# What'S The Best Way To Store & Play Digital Music?



## philjopa

Saw an ad for something called the Brennan JB7 the other day

Brennan

Basically it'll rip and store CDs but it is rather pricey for what is I suppose just a fancy MP3 player. I'm not really a technophobe but would like something similar to what the Brennan JB7 offers but preferabley at a lower price. Also something that will recognise and tag songs correctly - the Brennan doesn't have an online music database just a CD that is regularly updated which is pretty basic for something with a pricetag of about Â£400.

I'm familiar with iTunes, iPods etc but that's about my limit. Using an iPod with a docking system is obviously a simple solution but not sure it would be particularly easy to search for music on it?

Any suggestions?


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## Kutusov

The Ipod is as easy to use (or more so) as Itunes.

I ripped my whole CD collection a few years ago. Used just my PC and Windows Media Player. You'll have to think about what format you want your music to be. It can be MP3 or AAC or WMA or FLAC or many others. I suggest you use MP3 128Bps (it's a bit like a frame-rate). It's a good compromise between sound quality and the space it takes on your hard drive.

I hate ITunes because, like everything Apple, runs very well but everything is also "My way or the Highway." I prefer MediaMonkey. It will also tag all your music using the several Amazons data-base.

I still have all my CDs and buy music on CD. The idea of buying MP3 files online just doesn't fir in my head... Even so, it's a lot easier having everything inside a hard drive if you have lots of music.


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## Retronaut

Hi,

If you would like to run from your iTunes library have you considered setting up a media server in your house?

Without wishing to bamboozle or overwhelm with options:

1. If your computer is always (or mostly) switched on you could leave your music in iTunes, run a piece of software on your computer to 'serve' the tunes across your home wifi - pick it up wirelessly on a media streamer.

Have a look here for some ideas - http://www.logitech....s_music_systems

2. In a similar vein, serve the music from your Mac or PC (might need to buy software like Rivet etc to do this, free - Â£20 say) and play it through your games console (Xbox360, PS3), Apple TV, media streamer, iPhone etc.

3. If feeling adventurous - buy a NAS (Network Attached Storage, Â£150 - Â£alot) device with media server built in (basically an external hard disk that plugs into your wifi router and serves music to your house) - will work even when computer is off, plays to same devices as point 2.

3. Get a self contained cd ripper etc - sorry don't know anything about these, maybe someone else can help with them!!

An example (my home set-up):


I have a freestanding media server that contains all our music and movies (it's also the backup drive for our computers).
It is plugged into our wifi broadband router and serves up this media to compatible devices in the house.
We can watch/listen to our media on our laptops or via our Xbox360.
Although I've never tried it I could listen to the media from the server via my iPhone (using the free App to go with the server).
I believe if I wanted to (again not tried) I could buy a Squeezebox or other media player and have that play back the media too.

I realise this may not be what you were thinking of but it's another option to consider anyway!

:cheers:


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## AbingtonLad

It's worth getting in touch with Filterlab - he's the man when it comes to music.

Drop him a line through the forum and I'm sure he'll offer some additional advice.


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## Chromejob

128?  I'm purging the 128kbps music from my digital collection ... primarily because my system for playing is now two iPods (a 8gb Nano v3, an a 160gb Classic 6.5/7), laying through superb headphones (well sort of), or my full on stereo system. I wouldn't go lower than 192kbps VBR, prefer 250kbps VBR and for some things use 320kbps CBR as an archival/master version. I use MediaMonkey 3.2 to sync to the ipods (it supports transcoding music down to a more easily stored size during sync), it's the Swiss army knife of digital music management.


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## philjopa

Retronaut

Quite like the Logitech Squeezebox Touch idea?

So if you can bear with an ignoramus :bag: if I understand this correctly then I'd basically plug the Squeezebox into my stereo amp and I'd then be able to playback whatever music is stored on my laptop via my wireless router?

I normally have the lid closed on my laptop so it's still sort of on (in standby?) - will I need to have the laptop actually on for the Squeezebox to pick up iTunes or whatever or will it do it with the lid down?

Told you I'm no technophobe!

TY


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## Retronaut

philjopa said:


> Retronaut
> 
> Quite like the Logitech Squeezebox Touch idea?
> 
> So if you can bear with an ignoramus :bag: if I understand this correctly then I'd basically plug the Squeezebox into my stereo amp and I'd then be able to playback whatever music is stored on my laptop via my wireless router?
> 
> I normally have the lid closed on my laptop so it's still sort of on (in standby?) - will I need to have the laptop actually on for the Squeezebox to pick up iTunes or whatever or will it do it with the lid down?
> 
> Told you I'm no technophobe!
> 
> TY


Yes that's the general idea. Your laptop needs to be running to serve up music (as in if you had the lid open you could just start using it). Generally laptops go to sleep when you shut the lid although some let you change the sleep behaviour via the control panel. Mac laptops always go to sleep when you shut the lid - a piece of free software called Insomnia will fix that.

