trying to idiot-proof my MacMini music server setup

Quick question: how much storage is your 6ksong library taking up out of your 256GB card? I'm trying to get a feel for the total storage capacity I should make provision for. (I'll stay lossless like you for ripped CD material, not sure what I'll do about hi-res if and when it ever comes to iTunes.)

I will look when I get home this evening. From what I recall it is about 160 GB so far. I added another 175 cd's a week or so ago.
 
I saw that earlier, but I thought I saw an update where the problem had either been fixed or was going to be in short order (years ago). 3rd party stuff—hardware or software—scares me to death...
 
Argh, I think I figured something out, hopefully of use to people in the future ... I had a vanilla iTunes installation working quite well apparently, including iTunes remote (even after long inactivity, power-cycling reboots, etc). So I added BitPerfect. ...Evidently BP will start iTunes automatically if it's not running. And apparently that's the way to do it. So stay tuned. The acid test is what happens tomorrow morning.
Nope, never mind. Still getting "iTunes quit unexpectedly". So I search around a little more and find this gem at BitPerfect's blog: http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com/2017/10/avoid-high-sierra.html

So I wipe my disk AGAIN, do a clean install of El Capitan, without adding in BitPerfect to the mix, and now ... things are worse than ever. First thing in the AM, I try to play from the iPad, and it appears to play, but no sound. So I get on the Mini and go to SystemPrefs->Sound, and ... it hangs. Spinning wheel of death. Hard reboot it all that fixes. And this behavior is repeatable.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I must have some faulty hardware here. Any thoughts on whether it's more likely the HDD (so could try to install on an external HD) or the CPU ? Oh, I also tried resetting the SMC and NVRAM. Also tried to run hardware diagnostics, but after a phone call with Apple, it turns out you can no longer run hardware diagnostics on this machine.
 
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Nope, never mind. Still getting "iTunes quit unexpectedly". So I search around a little more and find this gem at BitPerfect's blog: http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com/2017/10/avoid-high-sierra.html

So I wipe my disk AGAIN, do a clean install of El Capitan, without adding in BitPerfect to the mix, and now ... things are worse than ever. First thing in the AM, I try to play from the iPad, and it appears to play, but no sound. So I get on the Mini and go to SystemPrefs->Sound, and ... it hangs. Spinning wheel of death. Hard reboot it all that fixes. And this behavior is repeatable.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I must have some faulty hardware here. Any thoughts on whether it's more likely the HDD (so could try to install on an external HD) or the CPU ?

Jeez, this stuff is gonna send you around the bend!

Do you have any other Apple hardware on which to stand up an iTunes/BitPerfect setup (under whichever OSX version you wish)? If so, I'd switch away from the MacMini and see if the behavior is repeatable across platforms. If not, you need to induce the MacMini to fail with some way to track its cause. If you can't discover what's causing the hang-up using system logs or some other diagnostic utility, then I'd suggest "torture testing" the MacMini's subsystems to see which is the problem child. Another avenue you could pursue would be to replicate the failure sequence you've already identified, but change the MacMini's operating environment to see if it no longer fails (i.e. blow a fan on the unit while inducing the spinning "beachball" of death and see if a different thermal environment helps, hurts, or makes no difference.)

Keep grinding, you're making progress.
 
To repeat a quote I posted in the VLC thread.

A wise man once said, "With Apple Products making something work is either very easy or impossible."

Mark Gosdin
 
Directed at the OP: I’ve also experienced your troubles with music on my Mac mini and got fed up. Here’s how I solved EVERY problem with one purchase:

No more reboots.
No WiFi dropouts.
Secure data storage with a backup.
Absolutely fantastic sound quality.
Simple operation that anyone can use.

Sound good? You want a Sony HAP-Z1ES
 
A wise man once said, "With Apple Products making something work is either very easy or impossible."
Good one ! It's quite pathetic. I also bought an Apple TV 4K. Works good most of the time. Except, almost every time after being inactive overnight, it does this thing where the display flashes on and off, about every second or so. Uplugging and re-plugging the power cord fixes it every time ! Ridiculous.
 
Good one ! It's quite pathetic. I also bought an Apple TV 4K. Works good most of the time. Except, almost every time after being inactive overnight, it does this thing where the display flashes on and off, about every second or so. Uplugging and re-plugging the power cord fixes it every time ! Ridiculous.

Is the ATV WiFi or hardwired to the internet?
 
