Help required on dipping my toe in the music server arena!

[cram]

Eddie Pound: Cram,

You're obviously clued up on this.

What would you recommend the beginner do for storage / back-up?

Number of different options from implementing your own server (could be an old PC/MAC) and filling that with hard drives. NAS boxes without RAID. I just don't think RAID should be on a home users shopping list unless of course you really need the availability factor. It's far more important that you have a good backup strategy - RAID won't help you with fire, flood or theft, a good backup strategy will.

 

[Anonymous]

The big + to me with RAID is their storage capacity, with the added benefit of a safety net when if a drive fails - which as you mention is very infrequently if you aren't unlucky. Shove enough RAM in there and you can literally forget about the whole palaver.

 

[Anonymous]

Have you had a drive fail, cram?

 

[cram]

Octopo:Have you had a drive fail, cram?

Oh yes. I've had them fail in a RAID array and rebuilt it whilst still using the server. Had a drive fail at home. There again I have been using hard drives since the mid 80s and haven't got a clue how many I've used over the years. I've had computers fail, monitors fail, speakers fail, dvd players fail and a couple of Dysons fail. Stuff happens.

One of my points though is that RAID protects you against just one thing - drive failure. Your Thecus box (I rate these BTW) though has memory, has a processor, has a power supply, has a RAID controller. All of which could go wrong. You also have to keep in mind common causes of drives failures are power surges/cuts and knocks to the actual box. All of which would happen to all of the drives in the same enclosure.

 

[Anonymous]

The unit is protected at the mains. I've had 4 drives fail in 10 years, admittedly I'm an extremely heavy user. I would not give up the security of RAID for the world. I regularly back up to another external unit but I do so much on the fly, I can't risk losing it.

 

[jmjones]

I've asked this question elsewhere but it fits here too. Has anyone had a look at the Pinnacle Folio? (Although it's a bit more expensive than £500!!)

 

[Anonymous]

Eddie Pound:
My two favourite ways of playing computer music are:

• Mac Mini running iTunes, straight into a DAC, and controlled wireless by iPod Touch (Remote App).
• Laptop on my lap/sofa, streaming iTunes to an Airport Express, feeding a DAC.

However, by taking the approach mentioned above and placing a dedicated laptop on the HiFi rack, you can effectively make a simplified music server. This may be better if lots of people in the house want to play music, as the laptop is static - not out and about with you!

I would simple make iTunes a start-up item, and use the laptop to store music. Once everybody is happy with that you can add music services like Spotify and Last.FM and various radio. You could even use the laptop for downloading music from various sources. If there's a TV nearby perhaps use iPlayer too...

The list goes on because a computer is far more versatile, but needn't be complex or any hassle, if implemented well i.e. simply.

In regards to DACs the Dac Magic may be fine, but there are plenty more to look at too. If it's only USB you need try something professional from Edirol or M-Audio because it will sound as good for less money. However, a Bereford or Dac Magic adds optical inputs too, which could be fed from nearby games consoles, DVD players and Sky boxes - therefore improving the quality of all sources!!

The DAC is an essential "hub" in today's stereo systems with multiple digital sources.

Cheers Eddie.
Incidentally are you CEO of Poundland?

Never mind...

.....The system is in my music room so no silly things to distract like sky or tellies
but I will have DAB and CD so optical is important....with remote too....

Great suggestion and sounds simple but I dont really want a laptop on show unless I have to as Octopus says NAS would be invisible and therefore my preferred option but would cost more since I wouldnt be able to use it for anything else...but a Netbook would be free if that makes sense? Since I would buy one anyway.....plus the DAC then serves my other equipment....

 

[cram]

oh one last comment on NAS devices - they are not always quiet (big fans). Mine is located in the garage

 

[Anonymous]

Get a mac mini. Looks good, connects to your wireless network and can be controlled remotely using itunes+remote.

Oh, and it has an optical out for direct connection to a DAC.

 

[Anonymous]

i'd need a screen though and I dont want my HiFi room to look like a study, if you see what I mean.

Squeezebox is still number one for this kind of hidden solution...

 

[matthewpiano]

ashworth_rich:i'd need a screen though and I dont want my HiFi room to look like a study, if you see what I mean.

Squeezebox is still number one for this kind of hidden solution...

Squeezebox in use here and I'm a big fan of it. Its internal DACs are excellent (though can't be used for any other item) and the user interface, even without the fancy remote (which I don't have) is as easy as. I've got mine on an ethernet network with a laptop and an external Seagate 640GB Hard Drive full (well, getting fuller) of Apple Lossless rips. Sound quality is superb.

Only thing I need to do when funds allow is buy an additional hard drive to back everything up (although I have all the original CDs as well).

