Kodi Community Forum

Hi all,

First-timer here...I'm about to take the plunge into XBMC and the Apple TV 2, after having suffered with a Popcorn Hour for a while. I just have a few questions that I just can't seem to figure out, even after reading FAQs/Wiki etc.

A little description of my setup first...I have a Synology NAS where I created a shared folder and basically copied my entire iTunes library and folder into it. I can run iTunes on either my Macbook Pro, or my Mac Pro, and I can access the iTunes library from the NAS, no problems (except I can't access it on both at the same time, but I knew that going in).

Now, I tried downloading XBMC for Mac onto my Macbook Pro, because I just wanted to see how my music content would look in "pretty wall format" (hehe) in XBMC. But the best I can do is to connect to the NAS shared folder, go into the iTunes media folder, and see all the subfolders (i.e. each song/album, the way iTunes organizes its music media) in an ugly file list with no cover art, generic XBMC icons for folders and songs, etc.

I can drill down into a folder and play an .MP3. But I can't stop it using either the mouse/keyboard or an Apple Remote I have lying around (I can navigate around using the Apple Remote, but I can't seem to stop the song once it's playing).

So I guess my question is...for comparison, I looked at the Movies folder (also pointing to a shared folder on my NAS with all my movies on it) and it looks great. Love the cover art, the movie wall, etc. I'm hoping someone can tell me (or at least point me to) how I would set this up in similar fashion for music in an iTunes library stored on a NAS.

Did you really look in the FAQs and Wiki or did you just "kinda sorta" look?

1. your Macbook Pro runs Mac OS X, not iOS. You're in the wrong sub forum. No worries, it happens a lot and can get confusing since they're both made by Apple and they share a lot of stuff, but under the hood they are very different.

Mac support sub forum: http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=56

2. you are accessing your music in plain old file mode rather than having XBMC scan it in. Read this: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Music_Library

3. Movies are the same way. You can either just few them in a structure as if they are plan 'ol files or you can have XBMC scan them and give you cover art, summaries, searching by actor, smart playlists, etc. See: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Video_Library

Another good read is http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBM...tart_Guide

Ned Scott Wrote:Did you really look in the FAQs and Wiki or did you just "kinda sorta" look?

Yes, I really looked As I said, it's not so much that I can't find information, it's just that I don't get it.

Ned Scott Wrote:1. your Macbook Pro runs Mac OS X, not iOS. You're in the wrong sub forum. No worries, it happens a lot and can get confusing since they're both made by Apple and they share a lot of stuff, but under the hood they are very different.

Mac support sub forum: http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=56

Yep...no, I do understand that there's a difference. I just figured the way they would interface with an iTunes library on a NAS would be similar. If they're completely different, then I apologize.

Ned Scott Wrote:2. you are accessing your music in plain old file mode rather than having XBMC scan it in. Read this: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Music_Library

That was the first link I found when I realllly looked It's confusing though. I do have my mp3's properly tagged (well, most of them, anyway, but the rest I'll deal with later). It's the "scanning in" part that I don't get.

For instance, the wiki article there says, "To scan your music collection into the Music Library, first make sure you are not in 'Library Mode' (checkmark on the left)." OK, got that far.

"Next browse to the location of your music collection and brings up the The Context Menu menu with various options. Select the option labelled "Scan item to database"." That's where I'm having the issue. What is "the location of my music collection"? Is it the shared folder on my NAS in which my entire iTunes library is, called "music"? Is it the iTunes Media folder inside that? Is it the "Music" folder inside the iTunes Media folder?

And how do I browse to the location of my music collection, anyway? When I click the "Music" main menu option in XBMC, all I see is a blank screen with the two dots ("..") indicating that the only choice is to go up one menu level.

Again, I apologize...I'm a little older than most of you, I guess, and it's a little harder for me to grasp some of these things. It probably doesn't help that I'm probably denser than most of you, too But yes, I do look at the documentation that's available....

I guess I still can't see my previous reply because I'm new and my replies are moderated by admins...otherwise I would've just edited it with the following info:

I actually did just find out the problem...for some reason my "music" shared folder on my NAS hadn't been appearing in the sources list...and now it does! And of course now that I see it and can scan it, everything comes in fine. Sorry about that...

I'm looking forward to buying an ATV2 and seeing how XBMC works on it. I'm excited

Glad to hear it worked out! Sorry if I was condescending at all. I just figured "oh no, this guy thinks his macbook runs iOS! I better spell it out for him" but I see now that wasn't the case ;)

A lot of the XBMC how-tos and wiki entires do have a LOT of info and it can be overwhelming. Normally you don't have to do all (or even most) of what is described on a page. There's just so many options for XBMC that the pages get a bit loaded, even the quick start ones.

As far as XBMC on iOS vs Mac OS X (or Windows or Linux), XBMC will have/do all the same things. That's what's so great about XBMC on an ATV2 is that it really is a full version of XBMC. There are a few exceptions to this, but for the most part you can go with the logic "if it works on one XBMC it should work on ATV2 XBMC".

Cheers!

No worries, I've been in the "help spoonfeed the lazy helpless newb" position often enough to know that it's not a fun thing. No offence taken.

Thanks for the explanation about the universality of XBMC. I figured that was the case, but good to hear confirmation.

As for the wikis...yes, daunting is a good word. I'm a professional editor now (my computer tech support days are my previous life!), so maybe once I get hold of the ATV2 and start delving into it and becoming more confident in my knowledge of it, I'll see if I can't maybe help streamline the wiki for newbies such as myself.