NAS music library and Homepods?

Question

NAS music library and Homepods?

I am thinking of replacing a SONOS system, which causes me endless software hassles, with Apple Homepods as I've got a suite of Apple devices already. My question relates to accessing a music library on a NAS on the Homepods.

Currently my music library is on a Western Digital NAS that I have been able to access on the SONOS through the router and a WD account. However, WD have changed the access for their NAS devices and now it seems that I have to have an iMac or Macbook with local access to the NAS (i.e. the NAS folders appear in Finder, not in a browser) in order for the SONOS system to access the music library.

I haven't been able to determine how I would access the music library with the Homepods. For example, would I have to copy everything to the IMac and have that running in order to play music from the library, or not copy the files but have the iMac running to access the NAS in Finder? Or could the Homepods connect directly when controlled by an iphone or ipad?

We're talking the best part of 1000 CDs so obviously I don't want to pay to access stuff I've already paid for by using streaming services.

Thanks for any help you can give me on this.

Posted on Apr 8, 2023 11:17 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 11, 2023 03:44 PM in response to Michael Paine

Thank you - that is useful.

I think the overall answer is that my key issue - accessing the music library on the NAS WITHOUT having to have another computer running to Homeshare or Airplay - is sadly not possible with the Homepods as currently spec-ed. So in that respect, there's no difference between the Homepods and the Sonos system.

Thanks for your replies

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Answer 2

Bill_T1

Community Specialist

Apr 10, 2023 02:37 PM in response to fionafromkendal

Hi fionafromkendal,

To access a music library through other devices, you'd need to configure Home Sharing. The support article Use Home Sharing to share media from a computer to other devices describes how you can configure these files to be accessible to your other computers, iPad, iPhone, or Apple TV devices.

The HomePod is a smart speaker and would not be expected to access these files directly. You can AirPlay from one of the aforementioned devices to the HomePods for audio output. In terms of music access, the Apple Music subscription would be the expected HomePod solution for directly playback.

Regards.

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Answer 3

Apr 10, 2023 03:17 PM in response to Bill_T1

Thanks Bill_T1 -- that's really helpful.

I was looking into the Home Sharing function anyway for the Sonos system just in case that made things easier (it doesn't so far as I can see).

So the Homepods would be different to the Sonos devices but still need to be supported by an Apple system (iMac, ipad etc.) one way or another. Good to know.

Best regards

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Answer 4

judysings

Community Specialist

Apr 11, 2023 05:46 AM in response to fionafromkendal

Good afternoon fionafromkendal,

How did you import the 1000 CDs in the first place? Were they imported using iTunes on a Mac or Windows PC? It seems the easiest solution would be to import or transfer that music back to the internal drive of the iMac and use Home Sharing if you don't want to pay for the Apple Music subscription.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

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Answer 5

Apr 11, 2023 02:25 PM in response to fionafromkendal

If you have a Mac running Mojave and iTunes then you can set it to access the music on the NAS. There is an advanced settings in iTunes to copy files to the Mac hard disk - make sure this is not checked before importing the music into iTunes.

You can then use the Mac to play the music directly to the Sonos (or Homepod) or use Homesharing to play the music from other devices like an Apple TV.

Unfortunately Homesharing does not work directly with Homepods - you cannot ask Siri to play music via Homesharing.

You can elect to merge local and Apple Music libraries, if you have a subscription, and Siri Homepod might be able to play your CD-related music. But people have had mixed success with this. Also my understanding is that your music is uploaded to your iCloud account for this to work.

More recent macOS (eg Ventura) and the Music app may work differently.

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Answer 6

Apr 11, 2023 03:46 PM in response to judysings

The music library is (mostly) present on an iMac but that was the issue

- I was trying to avoid having to have a computer on at all times just

to play music. If I've got an iMac on in the office, why use the Sonos

at all - or Homepods?

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NAS music library and Homepods?

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