OT: Media Streaming

Mike Barnes wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g52lk5g23lkgk3lk345g.invalid:

I was (perhaps inaccurately!) aiming my reply to Endulini in an attempt to dissuade him from pusuing a Winamp based approach.

Facilities? Well, off the top of my head, how about control from *any* browser interface, eg including a remote location or a smartphone. Or playing different music in multiple rooms. Or syncronising multiple players to the same music. Or a sexy app to run on on an iPhone or iPod Touch. Or a wireless Controller with LCD screen for browsing, displaying album art etc. Also, the better Squeezebox players include high quality Burr Brown DACs.

Or, given that it runs against MySQL, third party applications to run against the database. I use these two quite often - ACC for generating a catalogue of my collection:

Moose for generating playlists (and an alternative browser interface for Squeezeserver):

Certainly, JRMC is a well-respected product within the Squeezebox community.

Understood - but as I said, I was (perhaps inaccurately!) aiming my reply to Endulini.

Not necessarily. Scans can be either for changes, or a full scan. Either type of scan can be scheduled or initiated immediately. Or simply playing newly added music is sufficient.

I have a 'look for changes' scan scheduled overnight on the server. Full scans are only needed whenever changes are made external to the database, for example to the directory structure, filenames, or by deleting data. In the course of building an extensive music library this will inevitably occur from time to time. In my experience on an underpowered (for this purpose) NAS a full scan of a large collection took 7 hours, but on a reasonable (but by no means top end) PC takes 20 min or so.

Understood.

An Atom powered netbook should be fine.

In my case, I wanted both additional CPU power + disk space, and went for both in the same box. If you have a NAS, use it for storage (which it is designed for) and don't compromise by trying to run Squeezecenter on it. It can be done for many NAS appliances, but few run satisfactorily.

Kind regards

Reply to
Richard Perkin
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Richard Perkin wibbled on Tuesday 12 January 2010 23:14

To put this in perspective, my old retired file server which is about 8-9 years old can manage WOL. The BIOS has all the knobs for wake up on various signals. I do have (for the time) a fairly decent gig ethernet card in it. This was my first foray into WOL - it's now become my backup server and because it's a noisy old brute, SWMBO "requested" (=testicles at stake) that it shut up at night.

So current file server sends it a WOL packet, it does its stuff and shuts down later. It's all refreshingly simple.

Reply to
Tim W

Richard Perkin :

Understood. I was thinking more of facilities for the ordinary domestic end user (e.g. SWMBO) rather than configuration features.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes wrote in news:RxUieMw$ snipped-for-privacy@g52lk5g23lkgk3lk345g.invalid:

Well, the Controller is a small hand-held device like a cross between a mobile phone and an IR remote control. It is inded a remote control, but it operates across a wireless network. One Controller allows control of any or all Squeeze devices on the network with on- screen browsing of the music library togther with all other functions of a remote. It really makes what (underneath the surface at least) is complex technology trivially easy to operate. My grandchildren use it with ease. SWMBO fodder indeed :)

You asked about playing music. One other function (which some users seem to make their main fucntion) is Internet radio. Any and all stations, including the Beeb. Of course, it's not FM broadcast quality so perhaps not for Radio 3 / audiophiles, but it's arguably better than DAB... No need for any more standalone radios.

Kind regards

Reply to
Richard Perkin

Richard Perkin :

It's quite possible to have remote controls for Winamp, J River Media Center, etc, even iTunes. I suppose it all boils down to how you want to DIY.

That wouldn't suit me, for various reasons, but it might suit the OP, even though he didn't ask about radio.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g52lk5g23lkgk3lk345g.invalid:

Of course. But do those remotes have an LCD screen so you don't need a display somewhere else? Do they display pretty album art? Or have an inbuilt IR blaster so you can use it as an IR remote for the Hi-Fi amp? Or a headphone socket so you can use it as a client device for streamed audio? Or even in inbuilt speaker so you can listen directly (but with admittedly low quality)?

I'm not trying to sell Squeezebox products, or even to justify their existence, functionality or even lack of it - but just to highlight that the company has historically been very innovative, and perhaps why the products have a dedicated and enthusiastic following.

As for DIY, it is of course possible to write applications (applets) for the Controller to make it do further functions - and indeed many have done so. See, for example:

I do hope that Squeezebox products can move successfully from their previous niche market position to the mainstream under (relatively new) Logitech ownership. Time will tell, but the pessimist side of me says that it's all too technically clever by half... Kind regards

Reply to
Richard Perkin

Richard Perkin :

I believe so.

Probably. And even ugly album art, of which there's no shortage.

I've no idea.

I'm not sure.

I'm thinking of netbook PCs and iPhones etc.

Does the Controller provide a web browser?

Yet their web site seems rather short of detailed technical information.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g52lk5g23lkgk3lk345g.invalid:

The technical info was more obvious before the website got the Logitech rebranding makeover :( Try here:

Then try the wiki. For example, this info is relevant to the Controller and more recent models of player:

Info is bundled with the Squeezeserver software. From its browser interface, click the Help button and select Technical Information.

What info are you looking for? I don't claim to be the best person to give pointers - I'm just a humble end user. One of the other posters in this thread made a modest claim to be a developer within the user community - Adrian C, I believe.

You also mentioned the iPhone - there are a number of third party Controller-type apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The best selling (?) of these is iPeng.

I guess as with most things it's about what meets individual needs and requirements. Your own music server solution looked excellent to me :)

Kind regards

Reply to
Richard Perkin

Richard Perkin :

Noted, thanks.

I know from the last time I reviewed it to see if it was suitable for my purposes that there's no shortage of information if I'm prepared to go digging for it. My comment was of a more general nature relating to the Logitech web site, which seems to be of the "whatever your problem is, our kit will solve it" variety rather than explaining how the various components work individually and in combination with each other.

My particular interest in the user interface, and the way it allows the user to explore the contents of an extensive library and manage playback. I've no particular interest in multi-room, remote access, internet "radio", etc, simply because those are features I have no use for. And I'm a bit of a Luddite in some regards, for instance preferring the simplicity of moving audio round the house on coaxial cable rather than streaming those megabytes.

Thanks for your comments. I'll have to break off now because I'm going away to hurtle down some ski slopes.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

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