Computers... oh and Squeezebox

During the Xmas break, I have finally had a chance to think about where my hifi is heading. Along with others here, the Squeezebox route (or similar) seems to be the answer for now. We built our house 3 years ago with conduits to all rooms ready for Cat5 networking cabling.

So I have a computer question. As a "Home Worker" I get a decent laptop supplied by work but I want to keep my music server functions as separate from work functions as possible. I don't want to run a laptop and full separate desktop PC system at home.

I was wondering if the best way is to just buy a "bare" PC (i.e. no screen, keyboard) that will sit in my study running Slimserver with all my music files (Flac,wav). That could be controlled via my laptop using the ethernet I will set up at home.

Therefore I will use my laptop for work, internet, email etc and also to control the "slave PC" server that will stay in place when my laptop is out of the house. Do any computer savvy members have thoughts on that?

Also, just spotted this in another posting re the Squeezebox - Qnap TS-101 NAS 500Gb.

 

I have a mini-itx box running linux and slimserver. It's a very minimal debian installation along with the slimserver. My music was ripped to flac with cuesheets. The operating system and music all reside on a single 400GB drive in an Antec Aria case (which was bought because it is very quiet - an important criteria even if it is in a spare room).

Depending on how you like to search, you might well find the laptop unnecessary as the searching using the remote on the squeezebox is very good - especially with the nice large display fonts on the new Squeezebox. I hardly ever need to use a computer browser (mozilla in my case) to play music.

FWIW: moving from a Roku box to a Squeezebox reduced my dependence on the browser interface...

 

I sell a range of music servers designed to do exactly that, sit there without needing user input, they wouldn't even need accessing via the laptop

I haven't updated my advert on this forum yet, but it is here:
http://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum16/2234.html

Andrew

 

How does the Linux version of SlimServer work? Is it controlled by command line, or is there a web interface? Easy to install/configure?

Sounds tasty in any case - must investigate...

Dunc

 

I have one of Andrews media servers and the only pain was the hours it took to put my CD's on it. Other than that 'it just works'.
You can access the the tunes on the server by downloading the softsqueeze software so don't even have to buy a Squeezebox. A cheap old SFF PC will do just fine you can allways add 'audiophile' bits to it if you want to.
I'm not a fan of the limited front panel display of the squeezebox but I've tried lots of other media software and they don't work as smoothly.

 

The Qnap servers appear to be better value.

Dunc

 

The difference is that the Qnap servers don't have a cd-rom so automated CD-ripping isn't an option and they are also slower PC's inside so navigating menu's on the squeezebox will be slower with larger music collections.

I can supply a cheaper model, if looks aren't important, most of the cost of them is in getting them small and as close to silent as possible

Andrew

 

Oedipus, your system sounds great (anything that avoids Microsoft is) but I don't feel confident enough to get a system like that running.

Andrew, I am kinda interested in your system but you may be able to help me with the following:

1. Our house was built to have a centralized server system in the loft with Cat 5 running to all rooms. This will allow me to locate the music server in a rack system in the loft so looks and noise are not important.
2. I will have to upload my CD's from a remote location (i.e. laptop connected to the network)
3. All I want to have in the loft is the dedicated music server and the backup system. Ideally I want the backup system in the same case but maybe that isn't the best way to do it
4. I would need 400Gb as my minimum to start with.
5. I eventually want to get 2Tb storage plus 2Tb backup as HD prices fall so will be looking to add/replace drives in about 2 years.
6. This is really the start of a long term plan to have audio and video centralized but the video bit may have to wait 5 years.

Ultimately, if the system gives me 3 to 5 years service before I have to buy a whole new setup, then I'd say it's paid it's way.

Re. the QNap - I like the idea of it as a temporay plan as it can fit neatly into the study at this stage and I can use my laptop CD-Rom drive to create the wav/flac files so it's absence is not a deal breaker for me. Probably a bit expensive for what it is though.

Lastly, I read this quote in a review of the Squeezebox:

..."The difference between a CD player designed to play music and a CD ripping software is that the latter applies error correction defined by the CD/ROM standard IEC 10149. Normal music CD players do not use this error correction, which is more complete than that used by music software."

