there are plenty of knowledge base articles and iTunes tutorials at sites like Macworld to help with this--all because you're doing the one thing Apple wants you to do--running real iTunes on a computer.

You'll need to connect a display, USB mouse and keyboard, any old brands, to set it up initially but you can run it and manage it headless via screen-sharing without any problem. Many of us have at least one Mac running headless in the house as a media server and they can be easily controlled from a Windows PC or screen-sharing apps on iOS or Android devices, basically anything that can do VNC. You can continue to use your iPod touch as a remote. I have two Mac media servers, a 2011 Mini and a 2005 dual G5 PowerMac, and my personal favorite remote control for them is Screens on an iPad, because there's always an iPad lying around our house and the display is big enough to do real things, like change settings, move media around, set recordings, etc. (Before the iPad was released, so from 2004 to 2010 or so, I kept a dedicated 12" Powerbook to control everything else in the house remotely.)

Problem is, older Minis w/ built-in optical drives often retain absurd value even though they cannot be upgraded to the more modern OS X versions of Lion or Mountain Lion. If you can get an older Intel Mini for $150 or so grab it and test things out, because playing music isn't processor intensive at all and the OS it can run, Snow Leopard, is still a very solid, excellent performer and will run a modern enough version of iTunes for your needs. In case you're tempted, even a PPC Mac Mini running Leopard can run a version of iTunes which still supports fun things like iTunes home sharing and Airplay, but you'd lose the optical out port.

Originally Posted by chefklc 

Right, the digital out is a combo analog/optical port, most of us use a regular optical cable with a mini adapter tip like this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042301&p_id=2671&seq=1&format=2
Definitely something to factor in with the purchase of an old Mac...ease of replacing/upgrading the hard drive and your comfort level doing so in that particular model. Six months ago I picked up a used 2008 15" MBP from Craigslist and first thing I did was put a 128GB Samsung 830 series SSD in there that I had lying around, now it's like a brand new machine. You can often get the original Apple install disks when buying used, the Apple hardware test is on them, but it's not really that necessary with something so old.

For backup protection, there's a free OS X app called SuperDuper which will allow you to create an exact bootable clone of your internal drive, that's what I use for backup and it's been an essential tool for many years. If your internal drive fails, you can boot right up from that clone and/or install it in the Mini and not lose a beat. Given your plans, consider replacing the hard drive of whatever older Mac you buy with a small SSD, it'll help keep your Mac music player more quiet, cool and nimble. (Yes, an SSD even in an old Mac that only supports SATA I will make a very noticeable difference.)
There's a certain amount of iTunes voodoo involved, but you should be able to keep all your iTunes settings, metadata, art and playlists and such by moving the Windows iTunes equivalents of your iTunes folder and the com.apple.itunes.plist file to iTunes on your new Mac. There's definitely a right way to do it, though, so research and find out how to do it before you just follow your instinct. It has been discussed extensively online, you should have no trouble finding out:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1391

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12165

http://www.macworld.com/article/1163242/organize_and_play_your_media_from_a_nas.html

http://www.macworld.com/article/1168301/prevent_itunes_from_switching_library_locations.html

You'll need to find the ones that apply to your given OS and iTunes versions. The Windows to Mac OS X migration has also been covered extensively but I've never had to do that.
Up to you. You could import from the Mini drive or any optical drive on your home network, or simply drag and drop already ripped files/albums into iTunes (as long as you "keep iTunes media folder organized" checked on the Mini that is.) You don't even need iTunes to do the ripping, you can rip or convert with anything you want, XLD, dBpowerAMP, whatever.
well, that is the oldest and least capable Intel Mini and it only has 512 RAM, and with whatever Mac you buy you'll need to go to 2GB just to run the OS properly so factor that in:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/5300DDR2S2GP/

That brings you to about $210 and frankly I wouldn't jump at a core solo for that price, if I were in your shoes I'd start my search with Core 2 Duo models. You should be able to find a 2007 1.83 C2D Mini with 2GB of RAM for right around that same price point. (A C2D keeps your upgrade options intact if down the road you ever wanted, or needed, to go to Lion for some reason.) Another option, and don't laugh, plastic C2D MacBooks from that era would do a great job as a networked music player for you, they are very plentiful used these days and fairly affordable (since you don't necessarily have to care about the condition of the battery or screen.) MacBooks share many of the same advantages of a Mini, they're quiet, cool, have optical out; additionally they run well with the lid closed and retain one big plus over the Mini: it's extremely easy to upgrade RAM and swap hard drives in and out of a Macbook, pop the battery, three tiny screws, and you're there. I've owned several white C2D Macbooks over the years, running them closed lid basically 24/7 in a home theater context, and it is really nice being able to get at its drive so easily.

