KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Dec 29, 2022 11:38:02 GMT -5
I have one "meta recommendation". Assuming you're considering software.... try it with twenty or thirty albums for a few weeks before you commit. Music servers vary widely in terms of capabilities, limitations, and user interface... And, for every one, there are people who love it, and people who hate it... The time to decide which one you like is BEFORE you spend a lot of time transferring your entire collection into it... I would also suggest that you think about "how you think about your music collection". Do you WANT to commit to an all-powerful library manager or do you just want to have something that can play your files off a disc? (I personally consider "my music library" to be a collection of FLAC files in folders... and I consider the "manager" or "player" to be secondary.) Roon seems to be very popular - if you want an all powerful manager... Foobar2000 is a great simple music player... jRiver Media center is somewhere in the middle... And there are other considerations if you want a server that can control multiple zones or rooms. Hi all, I'm not planning to buy anytime soon, but I want to have a good plan in case I decide to go forward, I have 300 CDs in my mega CD changer and I would like to maybe download them to a device that will sound as well as the CD player and use the device to stream music as well, any recommendations? Thanks in advance. |
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hemster
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...still listening... still watching
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Post by hemster on Dec 29, 2022 16:34:59 GMT -5
VortexBox ... now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Is VortexBox still around? (I never actually tried it but I always heard good things about it.) Personally I'm not a big fan of all-in-one boxes that are both CD rippers and servers. They all seem either overly complicated, or lacking in flexibility, or both. (Or they want to tag and organize my files using some sort of proprietary system that locks me in to them forever.) I personally find that dBPowerAmp is far and away the best software for ripping CDs. It's quick, I've found it to be quite reliable, and it has the ability to confirm rips with AccurateRIP. It also has some impressive options for organizing, naming, and tagging the resulting ripped files. And it's a regular program that runs on a computer. (It can also be set to automatically decode HDCDs to 24 bit PCM files.) (And it was also quite economical.) I can then copy the ripped files onto whatever server or computer I want. What about using any PC/laptop running vortexbox? I have not personally used VortexBox but heard good things about it too. IIRC, DYohn uses/used it? I do like dbpoweramp and also mp3tag for tagging - it is very powerful, especially if you can learn some regex (regular expressions). |
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Post by gus4emo on Dec 29, 2022 22:22:34 GMT -5
I have one "meta recommendation". Assuming you're considering software.... try it with twenty or thirty albums for a few weeks before you commit. Music servers vary widely in terms of capabilities, limitations, and user interface... And, for every one, there are people who love it, and people who hate it... The time to decide which one you like is BEFORE you spend a lot of time transferring your entire collection into it... I would also suggest that you think about "how you think about your music collection". Do you WANT to commit to an all-powerful library manager or do you just want to have something that can play your files off a disc? (I personally consider "my music library" to be a collection of FLAC files in folders... and I consider the "manager" or "player" to be secondary.) Roon seems to be very popular - if you want an all powerful manager... Foobar2000 is a great simple music player... jRiver Media center is somewhere in the middle... And there are other considerations if you want a server that can control multiple zones or rooms. Hi all, I'm not planning to buy anytime soon, but I want to have a good plan in case I decide to go forward, I have 300 CDs in my mega CD changer and I would like to maybe download them to a device that will sound as well as the CD player and use the device to stream music as well, any recommendations? Thanks in advance. I would like to download all the CDs into it, and create playlists from it. |
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Post by lhracing on Dec 30, 2022 8:56:58 GMT -5
I have 2 systems, both with laptops which I have loaded all of my CD onto. One is using JRiver with everything loaded in FLAK format and the other is using Itunes with everything loaded in ALAC format. Both are connected using USB DAC's (DC-1 and XMC-2), they can do playlists and both have apps for your phone to control them. Years ago, I tried Itunes because it was free and just wanted to try it out, now because so much music is loaded on that pc I have just kept it.
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Post by gus4emo on Dec 30, 2022 21:15:23 GMT -5
I'm getting confused, lol...
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Post by SteveH on Dec 31, 2022 8:00:43 GMT -5
I have a QNAP NAS TVS-672XT with RAID 5, that I specifically purchased to use as a dedicated music server. I put my Roon core on it along with my 12,000 ripped tracks using dBpoweramp. I have it connected with Ethernet to a Bluesound Node 2i (my Roon endpoint) and then analog out to my RMC-1. I also have subscriptions to Tidal and Qobuz. When I use Roon, it searches and plays from Tidal, Qobuz and my library for streaming. Talk about exploring your genre, you can't beat it. Roon also has added ARC, which allows me to access my Roon core from my phone while I am on the go.
Just be aware that the new Roon 2.0 requires an "all the time" internet connection which has upset a lot of customers. My internet is very reliable so I am not concerned about it. I just purchased another QNAP NAS and a second Roon lifetime subscription for my fiance's place before the price increase in 2023.
Happy listening with whatever you choose!
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Dec 31, 2022 10:04:55 GMT -5
What about using any PC/laptop running vortexbox? I used Vortexbox for many years and it was rock solid. The developer stopped releasing new updates a couple years ago to devote all his energy to Small Green Computer and the Sonic Orbiter OS. You can still d/l one of the old distros of Vortexbox here: wiki.vortexbox.org/available_images |
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stiehl11
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Post by stiehl11 on Dec 31, 2022 20:43:57 GMT -5
I'm using Plex on a Raspberry Pi with a QNAP DAS (not NAS; cheaper, works just as well) to stream over 800 CDs and 1300+ DVD and Blu-rays. I can access the Plex on any device that has a Plex client on it. So, any smart TV, smart phone, or computer. With the Pi I can have up to 3 clients stream video without buffering and haven't hit a buffer wall with music yet. At the time I bought the Pi kit it was about $80 and the DAS w/4-4TB discs ran me less than $400. I'm about half full so far on the DAS.
The Plex interface is similar to Netflix or any other streaming channel. Plex automatically uploads meta data from its servers so you have full access to information about what you're viewing or listening to.
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Post by oidarnam on Jan 1, 2023 1:33:57 GMT -5
I'm using Plex on a Raspberry Pi with a QNAP DAS (not NAS; cheaper, works just as well) to stream over 800 CDs and 1300+ DVD and Blu-rays. I can access the Plex on any device that has a Plex client on it. So, any smart TV, smart phone, or computer. With the Pi I can have up to 3 clients stream video without buffering and haven't hit a buffer wall with music yet. At the time I bought the Pi kit it was about $80 and the DAS w/4-4TB discs ran me less than $400. I'm about half full so far on the DAS. The Plex interface is similar to Netflix or any other streaming channel. Plex automatically uploads meta data from its servers so you have full access to information about what you're viewing or listening to. Run Plex server here too but not on Raspberry Pi. Also use it for OTA TV and local music library plus Tidal. Find myself using Plexamp app for music, mainly because it gives me gapless on Linux. |
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Hi all, I'm not planning to buy anytime soon, but I want to have a good plan in case I decide to go forward, I have 300 CDs in my mega CD changer and I would like to maybe download them to a device that will sound as well as the CD player and use the device to stream music as well, any recommendations? Thanks in advance. 
