Access iTunes library on NAS via iPhone

[JohnG999]

Hi - I have my iTunes library and songs on a Buffalo Linkstation Quad NAS, which has web access enabled. I can use Safari to view/play individual pictures and songs using the folder trees, but this is obviously very tedious.

Is anyone aware of an app or other solution for simplifying playing the songs and or viewing photos via iPhone?

I found an app online called "nasTunes" through google, which appears to do this, but I am concerned about it because I can't find any review or discussion about it on any reputable website. Also, it is not available on iTunes app store, it is opensource.

Thanks for any feedback - John

[S2_Mac]

Well, the NAStunes app is a SourceForge project; in these early versions it won't work perfectly, but it's not inherently malicious and p'bly won't cause any meltdowns. Be aware though -- this is not your typical plug'n'play app. You'll need to give the NAS a static IP, install/enable a web server on the NAS, install/enable PHP on the NAS, install the NAStunes files, configure NAStunes using a text editor, and p'bly do a little network tweaking to get everything working smoothly. And, of course, don't forget the requirement that your music files be stored according to the iTunes scheme: Artist Name folder -> Album Name folder -> Track name.file extension

Also note that this is not an iPhone app; everything will be installed on the NAS. Your interface to the "app" is via web browser on the iPhone, which in turn calls the NAS' web server, which executes the PHP code and streams the tracks to the browser on the phone. If you keep sensitive data on the NAS you'll want to know a little bit about web server security.....

[JohnG999]

S2_Mac: Thanks for the information. I didn't realize it is a browser "app", but that makes sense - and from the iPhone perspective is actually a little more comforting.

I have already done several of the steps in your post, including enabling web access to the NAS and I let iTunes organize the folders, so the folder structure I assume is proper. I'll need to check on "enable/install PHP on the NAS", I'm not familiar with that and do not know exactly what it entails - I'll check the NAS manufacturer's forums...

Thanks again!

[S2_Mac]

PHP is a scripting language whose primary use is serving up CGI pages. For example, you're reading a CGI page right now, generated by a PHP script. (Most would say PHP's sole use is for serving up pages; you can make it work in other contexts, but 99.9% of its use is as a CGI app.)

Dunno about the Buffalo's "web access" feature; almost looks like it provides everything you need just as well as NAStunes. If you have to go with a full-blown server, the Buffalo seems to be ready for it; check the Buffalo (http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/Apache_w/_PHP_and_MySQL_Support_%28MIPSel%29) wiki (http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_server%2C_installing).

[JohnG999]

Great links, thanks again. It definitely is an involved process, but I've been working on music library for a while now, so just another step. First, consolidating four separate PC's libraries to the single NAS library, cleaning it up, etc. The Buffalo web access thru Safari allows single file access, but is very cumbersome and at first glance, the GUI on NASTunes seems to be much more user-friendly, if I can get it running.

Separately, I did find an app "ezShare" that claims to support streaming music from a network enabled NAS, but haven't seen exactly how it works, either.

[JohnG999]

Thanks for the links, I have spent a great deal of time going thru the NAS wiki. I can see that for my NAS, I have to 'jailbreak' it to enable apache (which is already on the NAS) and to install php, among other things to get nasTunes on the NAS. I think it's probably beyond my level and there's a substantial risk of 'bricking' the NAS... :(

You made a comment about the Buffalo web access being similar, but it is basically a folder access only, so you have to navigate to specific songs to play them, not really very useful. The nasTunes allows shuffle, etc. for a much better interface.

Perhaps as more people migrate to a NAS-based home media solution, this will be addressed in a more mainstream manner.

Thanks again - John