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Streaming sound systems |
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#51 |
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Wigan
Posts: 4,881
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I notice that if you want to use Kodi on your iPhones or iPads, you need a jailbroken iPhone or a Mac. I have a Windows PC, but no Mac so it rules it out for me for mobile use.
For mobile use I still use iTunes and maintain a copy of everything I ripped to FLAC in AAC format. Storage is relatively cheap. I might have a play with Kodi anyway to check out its library management features and compare it with my Squeezebox Server/QNAP NAS setup, but it doesn't look like it runs on the Linux based QNAP NAS. I use several Squeezebox Players in different rooms around the house connected to ordinary HiFi's. The trouble is Squeezebox hardware was killed off by Logitech a few years ago so eventually I will have to move to another way of streaming and library management. Sonos was more expensive than Squeezebox at the time and will be a possibility when the time comes. |
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#52 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,457
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Quote:
I notice that if you want to use Kodi on your iPhones or iPads, you need a jailbroken iPhone or a Mac. I have a Windows PC, but no Mac so it rules it out for me for mobile use.
For mobile use I still use iTunes and maintain a copy of everything I ripped to FLAC in AAC format. Storage is relatively cheap. I might have a play with Kodi anyway to check out its library management features and compare it with my Squeezebox Server/QNAP NAS setup, but it doesn't look like it runs on the Linux based QNAP NAS. I use several Squeezebox Players in different rooms around the house connected to ordinary HiFi's. The trouble is Squeezebox hardware was killed off by Logitech a few years ago so eventually I will have to move to another way of streaming and library management. Sonos was more expensive than Squeezebox at the time and will be a possibility when the time comes. For personal use I use WD Cloud to store all of my music (Wav) movies and photos and WD Cloud has an app for my iphone which I can access all of my library at home or away from home. As I originally ripped all of my cd's in WAV I have stuck with it although at times I have often thought about having them in Flac. On my christmas list is a 256gb memory usb to add to my 64gb one which connects to my iphone so I can just carry all of my original files anywhere. When I originally ripped my cd's I have built a separate library with my favourite albums in full and a large selection of albums where I have edited the number of tracks and I have a list of playlists for the car or in bed or away from home. I want to change my Chord DAC 64 at some point for the Hugo DAC as it is both portable for my iphone and connects to my hi-fi. I have no real need for multi room so I haven't really considered any of those options but as you have a server running on your NAS have you considered using plex as you can access it anywhere. Plex doesn't handle Wav metadata that well but is fine with Flac. However I found a way round for streaming in other rooms or in the lounge by using the Amazon Fire TV which had a toslink optical out which fed directly into my DAC. The computer audiophile guys have come up with an unofficial TIDAL app and HQplayer which sounds great. Another thing I have discovered after installing the TIDAL app is that all of my artwork apears. As an example I chose an old 1969 image of Joni Mitchell for my background artwork and it doesn't matter whether I am streaming my own library or Joni Mitchell through Tidal my original artwork appears. If I use Tidal on my iphone, I get the normal Tidal artwork. Don't ask me how this works, I have asked the question on the forums and people are as surprised as I am. It may not be important for a lot of people and I warn if someone has an extensive library it can be time consuming but by scraping the information through the Kodi add on it gives you a rich resource of information, producer, studio, who contributed, the lyrics can be shown too, useful for a karaoke session or just want to follow them when listening. It's a personal opinion but I have only found 2 software programs that match Kodi. JR River wich I thing is now £70 and Roon Labs which is £120 a year or £475 lifetime. JR River has been one of the standards that many swear by and is very good. Roon Labs is the Rolls Royce of management but you have to be serious and be prepared to part with serious cash. I have really tried to emphassis to Ludwigvondrake that the most important thing is the hi-fi itself, Kodi and WD Cloud allow a cheap way to manage and store music but deliver brilliant results and allow you to concentrate your budget on hi-fi. |
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#53 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Blaine Anderson's locker
Posts: 6,298
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Call me old fashioned, but I'm not a fan of 'third party' software.
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#54 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,457
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Quote:
Call me old fashioned, but I'm not a fan of 'third party' software.
