[tom_nieto]

I'm itching to buy a Squeezebox Touch to play my music files from a NAS and also Spotify. Currently not interested in video files, but if a better solution including video streaming exists I'm all ears. The most important feature would be not having to turn the TV on to listen to music.

Firstly: Which NAS works the best for acting as a media server for the SBT? I'm looking at a 2Tb drive.

Secondly: As far as I recall I wouldn't need to have my PC on to access spotify as the SBT can do this itself via the internet (like internet radio). Is this correct?

Thanks.

[amcluesent]

Plenty of options , Vortexbox, QNAP, Synology, Thecus, Netgear ReadyNAS, HP Microserver...just search the forum

[blueye]

I would add Tranquil pc A3 to that list.
Blue

[tom_nieto]

Sorry I should have specified a bit more. I'm after something like the WD live storage. A one box off the shelf thing to plug in and go rather than adding drives.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

[amcluesent]

Low end NAS like the WD Books aren't viable for the Touch; you need to be able to intall and run Logitech Media Server, or ideally get a NAS with LMS preinstalled.

Best (read easiest to set up) NAS for Squeezebox classic

Squeezebox and NAS

Western Digital NAS - Squeezebox

[niall campbell]

My NAS is a WD and its great.

It just plugs into my Router and everything plays off it , wired or wireless

One of the simplest things you can do is buy a Ipod Touch.

It can sit in docking stations throughout the house or using the 3.5mm jack can hook up to a variety of devices.

You simply download a free app called mediaconnect and it will stream music or video all day long

You can also have Internet Radio as well

You can always build on a NAS , but its a very important first stage.

WD My Book Live Personal Cloud Storage 2 TB Network Attached Storage: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

[xs2man]

I have just bought an HP microserver, as it was very cheap for what it was, and does the job nicely.

Its more than just a NAS though. I was looking for a NAs, but found 4-bay NAS devices to be quite expensive. Even 2-bay NAS are quite expensive.

However, the HP Microserver (N40L or something) has 4 drive bays, including a 250 GB 3.5" HDD. But has a 5 1/4" bay too, so you can put a BR drive on it (for ripping media straight to it, or playing from media etc), or you can put another HDD in there (any size, 2.5" or 3.5"), or if you add this:

Scythe Kama Rack 5.25

You can add 2 2.5" SATA drives (so maybe one SSD for your OS / NAS software, and one for convenient swapping between PC's / Laptops). This frees up the 4 bays in the server for larger storage. In theory, you could have 4 x 4TB 3.5" HDD's, 1 x 2TB 2.5" and a 240 GB SSD, giving you 18TB of storage out of this little box. Should hold a little bit of media to keep you going.

I am running Windows 7 on mine just now, until I build my next PC, then I will run dedicated software (Freenas most likely, but possibly Windows Server 2011).

The best thing is that the basic machine costs £250 or there abouts, but you get £100 cash back. So only £150 initial outlay, on a device capable of 18+TB of storage (assuming you have the coin for the HDD's, 4TB HDD's are coming in at around £250 each, and 2TB 2.5" at over £160, so £1160 + for that amount of storage). However, 2 TB HDD's are cheap, so you can easily get 8 TB + in there for not much coin.

[larkone]

You could run Vortexbox (also free) and this will give you a music server that rips and catalogues as well. Comes with LMS and also has a good backup routine. Don't use the feature myself but it also rips DVDs and Blurays, but cannot comment on how well it does that, but for music it is great - it just works.