07-27-2011, 02:53 PM

Hey guys and gals, I am mac noob with my macbook pro and loving every minute of it! Took about 3 days for me to decide I would never have another windows laptop ever again.

So, I still have a built Windows machine that actually does really well with Windows 7 so I am going to hold onto that for a while. However, I am contemplating the idea of adding a Mac Mini w/ Lion Server (& Thunderbolt display) to the home arsenal. Here is my question, with that server, can I stream content to my iphone no matter where I am via 3G? I have a massive music collection and would like to have access to it anywhere I go...

Also, would I have to have the top Mac Mini (server) to accomplish this?

I've done a bit of googling on this topic but haven't been able to find a clear answer on what I would like to do here.

07-27-2011, 03:26 PM

I don't see a real need for a server edition mini to accomplish this. There are many apps and programs out there that can accomplish this task How do I stream my music from iTunes to my iPhone? - iTunes streaming iPhone | Ask MetaFilter. Air Video is a great one to stream video. It has its own "server" program that can install on any mac or pc to get that done. I personally use a NAS system to accomplish this and many of them have itunes, photo, and video servers built into them.

07-27-2011, 03:32 PM

You wouldn't need a server for that sort of thing, the mac comes built in with enough file sharing abilities to satisfy any home network.

OSX server is more for managing workgroups, shared Time machine back-ups, group wikis, a mail and web server and a software update hub and internet gateway

Standard OSX comes with file sharing, can be set up as a media hub, and even has a built in web server.

As for media sharing, at the moment that can only be done on a home network, due to lix=censing issues, but Apples up and coming iCloud service will allow you access to your iTunes library via the iTunes store, and should work well as long as your music library is decently tagged and iTunes can match your local songs to those it has in its library. Any songs it doesn't have can be uploaded to the new iCloud service.

I would get a standard mac mini, if you later decide you need OSX server it's easy to upgrade with a very low cost software upgrade. And Apple's new iCloud service will soon give you access to your music library on the go.

Apple - iCloud - The new way to store and access your content.