70 year old “newbie” here. I have an Atom and an Asustor Drivestor 2 Lite AS1102TL NAS unit.
How do I setup the NAS to act as a music file storage unit for my Atom?
Specifically what format should I use for the NAS drives and what communication protocol do I use between the NAS and the Atom?
Next, how do I control playback? Through the Focal/Naim app on my phone? Does it maintain folder structure? If not, how can folder structure be maintained? Through an app on the NAS?
Long after I purchased the Asustor I read they were not a good NAS for music storage. Can you recommend a dual bay NAS that “plays nice” with the Atom?
Thanks for your time.
Welcome to the Forum. There is a lot you can find by using the search, but sometimes it’s hard to find exactly what you want.
In a nutshell, and this is completely biased and based on my experience, you want to use Asset as your upnp server software. The other good one is MinimServer, but it’s more complex to use. Asset costs about £30, you download it and install it on your NAS. The best NAS drives to use are Qnap or Synology. Synology is easier to get your head around. I have a Synology DS224+, which amazingly I managed to set up myself, so it’s got to be easy.
Don’t worry about the folder structure. Just have a folder for each artist, and then add the albums to the appropriate folder. The key thing is the metadata. Get that right and then you search by metadata, not folder. You can search by artist, album, genre and anything else that you choose to include.
The Naim app will see Asset and you search from there.
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It’s the upnp software that does this, not the hardware.
Either activate the upnp media server software on the asustore (it probably has one already in a dormant state) or if possible install “asset” as HH has suggested.
The upnp software serves up your music files across the home network and the atom will see it and play from it. (You use the Naim app to choose what to play).
I back what has been said above, except that if you have a substantial collection of classical music, MinimServer has some advantages over Asset.
Using a streamer with a NAS has much to recommend it, not least a lot of flexibility, but there is a learning curve and if your music store is not that large, it might be simpler to put the music on an external drive plugged into your Atom.
Roger
I agree with the Synology or QNAP recommendations. They are tried and tested for use as a music store and server.
If the NAS is only for this purpose, the cheaper models from those brands are all that is necessary. A music server doesn’t make heavy demands on them.
Asset and Minimserver are good UPnP servers. However, you may find that the free server bundled with a Synology is good enough for your needs.
If you really want to browse a folder structure that you have created, some servers will allow this (including, for example, the free Synology one) but they are really at their best when you use metadata for browsing. Your choice, of course.
Finally, how big is your music library? An alternative to a NAS could be to put the music on a USB drive and connect that to one of the USB ports on the Atom. Look in the Server input and you should find the music there. This lacks some of the convenience of a NAS, but it may be all you need.
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I use MinimServer because a) I’m a geek and b) I needed to manage 2 music libraries which, on Linux, MinimServer is designed to do.
I haven’t used Asset so I can’t comment on it but I have given the post from @HungryHalibut a like because he’s writing from experience and his experiences will probably be helpful to the OP.
Using asset you will be able to browse in the folder structure if you like it but I’m sure you cannot install asset on a asustor. You have to use the built in upnp server
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Another bit of advice I would give to someone starting is to understand and be ready to amend any metadata. The Asset software by dbpoweramp also has neat software for ripping CDs. You may find rips don’t appear in the Naim app where you would expect them. This usually means hunting around a bit to find and fix the metadata, so they appear in the right place/order.
I use a Synology NAS and Asset like others here, with a Mac to control the set up.
Good luck👍
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