Weird! That oughta be rock solid. My setup is quite similar to yours and I never have problems...anymore. But I used to. Don't know whether this is germane in any way, but when I first switched from DirecTV (which runs its AV signals and control over RG cable) to AT&T U-verse, I put all my STBs on hardwired Gigabit Ethernet. BAD MISTAKE! All that high priority video flying around my network (DVR recording, playback, realtime viewing, etc.) brought my WiFi to its knees. Huh? Yup. Even though all the video was hardwired Ethernet, all the traffic caused my Apple routers (Time Capsules and Extremes) to drop the lower priority WiFi comms, thus killing my laptop, my wife's iPod, our phones, etc. One quick call to AT&T and some quick RJ to RG swapping and my network was cleared of all that video traffic, allowing the Apple routers to respond to and keep open all our WiFi comms. Sorry for the shaggy dog story, but maybe it'll give you some ideas.

Now you got me thinking more about just what I can (and can't) do with my system. Gimme some time to play around some and I'll get back with you on whether I can find any glitches (hopefully not as many or serious ones as you "enjoy").
 
Well, my Mini seems to be behaving itself quite nicely the last few days; that business I reported back in post #91 seems to have been transient. If things keep stable for a few more days, I may cross my fingers and add BitPerfect back into the mix.

I really can't win for losing though. Got my Emotiva DAC back - had this weird but apparently known problem where you have to turn it on, back off, and back on, in order to get sound - and it's still got the problem. Meanwhile, a member of my household hung a picture behind the A/V area, not knowing the proper way to hang a picture, and it fell, ripped the 1/8" phono plug out of the back of my almost new TV, and the jack is ruined. Which is kinda ok, I can use the optical audio output to the Emotiva. Except the TV's sound volume control inexplicably does not modulate the digital output (but does the now-broken analog output). So can no longer use the TV's remote to control volume, having to use the Emotiva's instead. And when I send the Emotiva for re-repair, well, you can see where this is going ...
 
Re. your experience with ethernet'd components and wifi ... my wifi performance is inexplicably bad. Measures 20+Mbps, but doesn't feel much better than when I had 3Mbps DSL before I graduated to 200Mbps cable; the difference between wifi and my ethernet'd Mac Pro is now astounding. So I'm curious about your experience. But I'm seeing the lousy wifi performance even when nothing is happening with the hardwired devices (Mac Pro is sleeping, A/V components aren't being used).
 
What's your MBP showing for WiFi TX? Press "Option" key while clicking on WiFi icon in Menu Bar at top right of your display (if you haven't moved it).

Mine runs between 350 and 450 Mbps on a 50/5Mbps AT&T U-verse setup.

Sorry to hear about the new electronics problems. Hey, at least all your cars run good...
 
What's your MBP showing for WiFi TX? Press "Option" key while clicking on WiFi icon in Menu Bar at top right of your display (if you haven't moved it).

Mine runs between 350 and 450 Mbps on a 50/5Mbps AT&T U-verse setup.
In the neighborhood of 250-300Mbps; what does that mean exactly, why is it so high (way higher than your link's BW in your case) ?

I believe my basic problem is that I need to be running a 5GHz wifi radio in the same room as my wireless clients (the living room, where the A/V also is). Things are much better. I screwed up by running Spectrum's coax to my study, with an Export Extreme there feeding an ethernet cable to the living room; there I had a switch, with cables to A/V components (ATV, Sony TV, Mac Mini). So wireless was coming from study. Replacing A/V area switch with an ASUS router, and using its 5Ghz radio, I get 70Mbps or so on wifi. Might be worth reconfiguring things, so Spectrum coax goes to A/V area, with Airport Extreme there, and the same cross-house ethernet cable feeds the switch back in the study (and return the ASUS router).
 
That's the speed at which my gizmo talks to its current WAP: Apple Time Capsule for my MBP on the main floor, another Time Capsule on the lower level, and an AirPort Extreme for pool/deck duty outside. The TX speed gives you a good idea of how solid your WiFi connection is to access your network resources (NAS, printers, file servers, iTunes music servers, hardwired ATVs and AirPort Expresses, etc.). I use Ookla or the like for clocking internet up/download speeds as well as access (ping) time.

Not quite getting your setup. Any chance you could draw up a quick network map and post it? Just leave out any personal identifying info if you have one already drawn up to post.
 
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