Music servers

[Quinn]

Can we get a discussion area started on music servers so you computers folks can help us technophobes with setup?

I see the server as the future of music storage and playback.


Areas I'd like to see covered-

Lossless ripping

Hard disk capacity needed

How to connect a computer in one room with the stereo in another room/ How to control from room with stereo.

USB DACs



I've been reading some on the Wavelength Audio site and found it fairly informative but it also made me realize I don't really know anything about this stuff.

[BradJudy]

Depending on your budget, if you're starting from scratch I'd recommend looking at compressing with FLAC and using SqueezeBox players to send the music to stereos.

Uncompressed audio runs about 600MB/hour and FLAC encoded should be about half of that (~300MB/hour). By comparison, 256kbps MP3 should be about 120MB/hour.

As for storage space, you just need to do some math. If you have 200 albums and they average an hour each (albums tend to average less than that, so that gives some wiggle room), then you'd need ~60GB to hold them in FLAC if you got 50% compression (might get less).

Since it will take you a long time to rip all of your albums, you should strongly consider having a backup of your digital music on an external hard drive too.

The SqueezeBox players have displays and remotes so you can control the music. You just run their server software on a computer and point it to your folder of music.

[Quinn]

And if you only want lossless? How much hard drives run? What about the products from Olive if upgrading or getting another computer would be part of the cost of switching to a music server?

[curtis]

FLAC is lossless.

You can get a 300gb harddrive now for around $80.

That Olive stuff looks pretty cool.....but if you wanted to do a seperate PC for the Squeezebox, you could setup the whole thing for much less money than the cheapest Olive.....and have a ton more storage.

I love my Squeezebox. I rip everything into 256kbps MP3 because it is compatible with everything and serves my listening purposes just fine. For serious critical listening, I use the disc player.

Currently, I have a 250gb hard drive(formatted, it is 232gb of space), and the SlimServer(the server software for the Squeezebox) reports that my music library contains 220 albums with 2738 songs by 181 artists. Looks like I am using about 24gb of space for it.

[sensibull]

Ripping into FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) with EAC (Exact Audio Copy) is pretty much the defacto standard in lossless music storage. Both programs are free, FLAC is open-source and widely supported in software and fairly widely supported in hardware. Numerous forum threads and guides exist on how to automate the process properly, for utmost accuracy. Some good examples are here, here, and here.

You should probably decide from the beginning whether you'll eventually move towards storing and serving video as well as audio. If so, you will definitely need a dedicated server. For audio you could probably get by for a while using your regular PC (posts above will help predict space needed). I currently have 1 terrabyte of storage and I'm about 75% full, but that includes quite a few movies and video files, 800-900 albums, and lots of misc. crap.

As far as getting the audio to your stereo, there are several options of varying complexity. The easiest by far would be to buy a Squeezebox, hook it up to your server/pc via wireless or wired ethernet and be done with it. Depending on your home layout, the next easiest/cheapest would be to run audio lines directly out of the soundcard on your server/pc to your stereo. However, this would be the hardest setup to remotely control (options include using a PDA or a wireless networked monitor like an airpanel as a remote client to control your server/pc or simply walking into the room with the pc and controlling it manually).

Personally, I went for the option with the most flexibility and control. I run a dedicated server in my basement and have a custom-built HTPC in my listening room with my audio/video gear. I run Xlobby as my frontend on a 12" touchscreen for maximum WAF, but I also use a wireless keyboard and a JP1 univeral remote to which I taught the keyboard's protocol and which also controls all my other gear. Most of this stuff was bought used, or at deep discount, so my total output is still considerably less than your average off-the-shelf Windows Media Center box.

Last words: there's no way to cover the whole topic here. Be prepared to spend a lot of time researching this new hobby. Some great forums are at:

AVS
Head Fi

Oh, and whatever you do, organize your music directories and make sure you tag your files properly from the start. I use Tag & Rename but there are free options available. (MediaMonkey is often recommended).

Good luck!

[BradJudy]

Great post Sensibull.

FLAC is open-source and widely supported in software and fairly widely supported in hardware.

It's worth noting that support for FLAC in portable players is minimal. There are some that support it, like Cowan/iAudio, but most people will use a transcoder to convert FLAC to mp3 for use on portable players. If you plan to do this, then you'll need to keep spare room to store the mp3 copies as well.

[sensibull]

It's worth noting that support for FLAC in portable players is minimal.

Good point and something I intended to mention. FLAC support seems to be catching on -- I check out the Lossless Audio Blog from time to time to keep up on the latest developments. You can find a pretty good list of supported hardware here. But BradJudy is right, most people transcode to MP3 for portables and car use.

Since it will take you a long time to rip all of your albums, you should strongly consider having a backup of your digital music on an external hard drive too.

Since this would effectively double your needed storage, one alternative to this is to burn backups of your archive onto DVD-Rom. I don't backup everything but I do have about 350 FLAC rips archived onto 30 DVD-Rs. That's 30 x 4.5 GB @ ~ $.30/disc = $9 vs. ~ $ 80 for a 150 GB Harddrive. YMMV.

[Quinn]

Olive appeals to me as the big compliant I see is how long it takes to rip your CD collect to hard drive. With an Olive type server I'd just load them as I feel like listening to them.

I really suck at technology. I brought a computer with a CD burner 2 years ago and still can't figure out how to burn CDs for the car.

[Austinbirdman]

This is for Curtis or anyone else who has heard the Sonos network music systems. Curtis, I am an old Axiomite who crossed over and bought some Ascends after reading your reviews -- thanks. Great suggestion.

Now I want to know what you think of your Sonos system? Have you seen any functionality or listening advantages over the Squeezebox? And what sound quality are you getting (relative to the file size)?

Austinbirdman

[curtis]

Hey Austinbirdman,

I love both the Squeezebox and Sonos system.

The main advantages the Sonos has is the fact that server software is not needed and the remote. I use networked attached storage(NAS) to store all my FLAC files as well as other data, which allows any PC on my home network to access these files. The Sonos player accesses the files in the same manner, so no PC is needed. One remote can control up to 32 players and works via RF, you can control the players through walls. Only one player needs to be plugged into the network, and as other players are introduced, they create their own wireless mesh network. There is also a PC interface if you wanted to use one.

The Squeezebox requires server side software, which now can come preloaded on a NAS device, some have also hacked NAS devices to load the software. A PC is not needed to control the Squeezebox, but to get a graphical interface(web page) you do need web browser, otherwise you need navigate via a two line text interface on the box itself. All Squeezbox need to attach to the home network, wired or wireless. Also, it costs less.

Sound quality is equal since both were hooked up via optical digital to my pre/pro. FLAC files are lossless, and approximately half the size of the original file, with no loss in sound quality over the CD.

I highly recommend both depending on what you are looking for. For me, I love the extra added convenience of the Sonos. Since using a Squeezebox with FLAC, and now Sonos....I rarely use my disc player now for two-channel music.