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[hgim82]

I have been happily using Audirvana in iTunes integrated mode. Recently Audirvana is moving away from the iTunes integration mode, and I am exploring an alternative. Having read about superior sound quality of MC, I am willing to give it a try. There are a number of questions that I want to have answers to. I hope that I will get all the answers here.

First, my specs: I have a Mac Mini (2013) with Mavericks (soon to be upgraded to Yosemite) as a dedicated music server. It is set up in the "headless" mode (no monitor attached), being accessed by the main desktop using VNC. My main desktop is MacPro. All music files are stored in an external hard disk hooked up to MacPro through Thunderbolt connection. Mac Mini accesses the music library through the wireless network. I have about 1.5 TB of music, consisting mostly of apple lossless, and about a hundred albums in HD/DSD files. The HD/DSD files are ported into iTunes as "proxy files" (a defunct Audirvana function) through the iTunes integration mode.  I have meticulously organized all my library so that all music and library files are contained in a single folder "iTunes" on the external hard disk, with 99.9% of high quality artwork, with manually adjusted genres and other metadata. Music is fed to Luxman DA-06 USB DAC with 24/384 and 128DSD capability.

Now the questions:

1. Will it be painless to migrate all the music into MC with all correct metadata and artwork without too much manual edits?

2. Will I be able to contain all the relevant files (music + library management files) in a single folder on my external hard disk so I can easily back it up to another back-up disk? This function is very important, because i would like to reproduce the identical library on my Macbook Air by using the back-up hard disk while I am traveling.

3. Will I be able to switch back to iTunes if I don't like MC?

4. Will the proxy files for HD/DSD work in MC?

5. Will it work smoothly with Airplay and remote apps for iPad?

6. How do I sync music with my iPhone/iPad? Will I be able to sync the music and photos/apps through iTunes? If I have to use a separate software for music sync, how do I still sync the other iPhones/iPad related files with my Mac?

7. On my main workstation, Mac Pro, will I be able to maintain a separate library while sharing the same music folder? Better yet, can I keep the iTunes on MacPro sharing the same music library, while my Mac Mini runs on MC?

Thank you.

[mwheelerk]

I can answer a couple of thing according to my own experiences.

1. All I did is set up Auto Import in JRiver and pointed it to the same file structure used by iTunes on my external HDD.  I think the first time I discovered some artwork was missing. I set up a Smart List where Artwork was missing, made the 15 or so corrections and that was it.

2.  See answer above. I use the same Folder/File structure location for JRiver as I do for iTunes and Audirvana 2.0.

3.  Since I didn't change anything in relation to my Folder/File location nothing has changed for my use of iTunes. I used iTunes with Audirvana a lot when I first got JRiver until I got more familiar with it. My playback is now 95% JRiver.

4. I cannot answer this.

5.  I cannot answer about AirPlay but I HIGHLY recommend you buy JRemote for use with JRiver. It is the greatest remote app Out there. Period! I love it.

6. & 7.  I cannot answer these.

Good luck

[hgim82]

Thanks for your kind reply. While I read your response, it just occurred to me that I may just use both iTunes and MC on two different machines! This will solve the problem! So my idea is the following:

- MC is installed on Mac Mini, importing all music and metadata from the iTunes directory, and it will serve as the main player for the system.
- On MacPro, I still use the iTunes accessing the same music folder, and this is used for syncing iPhone/iPad.
- I can install JRemote on my iPad and I can control both MC for the main system, and regular Remote to control my iTunes through Airplay.

I wonder if anyone is using MC in such a setting. In this case, I still have one extra question: I am wondering how the future addition of music would work. Can I designate the same iTunes folder as the destination for the music and MC can automatically store all new music in there? I can then import the same music with the iTunes so I can get them synchronized all the time.

Let me know if this approach will work as I expected.