Digital music storage and playback

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Digital music storage and playback

17 posts & 9 voices | Started 4 months ago by warton | Latest reply from sadexpunk

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warton - Member

any pointers anyone can give me on this would be gratefully received..

I've got macbook, with 250gb storage. Its nearly out of storage space, so I'm considering a NAS drive for my music, photos and movies. The plan is to put all my CDs on it to free up space in the house too. So, can I playback the music straight from the NAS onto 1 or more pairs of wireless speakers, using either my mac or a smartphone as a controller? I'm thinking some sort of third party software?

I was considering Sonos, but I doubt I can store pics and movies etc on there can I, and I imagine a NAS server will be a quarter of the cost?

EDIT: or could I use an airport extreme and just plug in a external HD?

any ideas anyone?

Posted 4 months ago #
cranberry - Member

Have you thought about a Logitech Squeezebox Touch along with a NAS drive ?

Posted 4 months ago #
sadexpunk - Member

*cough* do a search on my threads *cough*

Posted 4 months ago #
muppetWrangler - Member

what smartphone do you have?

Posted 4 months ago #
CountZero - Member

You can get a 3Tb Western Digital HDD with a control app for an iPhone that allows you to access it remotely for around £150.
I use a Mac Mini with 1.1Tb of internal storage with Remote on my iPhone to control iTunes for playback through my amp, but I will be adding a 3Tb external for back-up as well.
There are other options available as well.

Posted 4 months ago #
cynic-al - Member

LOL...have you been in a cave?

Sadex's thread, 2 weeks old or so, is one of the few 150 post threads that's informative and not a flame a thon...

Posted 4 months ago #
warton - Member

Thanks for the info! I shall do a search!

Posted 4 months ago #
higgo - Member

Hmmmm..... My problem is that I read sadex's thread (or it was a similar one recently) and they're populated by people who know what they're talking about. I don't and really need someone to spell it out for me in very simple terms.

For someone with a professional background in electronics and a long-term interest in all things audio, I find it all strangely confusing.

Posted 4 months ago #
ask1974 - Member

Important difference for you to consider when looking at Sadexpunk's thread is your need for video playback. NAS drive is definitely the way to go for storage though, Western Digital are good and come with Twonky Media server installed which allows third party media players (Sony PS3 for example) to find without any config. For the price a PS3 makes a very good argument for video playback, photos etc... There are more elegant user interfaces such as Apple TV but this won't read directly from a NAS so....

The music side is very well discussed in the above referenced thread Sonos vs Squeezebox and whilst I would have gone for Sonos the difference is minor. The important issue is speed of user interface, to use the same example a PS3 will stream music from a NAS but the UI is clunky. Sonos / Squeezebox / AirPlay / Linn DS are immeasurably better.

Bottom line for sensible cash there is no 'one box' magic solution. Ideally you want two. One for music and one for photo's and video.

Lots of options on the video side and all much the same, but for sheer versatility the PS3 is hard to beat. I have one (not a gamer) and use it for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Blu-Ray and streaming some 400 or so movies I have on my NAS.

For music see the thread above.

Posted 4 months ago #
ask1974 - Member

My problem is that I read sadex's thread (or it was a similar one recently) and they're populated by people who know what they're talking about.

True. This is why I advocate Sonos so highly with Squeeze box a fraction behind. Apart from the simple process of loading a program on your computer the rest is done for you via a very simple user interface. It's a bit like instruction manuals; should be written by people learning how to use a system for the first time rather than someone who designed it.... Too many assumptions on the users knowledge. But that's another conversation.

Ignore anything to do with customised servers / Blue Tooth etc... Might be cheap but limited and clunky. Sonos have built a market leading solution because it's easy to install and seriously easy to use. Not much else to say other than that.... Although if you have a little extra cash Linn DS has some tricks up it's sleeve that even Sonos can't match, and it sounds better too.

PM me if you have specifics to discuss.

Posted 4 months ago #
sadexpunk - Member

Hmmmm..... My problem is that I read sadex's thread (or it was a similar one recently) and they're populated by people who know what they're talking about. I don't and really need someone to spell it out for me in very simple terms.

youre in the same boat as me then mate. i found the advice on there really helpful. and the techy stuff that i didnt understand i googled a bit to understand a bit more. eventually ended up with the squeezebox. im now happily listening to whatever i want using either my laptop, the SB remote, or my phone even. its great! the only slight niggle is having to reset it when it loses the connection from time to time. i dont really know why it does that :-/
so in that respect i would agree with ask1974 above, the sonos will be better. but at the price i got the squeezebox for (£130ish) i got the right box for me at this time.

im now moving onto trying to sort my video (hence my thread asking about dvd through dlna) but im some way off sorting that yet. i know i had my photos on my tv using dlna from my phone, and ive also had a dvd played on the laptop playing on my tv using HDMI lead, but im not quite there yet.
so lets hope this thread takes off the same as mine, and ill keep watching with interest

Posted 4 months ago #
warton - Member

so sadex, where are you storing your music then? on a NAS?

Posted 4 months ago #
breatheeasy - Member

I was considering Sonos, but I doubt I can store pics and movies etc on there can I, and I imagine a NAS server will be a quarter of the cost?

Sonos isn't a NAS, it can read music files off one though.

So to probably answer your question - you need a NAS - QNAP or Synology possibly regardless and you can store whatever you like on it.

Then you also need a music server such as Sonos to play the tunes.

Posted 4 months ago #
sadexpunk - Member

im just ripping it to my laptop at the mo, but funnily enough, with all my cds ripped and at my fingertips, im just listening to 6music nearly all the time, with a bit of spotify thrown in
i will get a nas in time im sure, but for now my laptop will do. my wife has hers on her laptop too, and we just 'switch library' on the squeezebox if she wants to listen to her ~~sh*t~~ music

Posted 4 months ago #
higgo - Member

Maybe a daft question but does the laptop have to be switched on to play the music?

This is one of the issues I have when I try to work it all out... all my music is on the laptop but the laptop could be switched off, hibernating or even out of the house when we want to listen to music.

Posted 4 months ago #
warton - Member

higgo, in the case of my mac, yes, thats why I'm looking at a NAS. priced up a 2TB Buffulo NAS, and two room sonos for 800 quid. by the time I sell my CDS, hifi and cd storage I'll probably have close to that anyway, and I can plug my TV into the NAS, meaning all my films can live on there too...

Posted 4 months ago #
sadexpunk - Member

yep same here, laptop has to be on. thats why eventually ill get the nas, but its not an issue right now.

Posted 4 months ago #