Starting to think about stowing my wall of CD's . . .
- Thread starter BrianZ
- Start date
BrianZ
Active Member
yromj said:
now see, this is something i have never even heard of. awesome. what's it, just a fancy external drive sorta? if it's small enough i guess i can sit it right next to a Squeezebox and connect via ethernet cable or something, right? (see how i'm still resisting the wireless thing - i think i have a problem). anyway going to read about NAS now . . .
yromj
Well-Known Member
BrianZ, I'm 100% with you on keeping things wired. (For me wireless is reserved for portable devices such as laptops, phone, and tablets. My desktops, server, and media devices are wired and shall be so.)
Haywood has a thread about his recent NAS purchase. His is the NAS equivalent of an SVS PB-13Ultra, so keep that in mind. Mine is also a QNap (brand) but is a single bay. The O/S is very good, the support, both through the online community and from QNap, are top notch. Mine is 3 years old or so and still receiving fairly regular firmware updates and new apps are also available regularly.
My NAS is about 6" tall, 2" wide, and 8" deep. It's dead quiet, and I have a 7200RPM drive in it. Once you have the media stored someplace like this, you can use whatever device(s) you want to access it. For example, I access mine w/ local devices such as PCs, laptops, and tablets for general files such as Word documents or Excel spreadsheets (mine is also my household file server). I also access it locally with my blu-ray players, TVs, and receivers for music, video, and picture playback. Finally, I access it remotely using my phones, tablets (both via a fairly well done app), and PCs for work files, and for music and pictures playback.
Thanks,
John
Haywood has a thread about his recent NAS purchase. His is the NAS equivalent of an SVS PB-13Ultra, so keep that in mind. Mine is also a QNap (brand) but is a single bay. The O/S is very good, the support, both through the online community and from QNap, are top notch. Mine is 3 years old or so and still receiving fairly regular firmware updates and new apps are also available regularly.
My NAS is about 6" tall, 2" wide, and 8" deep. It's dead quiet, and I have a 7200RPM drive in it. Once you have the media stored someplace like this, you can use whatever device(s) you want to access it. For example, I access mine w/ local devices such as PCs, laptops, and tablets for general files such as Word documents or Excel spreadsheets (mine is also my household file server). I also access it locally with my blu-ray players, TVs, and receivers for music, video, and picture playback. Finally, I access it remotely using my phones, tablets (both via a fairly well done app), and PCs for work files, and for music and pictures playback.
Thanks,
John
BrianZ
Active Member
yromj said:
that's really great. the more i think about this approach the more i like it. with that kind of storage space easily available locally in my primary media station, all sorts of possibilities open up. for example i am already running Plex on a Fire TV puck for movie files (all, like, totally legal of course), but it's a wireless connection to that same upstairs PC, so not ideal at all. with 2-4TB or storage i can put all my movies on the NAS too and run Plex wired - that's awesome. and photos. so like i said, this is starting to sound tits! (sorry about that - i got excited) and do these units typically have multiple ethernet jacks? cuz i think i'd need at least two: one for a Squeezebox (or current production equivalent) and one for the Fire TV.
but it also sounds like kind of a project and i've never done any networking before. so it's probably gonna be a few months until i break ground.
anyway, thanks all!
Most of the smaller NAS devices only have one Ethernet port. You would just connect it, the Squeezebox and the Fire TV to the same Ethernet switch. There should be one built into your router or you can pick up a 5-Port model for under $20.
Some of these NAS devices will run Plex directly. Mine does. The only downside is that they tend to cost a little more. I actually use Plex for my music library as well as my movies, audio books, photos, etc. The only drawback is that Plex cannot currently transcode WMA Lossless. I can serve it up to compatible clients, but it cannot transcode it on the fly to something else for use on devices like the Fire or a Roku box. That had a lot to do with my decision to switch over to 320k MP3 a few years ago.
Logitech Media Server has no such problem, so you will be fine using WMA Lossless with a Squeezebox. It will simply transcode to FLAC on the fly. It is lossless to lossless, so there is no loss of fidelity. The only drawback is that you cannot navigate within a single track. If that bothers you, there is software out there that will allow you to transcode your entire library from WMAL to FLAC.
Some of these NAS devices will run Plex directly. Mine does. The only downside is that they tend to cost a little more. I actually use Plex for my music library as well as my movies, audio books, photos, etc. The only drawback is that Plex cannot currently transcode WMA Lossless. I can serve it up to compatible clients, but it cannot transcode it on the fly to something else for use on devices like the Fire or a Roku box. That had a lot to do with my decision to switch over to 320k MP3 a few years ago.
Logitech Media Server has no such problem, so you will be fine using WMA Lossless with a Squeezebox. It will simply transcode to FLAC on the fly. It is lossless to lossless, so there is no loss of fidelity. The only drawback is that you cannot navigate within a single track. If that bothers you, there is software out there that will allow you to transcode your entire library from WMAL to FLAC.
