Accessing Music files while pc is off
[Deleted User]
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Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong section of the forum. I have a Revo SuperConnect Radio which is connected to my home network.
If I have my pc on my SuperConnect will pick up my music files from the pc obviously this does not happen if the pc is offline.
What is the best possible and affordable way to setup my SuperConnect to access my music files while the pc is off. Is it even possible?
Thank you
If I have my pc on my SuperConnect will pick up my music files from the pc obviously this does not happen if the pc is offline.
What is the best possible and affordable way to setup my SuperConnect to access my music files while the pc is off. Is it even possible?
Thank you
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if you want audio files visible to any device on your network all the time then your best option is some form of NAS device, basically a hard drive with associated electronics that plugs into your router directly and serves up files to any attached device. Just copy the files from the PC to the NAS drive and they will be available to the Revo all the time. Or at least all the time the NAS drive is powered.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-DiskStation-Desktop-Network-Attached/dp/B00MO6ZV52/
Just pick a hard drive capacity to suit your needs. Might not be completely plug and play but not far off.
64GB sticks might be near £10 now if you need one of those.
Any other way is still an 'always on' faff.
Modern PCs even desktops (especially Intels) only use 40 watts or less at idle so always on is viable these days, I do that now. Heck, my old Sky box uses 19 watts even in standby!
Shame about that not being there, its a major flaw in many a design. I've one similarly flawed. And the one that isn't only accepts a 2GB SD card.
40 watts = approx 1KW per day = 365 per year making for about £50 per year with an efficient PC.
Would a tablet/smartphone with an SD card slot and an APP do the biz at less far cost?
£40-ish a year less the cost for the time it would have been on anyway and the heat it throws out helps my Winter heating bill so even less! Probably £20-ish extra cost a year in reality - Hardly worth bothering about really (unless it's an old or AMD PC!).
So now can access music through Revo SuperConnect.
I've been using a Raspberry Pi for a couple of years now, with the free Squeezeplug package. It is linux, but you don't really need to know anything - I didn't - take a look at the tutorial video here.
I'm using it to run Squeezeserver to feed my hardware Squeezeboxes, and soft Squeezeplayers on various pc's laptops & tablets. It also provides Twonky's DLNA server if you prefer DLNA although you'd have to buy a licence for that (its a few tens of pounds sterling). The Squeezeplug package also provides a number of player applications so you can use a Pi as a player as well, and the Pi supports Hi(ish) end sound cards too. There's info on this on the website. I have mine pulling media off my NAS, but you can just plug a large usb disk into the Pi and have your music there. It supports SAMBA so you can upload new music to it across the network. Unless you're using hardware players, with remotes, you control it via its web interface, so you'll need some kit running, I use a small tablet. It all works really well.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-STCG2000200-Central-Personal-attached/dp/B00BP5RJ76/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1418840679&sr=8-8&keywords=wifi+hard+drive
Seems really good, plus setup a VPN so if I'm abroad I can connect to if to get a UK IP address if need be and (presumably) my VPN offers security if using an open wifi network when away from home. Also it doubles up as a media PC for netflix etc on the big tv so it really does a multitude of things really well.