Home Setup Hardware -- Please Advise!

Question

Hi everyone,
I've been trying to figure out the best way of doing this for weeks, and figure you all are the best people I can ask.
I'm a recent convert to Mac, having been a longtime PC user. Furthermore, I'm a first-time laptop owner.
Now that I'm "wireless", there's a few things I'm looking to do -- in as cost-efficient a manner as possible, though while still retaining future expandability.
My situation:
My Macbook's hard drive is mostly full [already]; I can't fit all my music on there. However, that's not the biggest issue! What I WANT to do is to be able and play my music through my desktop speakers...from another NETWORK ACCESSIBLE DRIVE, that I can also work off of, wirelessly. My "wireless" situation right now is only using my old wireless-G router, so an upgrade to N-draft is of course a welcomed addition. I currently have a gigabit switch, but if new hardware replaces that, that's fine.
I'll go down the line of products...
Time Capsule would take care of most of my needs, aside from utilizing my desktop speakers for actually playing the music. I'm also reading about a lot of problems with them on the forums so far...along with mediocre N-speeds. I also am concerned about how HOT the drive runs, and of course that's it's not replaceable in the future size-wise...and that if it ever dies, the unit is even useless for wireless, too. If I DID get a Time Capsule, however, can it share my itunes library (copied to it) to multiple computers (mac+pc)?
Base Station Extreme (n): Like a Time Capsule w/out a hard drive, right? Is the wireless-N performance better on this unit? Would a more flexible solution be to get a base station instead of a time capsule, and simply plug a USB 2.0 HDD into it? I DO like this option because, if I really need the speed, I can unplug the USB drive and plug it directly into my laptop -- which I wouldn't be able to do with the Time Capsule. Again, however, this wouldn't allow me to initiate the playing of my music (from the laptop) on the USB drive (plugged into the base station) to my DESKTOP speakers...correct? Can I even share/stream music TO a computer if the USB disk is plugged into the base station, and I try to import the songs into my laptop's library? I've read many NAS solutions boasting "itunes sharing", which I don't completely understand.
And lastly...but definitely not leastly...
Airport Express. It's cheap. And it's Wireless N. And I'd be able to play the music through my desktop speakers, from my laptop. Pretty much covers my main concerns, doesn't it? However, then I would need to go out and buy a NAS hard drive, and I have no clue which I would get...the only "widely available and semi-affordable" one is the Western Digital MyBook World...however, it gets horrendous reviews as far as speed...and it's noisy...and it runs hot (all bad). that model ALSO does not have a USB port if I wanted to plug it directly into my laptop to work at a faster pace...or on the road where no network is available. There are other NAS hdd's out there, but they're all quite expensive...and I still don't understand the requirements for "sharing" my itunes library from a NAS hdd -- even a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme.
OK, so I'm sorry this was so wordy...I'm just trying to cover all my bases and get all the information across.
So what seems the best solution for my needs? One of the Apple products? A combination of Apple products? A combo of Apple and other products? In summation, here's what I want to do: play music from laptop to desktop speakers from another drive, and have the/a network hard drive to access/work over (in well-utilized wireless-N speed, and gigagbit). Being able to plug directly into laptop would be added bonus.
As the subject mentions: "Please advise!"
PS - trying to stay as cost-effective as possible, without skimping on being "wise".
Message was edited by: johnb4467
Message was edited by: johnb4467
Message was edited by: johnb4467

Answer 1

Hi again,
So I've read a good majority of the Time Capsule articles you recommended, and there's a few major issues that I'm seeing, that maybe you (or anyone else reading!!) can continue to advise me on:
My biggest concern at this point, is that even if I set up a 'shared' itunes library on either the Extreme or TC, it doesn't sound like I can SYNC the library to my iphone...this is kind of one of the big things I'm looking to do. Is this a no-work-around situation? To sync, does the library downright have to be on the computer? Right now my entire Itunes library is on my old PC, and since it doesn't have a monitor anymore, I can't get onto it to sync -- but beyond this, I wanted everything synced with my Mac (addresses, calendars, etc...and music) -- which unfortunately just doesn't have the space for the music (along with the plethora of apps!). I also want to be in a situation where I can sit on my sofa, use the laptop, select a song in Itunes (on a NAS), and have it play on my stereo speakers. The only way I see this happening is: purchasing a TC, Extreme Station, or NAS like a "Mybook", and pipe it through an Airport Express. Kind of a long, expensive workaround, but does this sound like the solution? Of course, this still doesn't address my problem of syncing to my iphone...I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with this problem (virtually any MB user is going to run into this issue, I would think)...please chime in if you feel you have a good solution.
Thank you for the continued help, everyone!
John
PS - If CHOOSING between a 500gb TC and a 1TB, I've read the 500GB drive is actually more of a "server-grade" disk...is this true?
And as of this point in time, you can still do a Time Machine backup via Airport Extreme to an attached USB hdd, yes?
Seconldy, it is a little discouraging that neither the TC, Airport Extreme, or USB atached drive (to either) EVER spin down. Honestly, a hiccup in the drives spinning up doesn't at all bother me...I'd rather have my drives "live" longer! I do, however, love that the TC runs [according to the review] virtually silent -- and only lukewarm (akin to AppleTV, which I assume isn't too hot) -- and only uses 30w of power (quite important to me...I hate wasting unneeded electricity!).