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Last few years i've been using a mac mini loaded with my mp3s to play my music either through an amp/speakers in the living room or via airplay to a radio + airport express in the kitchen. I control the itunes on the mac mini via Remote app on the iphone.
It works great most of the time but the downsides are:
- it's not very portable to other rooms or the garden
- it involves the phaff of logging on the mac mini every time (they're bit of a power hog if left on 24/7)
- i've found the Apple Remote app (iphone control of itunes) more than a bit flaky
Anyway i bought a Anker Soundcore mini bluetooth speaker the other day and have been using it around the house to play a few tunes off my phone and i'm very impressed by it, sound quality is great. It got me thinking:
If i get a NAS loaded with my mp3s can I simply stream the mp3s to my phone and play over the Anker wherever I am? I'm guessing this is possible but what I'm really looking for is:
- A low power consumption NAS
- A reliable/stable/slick iphone app to easily browse a large collection of mp3s
- Be able to simple switch on NAS, fire up app and play music with little/no phaff
- Needs to work on the wife's iphone easily too (she's always complaining firing up the mac mini is a hassle and Remote doesn't work)
Any ideas on what solution I need?
I use my Qnap Silent NAS to do exactly what you describe. Its a few years old now, so I imagine the newer, higher spec ones are pretty amazing.
[i]simple switch on[/i] - I just leave it on, it has low power.
Qmusic is a decent enough app for playing music (much better then the Synology version i had previously). Very easy to use - I just set to Random Play most of the time.
Qfile can also be used to play content - its the files browser
Also can be used as iTunes storage.
I have a iPhone linked up to a Sony bluetooth speaker in the kitchen, an Ipod and a Jam speaker in the bathroom and a Chromecast Audio plugged into the stereo. All works a treat.
Oh, and it works over the internet, so I can stream music off my nas at work.