Max out your Mac Mini

Although most PCW readers are good at eking out the lifespan of their PCs, there eventually comes a time when you must admit defeat, regardless of how careful you are to keep the hardware up to date with judicious upgrades.

Re-using old PCs is something well worth investigating before you go down the route of passing them on to family or friends, or simply junking it.

As an example, an old PC could run a Linux-based web or email server ­ if you have a fast broadband connection with a static IP address or use a dynamic DNS service like Dyndns, and you need little more than a domain name.

Alternatively, install an FTP server, such as the free zFTP Server, to allow other users to download files from your home, or Smoothwall Firewall to use the PC as a hardware-based firewall, protecting your home network.

However, in this short feature we’re going to show you how to use an old Mac Mini as a streaming audio server that can stream music to any hi-fi system in your home, all controlled remotely via an iPod, iPhone or even a smartphone.

Storing your media in one location makes sense. With digital rights management, you can’t simply copy your downloaded audio tracks across various computers, unless you make sure each one contains your login information.

Using iTunes as an example, you can store your audio on up to five computers, but you need your iTunes Music Store login on each machine ­ not good if you want to share your audio with other people in your home.

By keeping your media files in one location, you can control the content and make sure each room is capable of hearing the same audio track streamed from the one source. This means you can set up your media server to stream the same track to your kitchen, bedroom and even your garden.