Frustrated! Looking for Setup Advice just switched back

ok i am looking for some advice and short version is that after over a decade i switched back to Windows mainly because of the Surface Pro 3 and its ability to Dock as a Desktop and then be a great laptop.

here is my situation:

1. Xbox One - purchased 6 months ago and immediately saw the total Media Center control it offered and so ditched my Harmony One remote (almost 100% but need it occasionally) and have Xbone running everything. i rarely play games and have 3 and 5 year old that enjoy Kinect stuff

2. Surface Pro 3 - purchased 2 months ago really for a trial and LOVE it so much that my newish Macbooks are now collecting dust

3.Yoga 3 14 (best buy edition i5)- bought last night as i want to create a touch screen environment for everyone to be able to access my LARGE MP3 collection and connected to TV easily just touch Netflix or Sling TV etc and so i set it up


on Yoga i setup my account and then a NEW user (local) account which i created a Microsoft account for named after my family name so that nobody using it could access my personal microsoft account stuff.

unlike my Surface where i installed Start8 so that i NEVER see the Tiles and only see desktop mode i wanted Yoga the opposite where people just see Music, Netflix, Photos, iHeartRadio, etc.. and no need for "Desktop"

in fact i placed the Yoga so that its a screen only and no keyboard etc.. and anything i need to do i will do remote from Surface 3 because again its all about the touch.

i opened up the Xbox Music app and connected a 2TB USB 3 drive with about 1TB of music on it and when presented with the opportunity to "sign in" to my account while in the Xbox Music app i accidentally choose the "family account" and not my personal outlook account and have found NO WAY to change this including deleting the app and cleaning registry etc..and every time i reinstall it remembers my account i chose the 1st time.

so if you are still reading this what do i do because what i want is:

1. this guest type account that allows people to surf my music and play it, use my Plex app (media server that have my 2,000+ videos via a media server coming from a Mac Mini in the house)
2. i want to to #1 without access to my personal info but
3. i want any music i add to be accessible on my personal account Xbox One, Windows 8.1 phone, and Surface 3 at minimum when i am on my own network at home.

i hope all of that made sense and i look for suggestions

thanks

Hi there

PLEX works fine -- install on Surface Pro 3 - no problem with Networking video -- I don't know anything abot XBOX nor do I want to - never needed it. A docking station is great for the surface pro 3. The Video disc can be either attached locally or on a network drive - ensure decent network speed if you are streaming Networked video.

Logitech Media server is a great way also (FREE) of streaming Audio around your house -- although intended for "Squeezeboxes" it works fine as a stand alone server if you have things like Smart TV's etc. Works on both Linux and Windows. There's also a Squeezeplay app for playing locally on Windows. - note it CAN access the remote server and music from there too.

Both these apps will allow people to play Video and music without browsing any of your personal stuff as you set up the music and Video libraries and the servers will only access those.

Squeezeplay is also available for Android phones allowing you to access your remote music server on your phone and play it -- again ensure decent network connection. With a decent DAC in the modern smart phones plug the headphone into a decent amplifier and it's great.

The squeezebox server and player also handle FLAC files without any problem both on Computers and the Phones.


BTW some smart TV's like Panasonic Viera's have a decent built in Media player -- they can read / share video / audio files DIRECTLY from a LINUX machine (create say two directories /home/films and /home/music) and the TV will be able to play directly without you needing a server app at all.

I haven't been able to share with Windows but works fine on a Linux machine. Otherwise the server app on the TV works great for PLEX whether the servers are installed on Linux, Windows or any other OS .

Note also MEZZMO (not free) is a good video server too - only works on Windows though.

Cheers
jimbo