Looking to buy a NAS

[DJEPSON]

I am looking to buy my first NAS for use with 2 PC's and an Macbook, so that I can stream music etc, has anyone experience of using a NAS with a mix of PC's and Apple products and are there any conflicts in doing so ?

Thanks in advance

Damian

 

[Anonymous]

NASes are independent of computer platforms, as long as they're used through an EtherNet network.

What's more important, is whether the NAS will work well with your streaming device.

If you use your computer and AirPort/Apple TV, the NAS is just a disk where your music is stored, so you can use any harddrive with an EtherNet jack. But if you want a set-up that's not dependent on a computer, the streaming device might need software running on the NAS, and both devices need to support the file formats you want to use. Some NAS/streaming device combinations won't do at all; others might be limited to MP3.

So first decide on a streaming device; then chose a NAS that supports that device and a reasonable number of file formats.