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Streaming music. PC? Sonos? Squeezebox?


psg

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Oh man,


I think I need to do this.

Sorry if I missed it but what app are you running on your android device?

There are several to choose from to control xbmc, but I started with the official one:

http://code.google.com/p/android-xbmcremote/

It's free and works amazing well. It was also the first hit searching for "xbmc" on the Android market app.

I've got a small form factor IBM that is just begging to be turned into a media center.

Sounds great to me!

It has taken me a few hours to get really going on a project that I've been wondering about for years. There were too many options to investigate and choose from and that kept me from starting. Now I realise that you can pick one solution and just go! You need to rip the music anyway, and once that's done it'll work with just about anything else you might try so long as you don't go down the iTunes proprietary road and lock yourself in. Anyway, I hope this thread will inspires one or two Linux geeks to try it too. I have provided enough details to go over many of the hurdles (the ones that I have come across anyway).

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I put the app on my EVO but it won't work. At "choose a player" it says that my player is not found. Please check to make sure your network is running and available.

Under WIFI network settings on the phone it reads that its obtaining my address but it then dumps it over and over. It reads..."Remembered, secured with WEP" but then immediately drops off and swithes back to "obtaining address". Over and over.

My eyesight sucks and using the squeezebox remote is almost worthless. I also have a harmony. I'll take a look and see if it will work with the touch.

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I put the app on my EVO but it won't work. At "choose a player" it says that my player is not found. Please check to make sure your network is running and available.

Under WIFI network settings on the phone it reads that its obtaining my address but it then dumps it over and over. It reads..."Remembered, secured with WEP" but then immediately drops off and swithes back to "obtaining address". Over and over.

My eyesight sucks and using the squeezebox remote is almost worthless. I also have a harmony. I'll take a look and see if it will work with the touch.

Not really the app itself not working but your WIFI connection altogether. That sucks. I never had any problems getting my wifi connected to our two phones and two itouch.

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I double checked the wep key and still no luck. I'll give Sprint a call. Tomorrow I'll fire up my laptop and see if it too is having issues. My FIOS box was just replaced as a result of the flood. Perhaps that's it.

Its odd becasue the phone shows good signal strength from the router. I'm a bit of a Luddite so this may take some contortions.

The idea of sitting on the couch and using my phone for a remote is pretty cool. I'll only need to get up to unload and reload (my bladder). ;)

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Has anyone compared Sons, or Squeezebox. Does the Squeezebox receive internet wirelessly, because if so that would be a winner over the Sonous player I believe they need to be pluged into the internet or have the bridge plugged in to a wireless router.

I was going to go with a Sonos but know I am looking at the squeezebox.

Nick

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Has anyone compared Sons, or Squeezebox. Does the Squeezebox receive internet wirelessly, because if so that would be a winner over the Sonous player I believe they need to be pluged into the internet or have the bridge plugged in to a wireless router.

I was going to go with a Sonos but know I am looking at the squeezebox.

Nick

Yes, the Squeezebox Touch will receive wirelessly. I have 3 SBTs - 2 Hardwired and 1 wireless.

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Peter, It's nice to see another linux user.

I've been using an Alix PC connected to Havana DAC. This is a tiny PC that costs about $100. I am running a version of linux called VoyageMPD on it.

All my CDs (about 500) are ripped in FLAC and residing on a Synology NAS. I use iPod/iPad with an excellent app called MPoD as a remote control.

I also tried SB Touch to compare but I like the sound I get from Alix better.

Kudret

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Peter, It's nice to see another linux user.


Nice to know that you are in the fold, but I am not surprised.

Not very active these days because of my job, but I'm also a Debian developper (and emacs hacker). I tend to package some science stuff I use.

I've been using an Alix PC connected to Havana DAC. This is a tiny PC that costs about $100. I am running a version of linux called VoyageMPD on it.




All my CDs (about 500) are ripped in FLAC and residing on a Synology NAS. I use iPod/iPad with an excellent app called MPoD as a remote control.




I also tried SB Touch to compare but I like the sound I get from Alix better.




Kudret

Sweet. I see that some routers/NAS combos also directly run Music Player Daemon, no extra hardware required except a USB sound card to make a music server controlled from an iTouch, iPhone or Android phone. Ain't technology grand?

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Peter, It's nice to see another linux user.




I've been using an Alix PC connected to Havana DAC. This is a tiny PC that costs about $100. I am running a version of linux called VoyageMPD on it.




