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    Network Music discussion.

    Well I've finally done enough research to be happy with the way I want to go with my music. The final solution will be to rip all my CDs to the FLAC format (free lossless audio codec) and pass them to my amplifier via a slimdevices squeezebox 3 wirelessly:



    The squeezebox is fed by the slimdevices free opensource music server software "slimserver" which is constantly being updated and plugins created - I have been trialling this for a while now and using my wireless laptop to pretend it's the squeezebox - there is a software version of the squeezebox which although doesn't perform as well as the real thing, it gives a good idea of the potential.

    The squeezebox can access internet radio while the music server is disabled (PC off or server app turned off), so music choices are still available at all times. It can also do RSS feeds and display them on as a screensaver if you choose. The latest plugin I've tried is AlienBBC which allows you to stream the BBC "listen again" and BBC podcasts via the squeezebox. It's got a high quality DAC (digital to analogue convertor) but supports optical and coax digital output too, so I'll be trying out both (I don't think the DAC in my amp is that great so I'm pleased it has a decent DAC built in). It's got a JVC-spec remote so should work fine just using amp remote. All very impressive. There's even a sideways version of Tetris on it And finally, you can set up the music server stream so you can connect to it from anywhere on the Internet, so any of your music, wherever you are, recoding the stream to your pipe size if necessary (a bit like I used to use orb.com for).

    However, since most of my tunes are still in mp3 format, they don't currently take up much space, but once I've finished reripping them as FLAC, I'm going to have space issues e.g. mp3 at 192bitrate for an example album takes up 47MB, whereas the FLAC version takes up 190MB, so since my current 192bitrate mp3 collection is 30GB, I'm going to need 4X space = 120GB, just for my current set of music and my PC HD is only 160GB capacity

    So after the price of hard discs comes down in price in 6 months time (fingers crossed), I'm going to buy one of these:



    It's a "Qnap" NAS which allows you to store your music, videos, images and other files and the built-in web server, FTP server, photo station and print server sort you out so you don't even need to have the PC turned on at all. You plug a USB2 HD into it and it allows installation of the slimserver (if you buy it from here slimserver comes ready installed!)
    It will email you if the disc nears certain % and can also be used as a backup device. I will of course have to get a 2nd HD of similar size to backup all the music on to occassionally - don't want to go through the FLAC rip process more than once ever

    In the not too distant future, when you can get 300GB of hosting space cheaply, I'll keep all the music elsewhere, but this seems like a good solution for now.

    I'll keep you updated on how it goes. The slimserver app is already in use on my PC and the squeezebox has just been ordered from that same place as the qnap link above, with free DHL delivery so should be here soon. I went for the black version (it's the colour of the back, not the front) to match the rest of my hifi kit and to avoid looking too ipody. I'm like an excited kid at Christmas now!

    #2
    Oh and I forgot to mention - if you want to access the slimserver, it's all done via a web interface, so you can browse your music and configure the server in a browser - even browse by album art and then choose what music to listen to without having to pick up the remote control....

    Comment


      #3
      Is the diffrerence between 192MP3 and FLAC that amazing?

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        #4
        I was happy until someone asked the same question, so I flicked between them both..... mp3 was quite lacking, with treble being flat and lifeless causing the stereo effect to be a bit pants. The mp3 sounded like it had a bit more bass bizarrely.

        FLAC is identical to the original CD (it's like zipping a wav file and unzipping it when you want to play it). I didn't think I could tell the difference. Until I tried. So my advice is, if you are happy with your mp3s, don't try comparing it back to back with FLAC
        Also, I'm listening to my CDs on a Marantz CD67SE, Tannoy Mercury M3 floorstanders and ?50 interconnects and a fairly decent Marantz amplifier, which makes any differences in sound quality easier to spot - lord knows what people with high end setups do when they hear mp3s

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          #5
          4x space is quite a pain though.

          Mind you, Seagate are about to do a 750Gb SATA drive so we're not too far away

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            #6
            Hey Charles,

            That sounds pretty good. I assume you've chosen that NAS box because of slimserver support, but thought you might be interested in a similar device from Netgear, which retails for a shade under ?70.

            See http://www.savastore.com/productinfo...07&rstrat=8257.

            Comment


              #7
              see this is why i'm happy with my 'low end' setup... it sounds pretty good to me, the ?10k speakers instore sound amayyyyyyyyyyyzing but i've never compared back to back (if i did, i'm sure i'd cry) anyway, tangent......

              yeah, spending vast amounts of cash is all well and good but my ears are made of cloth if there's any passing of time between listens. i know what sounds good and what sounds crap (to my ears at least) but i'm not finely tuned like some people, i think listening to music too loud for long periods has haXXored my ears.

              anyway, i noticed no prices on the goodies you posted up top... linky plz, i may wire the house up properly at some point and get some speakers in the bathroom/kitchen.

              Comment


                #8
                Squeezebox3 wireless ?209 courier delivered

                On wireless G you can run at least 5 of these things off the same server all playing different stuff if using mp3s. I'll only need 2 (one for downstairs and one for the bedroom).