Originally Posted by chefklc 

I only have experience with two SSDs, the Crucial m4 and the Samsung 830, but can recommend them highly. Started with 128GB and then added 256GB versions of each. They've worked perfectly with all my Macs, even my oldest ones, a 2005 G5 PowerMac, a 2007 2.0 C2D Macbook and a 2007 2.2 C2D MBP.

Originally Posted by chefklc 

SuperDuper, and exactly how I do it, it's an essential app for me. I don't have any 2.5" USB only enclosures because, basically, most of them are cheap crap and are unreliable over bus power with Macs. If you're gonna get an enclosure, get a "combo" 2.5" enclosure that has firewire ports in addition to USB. I picked one of these up when the price dropped to $49, it has USB 3 in addition to FW 800 and has enough room inside for the "taller/fatter" 2.5" drives:

http://www.amazon.com/MiniPro-FireWire-External-Enclosure-Silver/dp/B00655YT9C/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

I've used it a lot in the past couple of months and highly recommend it. Firewire is rock solid when it comes to bus power and Macs. OWC sells 2.5" enclosures similar to this, for $67 I think; yes, the minute you add firewire to a product it increases its cost significantly. I also have two Macally 2.5" firewire enclosures, paid $28 for the USB 2 & FW 400 model and $37 for the USB 2, FW 400 & FW 800 model. They've both been very good.

I'm often popping a 2.5" drive in and out of a bag to travel with, so those portable enclosures are important to me, if you don't envision yourself doing that too often, perhaps you should just get a simple, inexpensive USB drive dock like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Sata-HDD-Docking-Station/dp/B0012Z3MKW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1360252642&sr=8-2&keywords=blacx

which can take 2.5" or 3.5" drives, my bet is you'll find it more useful down the road. I've gotten a couple of those over time and don't think I've ever paid more than $20 for one

Originally Posted by chefklc 

I only use my Minis as HTPCs, they're always connected to HDTVs and they're only set up with the one admin user. I do have them automatically mount a bunch of network volumes, though, and that's added in System Preferences > Users > Login items. I have wake for network access, restart and startup automatically checked in System Preferences > Energy Saver as well. But I also run a headless G5 PowerMac as a media server with sharing turned on and I've never had a problem reconnecting to it or restarting it, Apple's built-in network discovery is pretty good. You shouldn't have a problem screen sharing once you get it set up that first time, though granted I'm only using Macs and iOS devices in our house, unlike you.
Firewall in OS X:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH11309

I don't have any third party virus or firewall apps installed, though if you want to go beyond the built-in OS X firewall and keep a closer eye on your network activity, an app many Mac users recommend is Little Snitch. Here's an article about it written by Glenn Fleishman, a very smart guy when it comes to this sort of thing:

https://www.macworld.com/article/2017161/mac-gems-little-snitch-snitches-on-misbehaving-apps.html

You're on your own with the dual OS X & Windows iTunes NAS migration thing, I'm afraid. I've no recent experience with Windows nor ever owned a true NAS. Five years ago I moved my iTunes library to an external drive and that was the most tricky iTunes thing I've ever had to do, just followed the Knowledge base article and it went perfectly. Good luck, I suspect you'll have to navigate several much trickier things than I ever had to.

Originally Posted by Brian Hampton 

Great thread,

I have a Mac mini for only iTunes. I've got a lot of it figured out but I'm still lost about some things.

Before, I used a MacBook with some hardware problems but none if its problems mattered when used as a music server.

The Mac mini I got was free and not working 2010 model I think. After taking it apart twice it started working again. It should be better than the old MacBook.

I'm have problems with it though. The home sharing doesn't always work right. About 31 of my 200 CDs show up. If I log out of home sharing in my ipad or iPhone and log back in it works but I have to do that often.

I would like tips on installing a minimal OS. I think I use snow leopard. Maybe there is not much to it,... Anyways.

-Brian