Mac Mini as dedicated iTunes Server

[dnanian]

OK -- let's see if we can knock off these questions...

- Since only the UI is remoted, no -- you can't attach your iPod to your local computer. You can, of course, connect it to the mini (& control the syncing from netTunes).

- 512MB should be OK...

- I've tried some of the USB sound devices, and the one I liked the best, at the time, was the Griffin PowerWave -- mostly because it worked, and allowed mixing of two inputs, too. I've had very bad luck with the M-Audio "Sonica" and "Sonica Theater" -- both of which had buggy, crash-prone drives.

At present, I'm just using the headphone jack -- but the sound quality isn't as good as the PowerWave. Then again, it's AAC.

- My configuration:

- I keep all my music on my server (it's not an XServe, it's a PowerMac), and share it with the mini using the built-in library sharing. Both machines are headless, and I control both with netTunes & launchTunes.

It's hard to know what "sample configurations" to provide here: there aren't that many possibilities! Your set up is very similar to what I've got... and to what most netTunes users have/want, too, so I think you're in good shape.