Hi all,
I have recently "dropped' Windows in favour of a Mac. Two things in life I hate, sat in traffic and waiting for a Windows PC to do something. Time I will never get back!
I know the internet is a great source of information. I also know that there are many "fine" people on this great forum who also use Macs, who could help whilst I get to grips with things.
I have brought a Mac Pro for work, which reluctantly I have had to install Parallels/Windows for two software programs that are as yet unavailable on the Mac platform. Suffice to say, Windows does seem to run better on a Mac...go figure! I also use a Mac Mini at home which is handling all my music duties with Asset running in Beta form and so far so good!
I am using db Poweramp for ripping duties with a Superdrive, which rips to my old NAS and i copy to the MacMini as well, thus giving me double protection (and backing up to an external hard drive). I also use Airport Extreme Time capsule for the all important data back up especially for my work based laptop.
The laptop is a joy. Super fast boot up time and "I do" rather than "wait" which I had to do on a Windows machine.
So what I wanted to do was 'fire" questions as they appear on my journey.
Q1, is it ok to plug and unplug the Superdrive whilst machine is powered on? Or would it be better to power off before plugging and unplugging.
Q2, I still use my trusty ol Logitech Transporter. Even after all this time with all different "Plugins available it still has a place in my setup. Qobuz being a prime example. Therefore i still use Logitech Media Server, which I have installed on the MacMini. The software seems to have installed itself in the System Preferences. is this correct? Seems a strange place. If this is correct, why would it install in this "area"?
More questions to follow!!!
Posted on: 20 January 2014 by Andrew Porter
A few things install themselves in System Preferences, e.g. Adobe Flash Player,Time machine scheduler and sometimes some Mac apps. Never really thought "why"? tho.
It took me a good few months to get used to a Mac and didn't like it at first but once used to it,well there's no going back.
You might have to preservere with the Superdrive.For an Apple product I find it pretty poor and I'm on my third one now,all replaced under warranty. Sometimes they are not to keen on ejecting discs other times it catapults them across the room,and sometimes it doesn't know or show that a disc has been inserted at all,but I persevere for looks rather than functionality!
Posted on: 20 January 2014 by Dustysox
Thank you Andrew. I must confess touch wood (aka head!) so far so good with Superdrive.
Seems bizarre that "unmac' software installs in the system preferences area.
Originally Posted by Andrew Porter:
A few things install themselves in System Preferences, e.g. Adobe Flash Player,Time machine scheduler and sometimes some Mac apps. Never really thought "why"? tho.
It took me a good few months to get used to a Mac and didn't like it at first but once used to it,well there's no going back.
You might have to preservere with the Superdrive.For an Apple product I find it pretty poor and I'm on my third one now,all replaced under warranty. Sometimes they are not to keen on ejecting discs other times it catapults them across the room,and sometimes it doesn't know or show that a disc has been inserted at all,but I persevere for looks rather than functionality!
Posted on: 21 January 2014 by Derek Wright
I think that you will find that applications that are "installed" in the System Preferences area is because they are constantly running applications that are invoked from other applications. So the SysPrefs area is where you can find them to apply any special settings. The applications are physically in either the Applications Folder or Utilities Folder.
Some of the sysprefs apps are in the system folder eg "Users and Groups", Displays - are used to set up various features or preferences, but if you dig down into the system they are most likely discrete applications that you do not get any choice about installing.
The discretionary apps ie the ones you chose to install are the section below the section containing "Users and Groups"
Posted on: 21 January 2014 by BigH47
As we are having more and more troubles with our iMac , we are looking at replacing it. So that brings into question this separate "super(or not so super)drive, after questioning the guys in the iStore they say it doesn't support BR.
Question is it the drive or the iMac? I seem to remember people ripping DVDs and BRs with a mac.
So Q2 is there another product that will do the job of a superdrive?
Posted on: 21 January 2014 by tonym
Much as I love Mac stuff, IMO the Superdrive's very overpriced and there are lots of better and cheaper alternatives. My latest iMac hasn't got a built-in drive so I pulled an LG BluRay drive out of an old PC & remounted it in an external enclosure. Works a treat.
The Mac's software doesn't recognise BluRays as a video source but sees them as files so you can use something like DVD Audio Extractor to rip the soundtracks from them. Dunno if there's some other software available that'll enable BluRays to play through Macs.
Posted on: 21 January 2014 by Dustysox
Thank you Derek.
Hence that is why Logitech Media Server is there.
Every day's a school day!
Originally Posted by Derek Wright:
I think that you will find that applications that are "installed" in the System Preferences area is because they are constantly running applications that are invoked from other applications. So the SysPrefs area is where you can find them to apply any special settings. The applications are physically in either the Applications Folder or Utilities Folder.
Some of the sysprefs apps are in the system folder eg "Users and Groups", Displays - are used to set up various features or preferences, but if you dig down into the system they are most likely discrete applications that you do not get any choice about installing.
The discretionary apps ie the ones you chose to install are the section below the section containing "Users and Groups"
Posted on: 21 January 2014 by NickSeattle
Hi, Dusty,
I believe the the key difference is that items in SysPrefs can run as "Services", meaning that, after you configure them, they can operate anytime the computer is running, but do not require a user to be logged in; iTunes does not run as a service. Running LMS in the logged off state means there are probably a lot fewer competing programs to share resources with. It is probably more hack-safe, too.
Macs are great, but nothing is perfect. I am currently trying to figure out why iTunes on my music server keeps crashing all of a sudden. I have to run logged in, to capture podcasts with iTunes. I burned at least three hours last weekend testing, and still no joy after a week of troubles -- and I am relatively good at this! Planning to take the Mac Mini to the Apple Store during the SuperBowl (when the store will not be busy) if I cannot resolve on my own.
Good luck, and keep those questions coming!
Posted on: 12 February 2014 by Dustysox
Hi Nick,
I'm a bit late in the day....but many thanks for your reply.
My next question.
I have been using my "ol" NAS which has Windows Home Server on it, and all my ripped music which I have backed up to an external drive.
I am now using my Mac Mini which is super duper fast! Am i right in thinking if I plugged another hard drive into the NAS and backed up all shared folders (the drives on the NAS are making a lot of noise and I sense a drive failure is just around the corner) that I could then plug the external drive (which had just backed up the NAS) into the Mac Mini and point Asset (Beta) on the Mac and Logitech Media Server and voila..."Music"? Is there a compatibility issue doing this? I am guessing that they would be read only files?
How would I get all files across from the NAS onto a external hard drive which is connected to the Mac (read/write)?
More questions to follow!