If I were you I'd try a squeezebox or such like with your laptop - if you like it but want to turn the laptop off buy a NAS box later.

Do you have access to an Xbox360 or PS3? If so can explain how to get this running without buying anything.

Also - Google 'WD TV' (Western Digital) - they make a cheap media streamer for music and video. About Â£100 I thunk


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## Kutusov

Good call Retronaut, I've heard about those squeezboxes but did't really know what they were about. Now I feel the need of one of those too


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## philjopa

Retronaut said:


> philjopa said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do you have access to an Xbox360 or PS3? If so can explain how to get this running without buying anything.
> 
> Also - Google 'WD TV' (Western Digital) - they make a cheap media streamer for music and video. About Â£100 I thunk
> 
> 
> 
> 'fraid not - no XBox or PS3 - still keen on the Squeezebox idea though - it certainly seems to be a better and cheaper option than the Brennan!
Click to expand...


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## Retronaut

Glad this is useful so far.

Now that I'm in front of a real computer and not misspelling via my iPhone here are a few links to give you some more reading:

A review of the Squeezebox touch (looks nice!) - Squeezebox touch review

A Wiki page about Squeezebox server (what you would run on your computer to serve up the media) - Squeezebox server wiki

If you buy the Squeezebox you'll need to run the Squeezebox server on your laptop and leave it running.

You can elect to buy a NAS media server later (serving the media from that instead of your laptop) but it will need to support Squeezebox server.

This is different to the uPnP DNLA server used by XBox and PS3!

To further confuse things some media servers support 'iTunes server' - this allows computers to play the media on the server via iTunes.

Various people seem to support Squeezeserver - for example QNAP is an excellent brand and they provide a plug in which you can install on your NAS media server to feed a Squeezebox:

QNAP SqueezeCenter

A Typical QNAP Home NAS










The Squeezebox is very much the high end of this type of thing - there are a wide range of media streamers available.

If you bought something that used the generic uPnP/DNLA standards you would have a wider range to choose from and it would probably be cheaper.

As an example a quick scan of Amazon shows the following streamer and server - you could get both of these for less than the price of the Squeezebox.

Phillips media streamer

Netgear media server

















If you plan to spend a lot on this then I would consider getting a video streamer to future proof yourself (or at least ensure any server bought supports it even if not yet planning to use it).

I would certainly recommend paying the premium for Logitech stuff - they tend to produce polished consumer products that work straight from the box rather than a platform/starting point for hobbyist tinkering.

Assuming money no object I would buy something along the lines of:

1. A Squeezebox Touch to attach to my Hi-Fi to play music;

2. A Media streaming NAS which supports SqueezeCenter, uPnP/DNLA and iTunes server to serve the media over my home network;

3. (If video required) - a WD TV player / XBox360 / PS3.

4. A fancy programmable remote to allow me to drive all my media devices (including games consoles) from the one controller - example here










Cheers!

:cheers:


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## Kutusov

That's a very good post, lots of good info in there!

Nice one retro! :notworthy:


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## Retronaut

Kutusov said:


> That's a very good post, lots of good info in there!
> 
> Nice one retro! :notworthy:


Thanks mate - I don't much about watches yet so it's nice to be able to comment on something I do know about! :thumbup:


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## Kutusov

Retronaut said:


> Kutusov said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's a very good post, lots of good info in there!
> 
> Nice one retro! :notworthy:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks mate - I don't much about watches yet so it's nice to be able to comment on something I do know about! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Better than me! I don't know much about hi-tech stuff AND watches!! 

Cheers, have a good one!


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## mach 0.0013137

Zeros, ones & silicon!?! *PAAA!!!* :thumbsdown:

Give me saphire, vinyl & thermonics anyday :clap:

BTW I gather cassette tape is making a come back


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## MarkF

Phil, having read these replies and suggestions, as good and as helpful as they are, it makes me realise how suitable a JB7 is for people like me, buy the one on Ebay.


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## JonW

have a search on my Squeezebox Duet thread, I use it all the time. One of the best things I ever bought (coupled to my QNAP server). Its worth the effort to get this stuff right, choppy and slow systems get annoying really quick :/


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## JTW

Unless I missed it nobody advocated the use of lossless compression.

Now my music is stored as mp3's with a fairly high bit rate, but that was really because of the cost of storage at the time and limited mp3 player capacity.

Surely these days it must make sense given the low price of storage to use a lossless format if you are going to play back through anything decent.

The difference between mp3 and CD is discernible. (never mind vinyl!!)


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