[Cyph0n]

For me, a media server:

(1) Pulls media metadata automatically

(2) Can serve content to a variety of clients, including smart phones

(3) Provides user access controls for when you want to share your content with others

(4) Can transcode media on the fly for clients that don’t natively support a media format

(5) Allows you to logically split up your content into libraries

(6) Provides powerful search capabilities using metadata (e.g., by actor, by genre, by director)

(7) Provides support for audio as well as video content