Kodi is a software that has been developed in the same way Linux has by a whole community that keeps progressing the software and in many cases is better than OS or windows. Everything I have suggested fits better with what you are trying to achieve than being stuck with itunes which is stuck in an eco system that is not on a par with other systems. As I have also pointed out earlier Kodi is a software application that you can add third party add ons for illegal streams but they aren't Kodi apps unofficial or otherwise. Kodi is used by millions for the purpose it was built to do, manage your media library whether it be films, TV, photos or music and handles any file thrown at it unlike many others which don't. The irony being that the vast majority of hi-res downloads from the major record companies or streaming platforms such as Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz are in Flac a format that itunes doesn't support. itunes may have changed the way music was sold to us but they also promoted compressed MP3 files that sound pretty awful too. |
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#55 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Blaine Anderson's locker
Posts: 6,298
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Well as I have now discovered, purchased digital albums can be fleeting. iTunes has unlisted two of my albums. Pfft. Of course if I had the physical CD I wouldn't have this issue...
Mordern technology is wonderful (!) I'm still being a stick in the mud and staying with the gang from Culpertino. Apart from the above issue, iTunes does what I need it to. I've started to brush up on multiple libraries, (ie for Christmas) but what if you've got items you want in both? And, crutially to this specific thread, how do you - on any chosen streaming music system - choose the libraries? I assume there's an option in the apps for that? (this is a broad question, as I appriciate that each company does things differently). |
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#56 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,457
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Quote:
Well as I have now discovered, purchased digital albums can be fleeting. iTunes has unlisted two of my albums. Pfft. Of course if I had the physical CD I wouldn't have this issue...
Mordern technology is wonderful (!) I'm still being a stick in the mud and staying with the gang from Culpertino. Apart from the above issue, iTunes does what I need it to. I've started to brush up on multiple libraries, (ie for Christmas) but what if you've got items you want in both? And, crutially to this specific thread, how do you - on any chosen streaming music system - choose the libraries? I assume there's an option in the apps for that? (this is a broad question, as I appriciate that each company does things differently). "Modern Technology is wonderful" Yes it is but you are not exploring all the options many of which are far better than what Apple or itunes offer. itunes for instance doesn't handle the most popular file format Flac used by the major studios and streaming services. Modrn technology is there for your benefit, you should use it. |
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#57 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Blaine Anderson's locker
Posts: 6,298
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Thing is, I don't see the removal of the albums a soley Apple problem. They could easily be removed from Amazon Music, Spotify or Deezer. If you do have the physical CD then you've still got it even if the aforementioned fall out with whichever record label it may be.
Which is why there are some aspects of this move forward in technology that are actually a step backwards. |
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#58 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,457
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Quote:
Thing is, I don't see the removal of the albums a soley Apple problem. They could easily be removed from Amazon Music, Spotify or Deezer. If you do have the physical CD then you've still got it even if the aforementioned fall out with whichever record label it may be.
Which is why there are some aspects of this move forward in technology that are actually a step backwards. Almost everyone who has a cd collection can protect that by ripping their cd's to a hard drive/storage. By ripping a cd with good software, it produces a better sound in any case. Future buying is not a problem because there are more options other than major labels who may only give major artists a chance or a pop genre whereas even an unknown artist can release their music on their own or through avenuse such as soundcloud, bandcamp and others. From everything I have read from your posts, you doubt the technology, you have doubts about availability, you have doubts of whether streaming your music is a good thing and most of all you doubt different and better software and music management systems that are better than itunes which has limitations such as file format which for a start is going to restrict what you can buy in the future. I have tried to advise you that you can try out a number of things for free by using your laptop, using free trials but most of all reading various forums or review magazines that can guide you without bias. I always believed ripping my collection and streaming was a great option, especially for me as someone who has around 5,000 cd's. It took me two years to be really convinced not because it was the right way to go but because I was lazy and kept putting it off. I have never looked back, I listen to more new music and indeed many, many more older albums in my collection than I ever would have if they were sitting on my shelves in plastic cases. The reason is because once you use a streaming service there is so much played so many avenues to explore sufddenly something will be plaayed that reminds you what you already have in your collection. I said earlier that I hadn't listened to Elton John in goodness knows how many years, had given up on what he was producing over the last twenty years but then throuh Tidal, I heard an old song followed by another from earlier albums and was reminded of how good his early albums were so I revisited them. I listen to my favourite artists playlists, they obviously are going to introduce me to their kind of music, what influences them and which are most likely going to appeal to me. It is an other avenue of discovery. It will cost you nothing to experiment but it will cost you an awful lot of wasted opportunities to discover new music and rediscover your old music. |
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