A Bit OT, But A Wonderful Toy For the Geeky Audiophiles Out There...

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Never touch a CD again!!! </p>

<p>As a "project" over the past few weeks, I've been trying to rip all my CDs (at CD quality of course) to my 1 TB Buffalo Networked-Attached Storage (NAS) device, essentially a hard drive which is directly attached to my home network. Well the project progresses, but never seems to end as I find one more CD after another. </p>

<p>Now that I've got 100s of GBs of music, playing it seems to be another matter since I have to "channel it" through a computer, but now that's over too! I've found a device from Logitech called the SqueezeBox Duet which consists of a remote that connects to your wireless home network and a receiver with audio outputs which also connects to your home network, wireless or wired, and plugs into your audio system as a source for music stored on hard drives, whether they be on a computer or on a NAS. </p>

<p>In a "normal" install, you load SqueezeBox software on a computer and as long as this computer is turned on with the software active, you use the remote to select albums, artists, genres, playlists, etc., from wherever you stored them and play them on your audio system. Therefore once you've ripped your library of CDs, you never have to touch a CD again! </p>

<p>Well no one ever accused me of being "normal" so I decided to do one better. Most NAS are essentially small computers running some flavor of Linux and I wanted to find a way to load and execute the SqueezeBox software directly off my NAS without having a computer turned on. You have to understand that my computer, which is about the size of HAL from 2001, uses enough electricity to make it a very effective space heater so I like to put it asleep when I'm not using it to save on electricity, especially in the summer when I also save on cooling. On the other hand, in the winter, if I want to take a nap on a cold Sunday afternoon, I'll start rendering some DVDs 15 minutes before I crash on the Lazy Boy in a now toasty office. I digress... </p>

<p>I did some web research to see if you could run the SqueezeBox software directly off of a NAS. Lo and behold, I found step by step instructions that covered my exact NAS unit! These instructions were truly for anyone since they included all the Linux commands you needed in "cut and paste" format so ANYONE can do it, as long as they can follow instructions and have enough computer acumen to install a NAS in the first place. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, if you screw up this process, you could render your NAS worthless, so you've got to take it all with a grain of salt. </p>

<p>Last night with some trepidation, I girded myself for this exercise, got "root" and began the process. It took two shots (attempts, I "girded" myself with more than two shots of a fine single malt), but it's now complete and everything is functioning perfectly. I'm writing this from a laptop which has never seen any SqueezeBox software, the HAL 9000 and the rest of the family are all asleep, and I'm listening to KV 622 on headphones that's coming into my audio amp directly from my Buffalo NAS. </p>

<p>When technology works, it is wonderful...</p>

2

<p>This sounds way cool. Do you hire out? My home network is not up to that standard yet to even get the NAS working.</p>

3

<p>Since you’ve gone that far, why not connect your SqueezeBox to a SlingBox so that you can access music via your BlackBerry (or, once they release the software, your iPhone) while on the road? You’d have the world’s most capacious distributed mp3 player. With an all-you-can-eat data plan, you could stream your own tunes as well as Internet radio to your car.</p>

<p>EDIT: one thing that occurs to me - even if you do not screw up the install, you may be voiding the warranty on your NAS by tampering with its innards. Probably not an issue for someone with the skills to do this in the first place, though.</p>

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<p>At least I think I’m doing the same thing as you… I am using the HP MediaSmart server for my NAS and I play the music (and video and digital photos) via the wireless connection to the HP MediaSmart Connect. I can play the music from my computer, but I can also play the music from the MediaSmart server directly. I’m fascinated by this kind of stuff, and love to do things like you are describing. Now getting that to my bberry is something I haven’t even thought to try yet!</p>

5

<p>As someone who has a bunch of CD’s and a very old CD player (a Kyocera, one of the first models), and doesn’t have a clue what you are talking about, I have a related question: could any of you audiophiles recommend a decent CD player in the $1000 range?</p>

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<p>Rather than spending that much on just a CD player, a technology that is going on 30 years old, I would consider a decent blue-ray player (which will play standard CDs as well as the newer formats) at perhaps a third to a half that price.</p>

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<p>According to Cnet, the Sqeezebox Duet also allow you to play Internet radio stations on your home system. That opens up access to a lot of material that you just can’t get on broadcast radio.</p>

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<p>Come on BassDad! People who are too afraid to tinker enough to void their warranties usually buy Macs and we have a strict “No Fruit Computer” policy at Chez Zeppelin! All tampering/hacking was done via Linux command sets with the key one overriding the password for root account so the worst damage I could do would just need a reformat to fix everything… The Buffalo NAS I have can be accessed from the net and I have been known to “visit” my library from work when WQXR and WFMT are not exciting enough. Slingbox will be next when I decide to stream video…</p>

<p>imagier: Not sure if we’re doing the same thing. I’m rigged up where I don’t need ANY computer turned on to listen to music, it’s coming directly off the NAS to the SqueezeBox receiver which is plugged into my audio system. The SqueezeBox remotes selects the music to be played. I think you have to have at least one computer running the HP Media Center in your setup, but I can’t be sure…</p>

<p>mamenyu: If your asking about a CD player to hook into an audio system, I don’t think you could spend $1000 just for a player, even one that held multiple CDs. BassDad’s advice is sound, assuming you’ve got a nice home theater or audio system in the house to plug the Blu-Ray player into. If you’re asking about a standalone unit that includes an amp and speakers, there are many, many out there and personnal preference vs. cost is the only way to go. Best advice is to bring some of your favorite CDs along and go to WorstBuy and the other stores to hear what they’ve got.</p>

