TOPIC:

iTunes is my main music management tool and I don’t care much to change that. It’s a large library of a terabyte and a bit. I’d love to simply copy that to an external SSD and hook it up to the SHD directly for use in Volumio.

- I assume I can forget about the actual iTunes library and playlists? Just the files and file structure, then?

- ALAC?

- I had read that Volumio does not work too well with large USB disks, still true?

- short of having keeping an always-on Mac in my entertainment system, what’s my best shot here?

(I currently run an old, dying Mac mini as my player for a vast local iTunes library, Apple Music player, AirPlay receiver, and video library/player feeding into the TV. It has a cheap Schiit D/A connected. There’s a stand-alone CD-player that is gathering dust. A beloved Thorens TD-126 III (blah blah pickup, arm, cables) feeds an esoteric German phono stage. It all connects to a Marantz PM-11 S1 feeding a pair of B&W 805S. (All for sale btw


Thanks!
Ragu

Hi, connect your mac mini with USB to SHD (Studio). You can keep using your current way of playing music instead of using the Volumio/streaming part of the SHD.

ragurix wrote:

(I currently run an old, dying Mac mini as my player

Not an option.

Does anybody have experience with a) an iTunes library on an external drive b) a large library on an external drive connected to SHD?

Thanks
Ragu

ragurix wrote:

Does anybody have experience with a) an iTunes library on an external drive b) a large library on an external drive connected to SHD?

Thanks
Ragu

Take a look at this thread , maybe there is a solution to your problem. If, by any chance, the problem is somewhat the same (corrupted headers of mp3 files), you can repair them using iTunes.

To be clear I haven’t tried anything yet, am in the planning phase of maybe getting an SHD.

I have heard that performance with an external disk and a large amount of files was bad on Volumio on SHD. Any changes?

The best way is to use network storage and install MinimServer on it, whether a NAS or PC/Mac. (Or Roon, which amounts to the same thing in terms of hardware/network topology).

Thanks John for your input!

The best solution for me would be to simply plug an external SSD into the back of the SHD. I am specifically asking the USB disk question because I have no desire for a separate NAS or always-on computer.

Thanks,
Ragu.