Does that mean that any old Cd-Rom (i.e. the one in my laptop) can be used to create my wav/flac files or are there benefits using a higher qulaity CD-Rom drive?

And I thought this was a HiFi forum - not a computer one..........apologies

 

To answer the CD-ROM part, providing you use error correcting software any should be fine (I would suggest EAC or CDEX), I imagine things may be a little quicker with a top-end drive, but IMO its not worth it.

As for the server, if its going in the loft, I would suggest a large case with space for a number of hard drives in a proper hardware RAID setup for backup, probably running a cut-down version of linux simply running slimserver, or a stripped out Win XP or 2000 if you don't feel happy with linux.

An old proper server may be a good idea as they are usually quite cheap second hand and will have RAID etc. built in.

If you have any questions about this all, drop me an email at andrew at audiofi.co.uk , I can look into server costs as well if you want (I have a few contacts in computer recycling who may have some old corporate servers)

If you decide to run Windows over Linux, I have some crash recovery software which I install on my servers which will re-run slimserver should it crash.

Andrew

 

Ah, now you're talking.

The reason I have steered away from servers is I don't know anything about them on the software side of things (even their Operating Systems are a mystery). I didn't even know that a server can run XP or 2000 just like a normal PC! If you could steer me in the right direction re. the software and source an old server it would be the answer - suitable "finders fee's" will be paid of course!
I'll email you.

p.s. Once the inital setup is done, I can annoy the IT guy at work with any ongoing stuff!

 

If noise is not a problem I would recommend that you put the best biggest and quickest fans in the system as you can - this will offer by far the best reliability.

 

It's mostly a collection of perl scripts and some binaries (eg the flac decoder).

Not that I know of - I just run it. as a unix command as I'm too lazy to create a debian /etc/init.d file to start it

Yep, you just point your browser at http://musicserver:9000 - there are even skins to reduce the screen real estate/complexity. I've used it with the browser on the Playstation PSP

All that said, I rarely find it necessary to use a browser. The searching on the slimserver box via the remote control is about all I need...

If you know your way around linux it's:

rpm -i slimserver-blah.rpm

on debian I used Alien to create a deb - which is what broke the rc files..

If you can deal with linux it's really trivial to get slimserver up and running on a crappy old PC that won't run recent versions ofwindows very well..

 

Oedipus,

You have confirmed my suspicion that I don't have a hope in hell of getting a Linux version running.

At this stage, the plan is to use Windows 2000 on the server so I will keep you posted.

Andy

 

Anyone in the market for a Squeezebox 3 may want to look here:

Squeezebox 3

They have the wired version for £162. And they are offering free shipping as part of January sale. It's the best price I could find.

 

The Squeezebox and server have been up and running for over a week now. All very impressive to use and I can't see myself going back to CD's now.

Big thumbs up for Andrew at AudioFi as the server he has built me is excellent. Search times are incredibly fast compared to my laptop that was doing temporary server duties. I would recommend to anyone that they budget a bit extra to include RAID disk redundancy.

Andrew is good for someone like me who knows what they want the server to do but haven't got a clue how to do it (Andrew didn't pay me to say this!).

 

I'm using the Lacie D2 500G External HD which is extremely quiet (no fan). I've tried the wireless route with Apple Airport Express (optical output) via DAC64, but when tested against optical output fom my laptop (powerbook) direct connection to the DAC, it gave a way better/detailed reproduction.

I ripped my CDs into Apple Lossless format which I find it hard to tell the difference from the original AIFF. The 15,000+ songs are stored in the Lacie HD. When playing, the external HD is plugged to the powerbook, with the opitical output connect to the DAC. A bit of a trouble, but it gives the best sounding result. My bluetooth phone is used as a remote controller, which scrolls the itunes programme, with details/cover art/playlist etc.

It has been great listening on shuffle mode.

If not for SACDs, the use of my CD player has reduced significantly for the past 6 months.

 

Mono, what phone/software are you using Sailing Clicker?

I notice on my Sony 600i that there is software built in for remote control which could be handy for itunes control, right now I use my iBook as a remote through VNC, which is handy provided the note book is there.

One other thing when you say as a remote do you mean you need to see the computer or the playlists appear on the phone? It would seem a bit pointless using the remote with the powerbook in you hand haha.