Digital Mybook
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US $119.00
Access your iTunes library from multiple computers
The problem
It is likely that in your home, more than one person owns an iPod / MP3 player with a description. It is also likely that a person appears to be delegated the task of updating everyone iPod and iTunes management.
If you read this article ... it is likely that you have at least enough to computer, and therefore likely that you are lucky, lucky person in your household.
Of course, being the sole manager of the music of your household has its advantages - you have total control of your music, you can update your iPod whenever you want, and I guess with some clever deviations from the truth, you can freely call yourself a DJ, a sure way to pick up girls in your local club.
However, once your mates start asking why the hell you have McFly's latest album (which you innocently downloaded for your girlfriend / sister / roommate) on your iPod ... better solution is needed.
Proposition
If you have even a basic wireless network in your home, then there's a simple solution. By using what is called a "Network Attached Storage (NAS), you can attach a hard drive to your home network, where you can store all your music.
When you have used one of the computers in your home, they will detect the NAS as another hard disk on your computer, which means that from any PC in home, you can:
Listen to Music
Download music from the iTunes Store or other (totally legal, though safe) places
Create a new playlist for your iPod
Synch your iPod
His call? If so read on!
The possibilities ...
There are many ways to add a NAS device to your home network - the largest I will discuss is the simplest - you buy a NAS device, problem solved. They are relatively new, particularly in the domestic market. If you take a look at http://www.scan.co.uk/ you will see a number of them ranging from £ 86 to £ 650. No of them there are particularly bad, but personally I use the Western Digital MyBook series and have had no problems with them. The instructions you will need to follow, however, about the same regardless of which product you buy at the end. For more information on choosing a NAS please look at the "Choosing a NAS" section at the end of this article.
Solution
Once you have purchased a NAS (I like that acronym ...) you simply plug the Ethernet cable (usually yellow or blue) cable into your router or modem. If you have a PC connected to the router via Ethernet, not wireless, do not worry - you do not need to plug the NAS directly to your computer.
It is beyond the scope of this article to cover plugging the NAS to a wall - if you need help, give your household Microwave company a call ... they seem to specialize in telling people how to plug things in (for legal reasons you might have to lie and say its your Microwave by the way .... you can try running the term "Network Attached Storage" by them, but ...)
Anyway - When you turn on your PC, the NAS should be pretty much plug and play - the NAS will show up as another hard disk (visible from My Computer) or possibly a network location, depending on how it was designed.
Either way, now all you have to do is move your music to the new hard disk. First, go to iTunes, click the Advanced tab, then click "Consolidate Library" - it will simply make sure all your files are in one place (My Music for Windows by default), so if you downloaded files to random places over years, he will move them to My Music.
Now close iTunes and simply move or copy the music file in it from your local disk. Once done, you can delete your local copy to save space, so you can be sure iTunes is not using the "old" Library.
Now, to add the new library to your home computer just go to a file (in iTunes, of course) -> Add folder to library -> select the folder you just copied everything.
You can now install iTunes on every computer in your house, and connect to the NAS!
Extra: Choosing a NAS
NAS devices can be a simple "hard drive in a box with an Ethernet port plugged on the back "affair - in this case, the only real factor in decision making is to achieve a balance between the cost and space.
I recommend you be generous with the storage capacity - a 320 GB model is slightly more expensive than 160 Go in most cases, and it will obviously allow for future expansion of your music library (totally legal). In addition, you can also use to store documents, backups etc in the future.
These basic models usually cost between £ 80 and £ 120. If you pull the budget a little further, you can get the excellent "Asus WL-700gE NAS Appliance" ( http://www.trustedreviews.com ). It is not just a NAS device, but also a router with firewall and acts as a "media and print" server - so you can connect your computers wirelessly to a printer, and stream TV etc. It can even be used to download files without a computer run all night! I have not used it myself, but it has an excellent write ups.
As indicated earlier in the review, If you are looking for a simple NAS box, I recommend the Western Digital MyBook series, but the LaCie and other companies also produce of good features.
If you have an old hard drive lying about, you should be able to find an adapter to give it an Ethernet port, but when you have purchased an enclosure and for that, it would probably be more profitable to just get a separate NAS device.
If you have any questions, please contact me at james AT DOT com pimp-my-ipod - this is my first article here, but I intend to post more and maintain my existing ones to keep updated.
About the Author
James Gupta runs "Pimp My iPod" - a company selling vinyl "decals" for the iPod.
Check out the store at www.pimp-my-ipod.com!
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Western Digital® 1TB MyBook Studio FW800/400. Each $164.96 Manufacturer: Western Digital Corporation. Each. A FireWire 800 interface makes this drive a high-performance answer to your Mac storage needs. Protect your digital life with visual backup software, drive encryption, and password protection. Use the innov |
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Western Digital® MyBook Live Duo 4TB Dual Drive. Each $443.27 Manufacturer: Western Digital Corporation. Each. WD's My Book Live personal cloud storage provides shared storage on your home network that can be accessed wirelessly within and outside the home. Share files with Mac computers and PCs, stream media to you |
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