New Mac user with several questions

[GSXRMovistar]

A few years back I had a Macbook but as I was working on Wintel systems everyday at work I found it a little unnatural flicking between the two operating systems everyday so it wasn't used as much as i would have like.

Anyway I now no longer do any hands on Windows stuff at work so attempting to migrate to OSX again and picked myself up an iMac.

So questions so far:-

iTunes - I have all my media on a WHS shared folder, I've imported my library to the Mac (after having to search/replace file locations in the library.xml file), everything shows up in iTunes (with ratings etc) but the files show as not located until I first go to my Music folder (I guess mounting it). How do I need to setup the Mac/iTunes so it knows where these files are automatically?

News client - On the PC i've used Newsleecher for years and found it a great piece of software, what is a recommended alternative for OSX (with the ability to search groups)?

Mail/Calendar/Contacts - On the PC I was an Outlook user but to be honest I've been going off that for some time. I'm looking for a client that can access three email accounts (2 hotmail and my personal domain) and sync happily with my iPad and iPhone.

I'm sure I'll have a load more questions that I'll add to this thread as I go but would also appreciate any tips/recommendations for others that went PC to Mac.

Thanks
Andy

 

[Turbo-G]

For your Mail/Calendar/Contacts I'd personally stick with iCal, Mail and Contacts as they work seamlessly with each other - and free! Dependent on who your accounts are with you may want to use MobileMe to keep everything in sync on the move (and not just when you dock), depends on your needs.

I personally have hotmail, mobileMe and Gmail accounts all kept in sync via MobileMe across my iPad, iPhone and iMac.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

I've got most things working now but still looking for a good newsreader, both unison and sabnzbd appear to be popular. Are there any that offer a searching service like Newsleecher?

 

[Brian8bit]

If I needed a news reader, I would probably go with Unison. I already use Coda and Prompt from Panic, so would happily drop the cash on more of their software. Though I haven't used Unison myself.

You can download Unison straight from their website and trial it before deciding whether or not to drop the cash on it. Which is one thing you can't do through the App store on Mac. The trial period lasts six days.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Been using Unison for a few days now, does what I need to happy with that.

Next question , What file/sync utility for replicating certain folders to a remote network location? (Previously I used either SyncToy or just a simple RoboCopy script with my Windows machines)

 

[cotton31]

You could probably use Automator to do this - I'm not on my Mac at the moment, but it's pretty easy to pick up (just look in the Finder actions category).

There are a few guides out there to accomplish this exact thing - I'll edit my post if I find one!

Edit: A quick Google returns this, which looks quite handy, but I'm not sure how good it is as it was posted in 2005... I might give it a try myself!