                Qnap NAS without HD ?180 delivered

                gtskater, I think with that netgear, you just have to have it set up as a network drive and use something like media player or winamp to play tunes from it (it doesn't let you install your own stuff on it apart from just files). If I wanted to use slimserver or the squeezebox, I'll need the Qnap I think. Is that right?

                When I can afford a 2nd squeezebox for the bedroom, it will be plugged into a denon mini hifi that I already own a bit like this
                Last edited by charlesr; 21-04-2006, 17:34.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Charles,

                  Yeah, I think that Netgear device is simply a rack for a couple of IDE drives and nothing more. You couldn't use it for what you want. So definately go with the QNAP, but in case you wanted to expand further in the future you could probably do it with a much simpler (and cheaper) device.

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                    #10
                    I've got a spare IDE drive - so I could use that netgear as a backup server. Do you know anyone that's used one?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Charlesr, nice thread.
                      Like you I've concluded that the Squeezebox is the way to go but I still need to figure out the storage side. The Qnap is one option of course.

                      I have a ton of music at work on a HD I can't move. I use a laptop which only has a small HD and which I only feel like carrying home on occasion. I have no PC at home, though I do have a 360 if that has any clever options (bit loud though).

                      Choices:
                      - Stream music from work to a Squeezebox in my flat. The DSL at work has just been upgraded to 8mb but the U/L is still only 512k I think. This might be workable, but not if anybody else gets the same idea as me.
                      - Buy a NAS that can run the SlimServer. I want to hear your experiences of this - does SlimServer run nicely on a NAS? I think I've read that the NAS can be wireless, which means I can whack it in a cupboard. Very tidy, faster than streaming over http.
                      - Buy a dedicated PC. Or a Mac I suppose. An expensive option, but (possibly with MediaCenter?) has the advantage that I could play HD movies. Best performance.
                      - Buy an external HD and install SlimServer on my laptop. Means I have to carry it home but this probably has the best cost/performance ratio.
                      - Run SlimServer on the 360 and get a bigger HD. Ok, maybe it would have been possible on an XBox. 360 isn't there yet.
                      - Buy a 60gb iPod. Low quality.

                      In an ideal world I would want to take the first choice, but I don't think the internet is up to it yet. A wireless external HD, NAS or not, is the next best solution.

                      Any thoughts?
                      Last edited by Nijo; 22-04-2006, 08:39.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by charlesr
                        I've got a spare IDE drive - so I could use that netgear as a backup server. Do you know anyone that's used one?
                        No I don't! But I see no reason why you'd have any problems with it. It's not ground-breaking technology, and I've always had good experiences with Netgear equipment. I would imagine it to be easy to set up and straight-forward to use. I would think about buying one if it had SATA capabilities too. It would be frustrating if you had it hooked up to Gigabit ethernet but were constrained by IDE transfer rates. For back up only, that's less of a concern.

                        Nijo - If I were you, I would buy a media center (you might've seen my thread in Ask the Forum). Gives you a great level of flexibility, but is of course quite expensive. If that doesn't take your fancy, then I think a QNAP (or similar) and a Squeezebox would be pretty cool. If you're confident, perhaps you could try the streaming option, but I wouldn't have high hopes. If you only used it when you (and presumably everyone else) got back from work, then there would be no one else using the connection. What are the chances of someone having the same idea as you? Depends where you work I suppose.

                        If either of you are really concerned then standard operating procedure dictates I suggest you go to AV Forums and ask there.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Nijo, I'm only looking at the music side of things. Currently if I want to watch vids, I'll stream them from the PC to the TV via the laptop over svideo - it's not bad quality and it's easy to turn the PC and laptop on quickly to enable this (don't have a 360). But the music, I'll need it "always on", so that Lucy can use it while I'm not about, thus the NAS idea. One step at a time I think. I don't like the idea of a media centre PC - it seems excessive and I'd always prefer a device designed for the job rather than one box that tries to do everything.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Heh, by chance I've gone the Qnap/sb3 (wired) route as well. Not really got anything set up yet as I'm still ripping and converting stuff to flac. I went for the 500 gig qnap figuring you can never have enough disc space. Atm I am currently ripping everything to a 320 gig toshiba external harddrive, then when everythings on there (about a third of the way through atm) I plan on just leaving the whole thing copying across to the qnap. Seeing as pcworld are doing the toshibas for ?109 atm I have got another to use and will place the one with all the ripped stuff in the (big)box that I am using to store all the cds once I'm done. Might be slightly paranoid but the thought of having to rip all those cds again if anything should happen doesn't bear thinking about.

                            I'd been casually looking around at the media side of things, and came across what might be a perfect (and reasonably cheap as these things go)solution. Depending on how much disk space I have left, I'm thinking a modded xbox running xbmc (don't have hidef)wired to the qnap and stream from there. Not sure if this would be possible and having a look round atm.

                            Charlesr, have you actually got the qnap sb3 system up and running yet? If so what are your experiences of it?

                            Cheers...

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Not bought the Qnap yet Dave - I'm going to use my PC with mp3 for moment until I can afford to get a large HD and backup HD like you - I reckon prices will come down again in a few months time. And the SB3 is in the post, so I'll be checking that out very soon.

                              Comment

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