“Consumers are increasingly investing in three forms of digital content (content that lives primarily on hard drives):1) commercial content, such as music, TV shows, and now movies; 2) personal content, such as photos and home video; and 3) hybrid content, commercial or public content that consumers have recorded or downloaded, such as TV shows saved on personal video recording (PVR) devices like Tivo and content downloaded from Internet sites like Google Video,” Tom Rowley writes for New Rowley Group.
Rowley writes, “For consumers embracing commercial, personal, and hybrid content, two challenges are rapidly emerging:”
• Massive storage needs. For some content, such as music, each song file is relatively small (perhaps 3 or 4 megabtes (MBs)), but a collection can take up many gigabytes (GBs) of storage. For other content, such as movies, files can each be multiple gigabytes (e.g., the file for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean from Apple Computer’s iTunes Store (iTS) is 1.6 GB; a recent episode of the TV show Battlestar Galactica from iTS is over 480 MBs; the movie Superman Returns from Amazon.com’s Unbox download store in “DVD quality” is 2.9 GBs). And as high-definition content becomes the norm, the file sizes will only increase.
• The use, management, and distribution of content. Many households have multiples PCs (we use the term PC to mean a computer running Windows, Mac OS, Linux, or any other user operating system), and many consumers also bring home notebooks and other portable computers supplied by their employer. Each of these devices may be purchasing and storing digital content, and many of the downloaded files are locked down by various digital rights management (DRM) technologies, such as Apple’s FairPlay, that set the rules for how the content can be used and distributed. Added to the mix is the the growing personal content, such as multi-gigabyte photo databases and video repositories. In households with adults and kids, these issues will become critical very quickly.
Rowley writes, “Two companies are likely to lead the home server charge: Apple and Microsoft. However, since Apple dominates the digital download market for audio today, and since they have direct control over their PC and server hardware products, we will focus on what it could deliver. Also, Apple is continually looking to innovate with its consumers offerings, and the idea of an “iServ” media server seems very reasonable given the company’s history.”
Rowley explains, “The server would be built around these concepts:”
• User upgradeable storage. The iServ would offer bays of hot swappable hard drives, perhaps up to 1.5 terabytes in a three-drive configuration. The large storage would provide a central repository for content as well as enable household backup of data on various other Mac, PCs, and digital devices. The iServ could ship with a single 250 GB drive; consumers would got to the Apple Store or order additional drives online.
• Automatic syncing of household digital content. Any device on the network that buys a song, TV show, or movie from the iTS will inform the server of its purchase; a specialized iTunes iServ app will make a copy of all content purchased on authorized household systems. This copy will serve as both an archive, as well as a source for streaming or copying the file to other authorized devices.
• Streaming access to content. Besides enabling simple backup and transfers, iServ would be hard wired or use wireless connections to directly stream content to other computers or the forthcoming ITV set-top box. For example, when a mom purchases a copy of the Office on her laptop, the device will notify and transfer a copy of the file to the iTunes server app on the iServ. Without any extra effort, the family can then access the show from the FrontRow interface on the ITV box.
• Remote management of the iServ. The home server could be used in a headless fashion — controlled by a remote Mac — or with a local monitor. The iServ Remote software would enable the household administrator to set policies on content access, such as restricting streams or transfers of explicit content. From this remote console, a consumer could authorize and deauthorize household devices and otherwise manage FairPlay digital rights management issues.
• Additional household software. Just as Apple offers complementary — but secondary — applications for its iPods, such as games, the iServ could offer its own complementary software, such as a server-based family calendaring solution. In addition, an iPhoto server app could archive, backup, and enable local distribution of family photos.
Full article with much more here.
Get a ReadyNAS NV. http://www.infrant.com/
Then put all your media on there, and you can use the built server stuff to stream (which isn’t stable at the moment) or hook up an old Mac to it, and have it server stuff. I have one, the thing is amazing. Holds all my iTunes and movies.
For a home server, you really need data security as well. RAID would be a step in the right direction.
Oh, the ReadyNAS can be upgraded as well….
Sure, iServe … a half-price Pro-sumer version of an Xserve. Built-in “5-port” Work-group Router, firewall, DHCP, print-serve, mail serve, file serve, iChat serve, etc. Your basic IT department for the networked home. For those with extra data demands, the iRaid – same form factor but mostly given to drive bays.
What form factor? How about a double-tall (triple-tall?) mini? Or, maybe 40% deeper than the mini? That would offer three or four times the storage of the mini plus all sorts of connectivity pluses. The iRaid would offer as much more space with the added safety of it being a RAID box (RAID often requires extra disks that are not counted in the storage total).
We have network storage here – our NetCenter disk – and the router with firewall and DHCP – LinkSys – but it would be nice to have it in a single box more easily maintained and updated.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page
really
We need a home media server that does not require you to be logged in and running iPhoto and iTunes. Let it be served from the OS itself.
“Two companies are likely to lead the home server charge: Apple and Microsoft.”
What? I believe that should read:
“One company is likely to lead the home server charge: Microsoft.”
I don’t know where Apple figures in conusmer home entertainment with their toy computers and unpopular iPods, but the staggeringly successful launch of Zune should demonstrate once and for all where it’s all heading. I haven’t even gotten to Microsoft’s staple: servers. The IT guys at work swear by them. If anyone can put the home entertainment puzzle together, it’s the geniuses in Redmond. Think about it: Zune + Microsoft’s people ready servers = pure gold. Read it and weep Apple lemmings. Microsoft wins again.
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It doesn’t have to be this complex. All Apple really needs to do to make this happen is make the current iApps multi-user aware and make iCal and AddressBook CalDAV compatible. This would go a long way for those of us already using consumer storage arrays and some server front-end (Mac OS X Server or otherwise) to achieve what is being proposed here.
Ah, I finally experience the bitterness of having called something months ago to no response and then an article comes out saying the same thing and everyone is drooling.
It’s a smart bet on what the iTV will be, or will enable.
People will eat them up like mad. Guaranteed.
it’s a good idea.
Hmm… some companies already specialize in delivering these solutions for very large yachts, like the Kogo. Anyway, maintaining a server would seem to be too much trouble for the home market, enthusiasts excepted.
Yeah I’ve begun to see a real need for something like this myself. Hopefully Apple has one in the works!
Ha Ha…poor Zune Tang…he just doesn’t know. I’m sure he’s hiding under his bed right now, sucking his thumb, and wishing his mommy would still read him Little House on the Prairie and protect him from the devil. I love when Microsoft followers make fun of Macs. Most of them have never actually used one. “Oooh, Oooh, it’s only got one button…It doesn’t have a command line (NOTE: It does…)…It’s a toy!!…It’s pretty, so how could it be good?” What a silly, silly, man. Oh well. Some guys just want to do it the hard way…It’s their choice…
At iNuron we are currently in closed beta with a solution that comes close wrt content management. We integrated our solution in Mac OS X. We don’t deal with the availability and DRM issues yet, but put your Mac as a data server in the home network and you are set to go..
All types of data supported, metadata support, remote access, sharing, iTunes support, and more.. Useful and fun software!
Check out inuron.com for more info..