<p>And yes don992, you can access internet radio stations from the SqueezeBox too. Lot’s of options there for sure…</p>

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<p>In that case, it sounds like calling those single malts “girding” was a bit of a stretch. You needn’t invent excuses to have a wee dram or two of the good stuff.</p>

<p>Personally, I have managed to screw up a Unix/Linux box or two by typing with the brain not fully engaged to the point where it had to be completely reformatted then reimaged. (The computer, not the brain, that is.) While some of us may not have a problem with doing that, the average hobbyist out there might simply call for tech support and describe the hack they were attempting. I would imagine that, even then, they would get the help needed nine times out of ten but you never know when you are going to run into a first level tech support person who has had a really bad day…</p>

<p>EDIT: actually there are single disc CD players that you can buy for well over $1000, generally featuring vacuum tubes. Note that I am not recommending them, simply pointing out that they still exist.</p>

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<p>thanks! now I have to find out what “blue ray” is…I feel pretty dopey…</p>

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<p>Blu-ray is the latest in consumer optical storage media. Check out [Blu-ray.com</a> - What is Blu-ray?](<a href=“http://www.blu-ray.com/info/]Blu-ray.com”>What is Blu-ray? (Blu-ray, Blu-ray Disc, not Blue-ray or Blu-ray DVD)) for an overview. A Blue-ray player will not only play your existing CDs and DVDs (if you have any) but it also supports the latest high definition video formats. If you have or plan to get an HD television, the improvement over DVD or, heaven forbid, VCR tapes can be striking. Blu-ray versions of all sorts of movies and TV shows are quite widely available.</p>

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<p>How come classical CDs tend to have the poorest embedded CD information, with DG leading the way in missing/incorrect info? I’ve yet to have a “miss” with popular music, soundtracks and Broadway musicals, but getting 3 classical CDs in a row to work is a major miracle! When you’re into industrial strength ripping like I’ve been up to, it gets really frustating…</p>

<p>Specific examples:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Six CD DG set of Beethoven’s Symphonies conducted by von Karajan - The disc containing Eroica showed up as a second copy of the Ninth Symphony? Only 2 of the discs had the proper artwork, and other minor/major irritants a plenty. </p></li>
<li><p>Out of 20 DG CDs ripped to this point, art work missing on at least 1/2 of them…</p></li>
<li><p>Opera is bad too. Often I get Japanese characters when these get ripped and I love how in multiple CD sets, each CD will get different names/composers/performers/cover art and then be filed all over the library. Am I asking too much to have all 3 discs of Don Giovanni show up in the “D,” or even “G” part of my album directory instead of one under “D,” one under “M” for Mozart and one under “W” for Wolfgang?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Ughhh. Doing the programming was the easy part. Playing Librarian is the tough work…</p>

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<p>I spend a lot of time re-tagging MP3s, IZ, especially classical ones. It appears that nobody’s ever figured out a standard for it. I must say, though, I’ve never known how anybody can think it’s useful to put the entire name of a work, including composer, on each and every movement in a work and save the name of the movement for the very end. That just makes no sense at all.</p>

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<p>Of course, if you put the name of the movement at the beginning, you would soon wind up with pages and pages of entries that all start with “Andante” or “Allegro” and then you have to remember whether the one you want is filed under simply “Allegro”, “Allegro molto”, “Allegro ma non troppo” or some other variation to get in the right alphabetical neighborhood. Creating a filing system for classical music, either in printed or recorded form, that allows easy searches over different criteria is not an easy task.</p>

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<p>I’m not complaining about everything coming up Andante or Allegro, etc. I’m complaining about Track 1, Track 2, Track 3, “Unknown Artist,” “Alternate Genre,” Titles in Japanese, No Artwork, wrong album, etc., and it’s a “Classical CD Disease.” </p>

<p>Not a single pop or rock album had this problem and I have some really obscure stuff. Come on, the CD info on a 2 CD set of La Boheme with von Karajan, Pavarotti and Freni comes up with unknown artists, Alternate Genre and no track names, but we can get McDonald and Giles 100% correct? If that album sold 10,000 copies I’d be shocked. Just seems that Atlantic Records is more careful than DG…</p>

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<p>Zep: sorry to interrupt. I think it’s great that you are able to focus so much attention on something other than your kids!! That means there’s hope (one day) for all of us!!</p>

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<p>Actually, it was not your posting (i.e. Zep) that triggered that observation. I was responding to don9992’s complaint that the name of the movement, when present at all, often came last. In some instances that can be annoying. Unfortunately, putting it first can create other problems such as the one I mentioned when trying to find a particular track from among hundreds that have no real name save perhaps a tempo marking. In that case, having the name of the composer and composition first actually makes finding a particular movement in that work much easier.</p>

<p>I share your pain when trying to catalog my own recordings. Almost everything has to be re-entered by hand to some degree and even then it is very hard to come up with a system that is efficient at finding a particular track across a rather large and eclectic collection. I do not purchase a lot of mass market titles, mostly classical and a lot of albums that are independently produced, many that almost certainly sell fewer than 1000 copies. The latter tend to be all or nothing regarding the encoded album data, so I do not have a lot of experience with a market segment that gets these things consistently right. From what I have seen, many of the more recent classical recordings are done on a shoestring budget, even many of the ones from the likes of DG and Telarc. It does not surprise me that some of the extras get left out when they are cutting corners in every way possible.</p>