Don't be scared of the networking part. This is really straight forward stuff. Unless you buy something completely nuts like I did (a business class NAS with a built-in Active Directory domain controller that supports multiple Virtual Machines and other crazy stuff), it is very simple to set up.
BrianZ
Active Member
Haywood said:
ever since ripping wmal in blind & misplaced devotion to my Zune players i have been expecting that someday i'll need to convert the whole mess to flac. it will add a step to this whole effort but worth it in the long run i suppose. i definitely want full functionality after it's all done with. lets just hope this is the last time i have mess with formatting. i have ripped most of my collection something like 3 times in my life now and i'm damned tired of it (first 192, then 320 then wmal).
but anyway, expect me to come back for advice once i start to pull all of this together. you guys are the best, truly. here's hoping some of you are in the DC area and can come over for a demo & cocktail celebration after it's done!
-Brian
Once you have a lossless rip, then you can simply use a batch converter (like dbPowerAmp) to reformat the entire library; you won't ever have to rip again from scratch.
I'm in Baltimore, not too far away. (Actually my work office is in Bethesda, though I mostly work at home.) If you're ever up my way, please stop by! I have lots of audio toys to play with - speakers, headphones...
I'm in Baltimore, not too far away. (Actually my work office is in Bethesda, though I mostly work at home.) If you're ever up my way, please stop by! I have lots of audio toys to play with - speakers, headphones...
yromj
Well-Known Member
Yeah, don't sweat the networking part of this at all. Also, these devices just have to live on the same network. For example, the Fire stick can be in one room and the NAS in another. That is assuming some basic things about your network are true; but they most likely are.
Haywood and I both use QNap NAS devices. They aren't quite as much of an out-of-the-box solution as something as WD's MyCloud but they typically offer more customization, etc. I'll admit though that I haven't worked with WD's solution. I just know that the variety of apps I can download and run on my low-end QNap really surprises me.
I have used an LG NAS a few times in the past and it's nice but doesn't have the same flexibility of the QNap. For example, the QNap has a wide variety of off-site back up apps available (such as Google drive, Crashplan, etc.) but the LG doesn't seem to offer that type of thing. Also, setting up Internet access for the QNap was very easy and powerful; again not so for the LG.
Just some FYI stuff.
John
Haywood and I both use QNap NAS devices. They aren't quite as much of an out-of-the-box solution as something as WD's MyCloud but they typically offer more customization, etc. I'll admit though that I haven't worked with WD's solution. I just know that the variety of apps I can download and run on my low-end QNap really surprises me.
I have used an LG NAS a few times in the past and it's nice but doesn't have the same flexibility of the QNap. For example, the QNap has a wide variety of off-site back up apps available (such as Google drive, Crashplan, etc.) but the LG doesn't seem to offer that type of thing. Also, setting up Internet access for the QNap was very easy and powerful; again not so for the LG.
Just some FYI stuff.
John
mcad64
Well-Known Member
Brian,
I can't tell if you bought Chuck's Squeezebox or not, but I was going to mention one last thing. Ok, maybe a couple. First off , the analog and digital inputs are both active. I know this because I have one in my utility room in the basement. I use the analogs to run speakers on my deck and digital for speakers in my garage. So if you have two systems and the ability to run wiring it can be done. Secondly, you can also get internet radio like Slacker, Rhapsody and Spotify among others on the Squeezebox.
Mike
I can't tell if you bought Chuck's Squeezebox or not, but I was going to mention one last thing. Ok, maybe a couple. First off , the analog and digital inputs are both active. I know this because I have one in my utility room in the basement. I use the analogs to run speakers on my deck and digital for speakers in my garage. So if you have two systems and the ability to run wiring it can be done. Secondly, you can also get internet radio like Slacker, Rhapsody and Spotify among others on the Squeezebox.
Mike
BrianZ
Active Member
Haywood said:
that's really great news. i have done some lossless conversion (downloaded flac files to wmal) but only with a basic free program that doesn't retain all the file properties very well. I put many, many, many hours into tweaking the properties on much of my collection (especially those damned classical CD's - they never ID that stuff right!), so retaining this info is absolutely essential for me. do the higher tier products do this well?
BrianZ
Active Member
PaulyT said:
wow, Baltimore - that's amazing. i have friends up there and go regularly. that's a great offer, man. i'd love to take you up on that sometime. my collection is pretty modest but get's the job done pretty nicely imo. you're more than welcome to come check it out - feel free to PM anytime. and maybe you can help me figure out the weird wave interference/cancelling patterns i have going on in my main room (discovered when trying to mate a sub with my mains). anyway, cheers!
D
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