All my CDs (about 500) are ripped in FLAC and residing on a Synology NAS. I use iPod/iPad with an excellent app called MPoD as a remote control.




I also tried SB Touch to compare but I like the sound I get from Alix better.




Kudret

Kudret, I've got some questions for you.....

1.) Do you have a sound card on the PC? - IOW how do you stream the music from the PC to the DAC?

2.) How long a time did you try the Touch?

3.) Did you apply the various 'Audiophile' tweaks to the touch, Such as a Separate Power Supply, hard wire, Sound Checks 'ToolBox'? I am assuming that you used the same DAC with the touch, right?

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It should. I have two Squeezebox Classics. One of them has the Controller from the Duet set (I had bought them used). My phone, an EVO, saw both of them and also saw the Controller as a third player.

As far as the little black display-less receivers go from the Duet, I think you still have to have the Controller to configure it since the display is on the remote. After that, they should be no different from the Touch, Classic, and other display based players.

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There is a bug in the EVO / Smart Phone App for the Touch. The list of albums, artists, etc will appear but when you go to scroll, the original list remains in place when the scroll begins. Makes for interesting reading and reminds me of my youth.

There is a fix available and I am waiting for it from L-Tech. When I get it I'll repost. It may be above my grade level, so we shall see.

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Kudret, I've got some questions for you.....

1.) Do you have a sound card on the PC? - IOW how do you stream the music from the PC to the DAC?

2.) How long a time did you try the Touch?

3.) Did you apply the various 'Audiophile' tweaks to the touch, Such as a Separate Power Supply, hard wire, Sound Checks 'ToolBox'? I am assuming that you used the same DAC with the touch, right?

Kevin,

There is no sound card on Alix. I just run mpd on Alix. I use the USB port to connect Alix to DAC. I have built a linear power supply (designed by John Svenson on AA) for Alix.

I tried the Touch for about a week. I also applied Sondcheck's mods #1-3 on SB Touch. I was running the SB server on my Desktop PC running Windows XP.

Yes, I used the same DAC for both. I used the optical connection to connect SB Touch to the DAC.

Kudret

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Quick update...

Up to 250 CDs ripped now...

Ordered a Diamond Xtreme Sound 7.1 sound card with coax output from togerdiect.ca yesterday. Shipping is $10 on a $36 card by UPS, and even then they estimate 12 days for delivery! Yikes.

Then I remembered I'd need F-to-RCA adapters to use my house-run RG59 coax, so looked up the price at The Source: $8 each! Can you believe that? So I went to monoprice, found them for $0.78 each. Ha ha! So I made my smallest order ever from monoprice: $1.46 for two adapters plus $2.54 shipping to Canada for a total of $4 even on my Visa... Man, shipped adapters from the US is 1/5th the price of buying them here, not even counting gas to get to the store. Then I get two emails from monoprice, first saying my order was processed and another to say my order was shipped.I really love that place! I'll bet the adapters get here before the sound card!!

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Peter, I have only dabbled in media streaming a bit, via XBMC running on a Zotac MAGHD-ND-01 mini pc. The OS is Ubuntu 10.04, so far it has been stable and a pleasure to use. I use a plasma connected with HDMI for the monitor. The keystroke to change from windowed view to full screen in XBMC is the " \ " key. Someday I will get the urge to pursue it a bit further, but for now it works well. The intel Atom / nvidia Ion combo plays back even BR rips without problem.

I store music and movies on a 2TB external drive, with no issues. Glad to hear that Monoprice ships to Canada that inexpensively, I will have to check them out in the future.

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Thanks Michael. I'll try that key, but running in a window is good too.

UPS tracking has my sound card arriving on Thursday, and the monoprice order won't be far behind. This is coming together well! Ca't wait to hear the first track on the main system!

Up to 300 CDs ripped now.

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Has anyone compared Sons, or Squeezebox. Does the Squeezebox receive internet wirelessly, because if so that would be a winner over the Sonous player I believe they need to be pluged into the internet or have the bridge plugged in to a wireless router.

I was going to go with a Sonos but know I am looking at the squeezebox.

Nick

yes. receives either internet radio stations or the streaming of your ripped music wirelessly through your wifi router.

works great for CD and internet. some hi rez files from HD tracks stop and buffer continuously. I believe that my 5 year old router is the culprit, it's a little long in the tooth..

someone earlier said that playing their CD's sounded better or differrent. if you run CD's and streamed music from squeezebox through the same DAC they will be the same.

i have the duet and it works with no problems.

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