I did look at using a NAS drive and not using the laptop, but at the moment I quite like having access to iTunes and, in particular, the coverflow. If you do go down the NAS route, I'd buy a SqueezeCenter ready one from somewhere like Ripcast. If you really want to try and put SC on a NAS yourself you need to make sure its a Linux based NAS and search for instructions on the net. Its not something I'd recommend doing if you don't know what you are doing - you can very easily 'brick' a hard drive because it involves modifying the drive's firmware. This is another reason I've not go down that route yet.

 

[Anonymous]

Have you considered using Sonos?

You can connect this to your amp with DAC (I've got mine linked to my home cinema amp which has a pretty good DAC built in).

As for using a NAS, I'm not getting into the long debate over the pros and cons of using them over external hard drives, but I'm sure the Sonos can handle both.

In my case, I've got the Sonos connected to a Buffalo Linkstation Mini (1Tb NAS), which is virtually silent.
All of my music can be accessed via my existing laptop over the wi-fi network (NAS connecting to router). Therefore, the only time I need to power up the computer, is when I have new music to rip. Other than that, all music is handled by the Sonos.

Apart from the fact that it sounds amazing, it also looks good on the hi-fi rack.

 

[cram]

matthewpiano:If you really want to try and put SC on a NAS yourself you need to make sure its a Linux based NAS and search for instructions on the net. Its not something I'd recommend doing if you don't know what you are doing - you can very easily 'brick' a hard drive because it involves modifying the drive's firmware.

<nitpick on>

Understand your point but your not really changing the firmware of the harddrive. Rather you are loading something into the NAS drive. It's worth thinking of a NAS drive as a small computer that doesn't do a lot other than manage hard disks. You can get a number of different programs to load on different types of NAS drives. Whilst you could in theory muck up the NAS drive by doing something wrong you are not really messing with the firmware on the hard drives. I guess you could argue that the end result is the same though - an unusable device. That being said whilst loading programs onto a NAS drive isn't difficult it's certainly not easy and if you can find someone more knowledgeable who will do it for you then I would advise you pursue that option.

<nitpick off>

Would definitely support use of squeezecenter.

 

[Anonymous]

The mac mini doesn't require a screen once it's been set up. You can use either an itouch or an iphone to control it.

 

[cram]

Tarquinh:The mac mini doesn't require a screen once it's been set up. You can use either an itouch or an iphone to control it.

which makes it horribly expensive if you are buying it just for playing music.

 

[Anonymous]

Apparently it more than matches some audiophile CD players, though. And you have got the convenience of the itouch./iphone, too.

 

[cram]

Don't get me wrong. I like the Mac Mini just think it is badly priced for what it is. There's certainly nothing special about it audio wise

 

[Anonymous]

The Mini is expensive.

I use Front Row through my plasma too, so it's better value as used for all media, not just as an iTunes machine.

 

[cram]

Eddie Pound: I use Front Row through my plasma too, so it's better value as used for all media, not just as an iTunes machine.

All media except blu ray

 

[Anonymous]

I have a PS3 but no BluRays.

My film tastes are for older titles, so I do not worry too much.

 

[Anonymous]

matthewpiano:
Squeezebox in use here and I'm a big fan of it. Its internal DACs are excellent (though can't be used for any other item) and the user interface, even without the fancy remote (which I don't have) is as easy as. I've got mine on an ethernet network with a laptop and an external Seagate 640GB Hard Drive full (well, getting fuller) of Apple Lossless rips. Sound quality is superb.

Thanks for the input, Matthew

 

[Anonymous]

Ketch:Have you considered using Sonos?

Yes the sonus looks great but its a bit pricey (£600 + drives IIRC?) so really its out of the running, for that money i'd just buy more CDs and train a monkey to take them in and out of the CD player

 

[Anonymous]

cram:Don't get me wrong. I like the Mac Mini just think it is badly priced for what it is. There's certainly nothing special about it audio wise

I agree when buying new, but buy it off ebay and you have yourself a bargain. Most of them have vanished since the e-v-e-n more expensive green one came out.ÿ

 

[nads]

interesting reading, missed this topic the otherday. Currently ripping the insides out of my OLD PC and will be adding a new hard drive or two as well as a new USB card and some quite fans and i will be using it as a NAS. maybe even make it a nice sound proof box

will put the music on it and maybe later movies it depends on how things pan out. thought about raiding it but a back up will be all i need and i will also have hard copies.

 

[idc]

Eddie Pound:

My two favourite ways of playing computer music are:

• Mac Mini running iTunes, straight into a DAC, and controlled wireless by iPod Touch (Remote App).
• Laptop on my lap/sofa, streaming iTunes to an Airport Express, feeding a DAC.

However, by taking the approach mentioned above and placing a dedicated laptop on the HiFi rack, you can effectively make a simplified music server. This may be better if lots of people in the house want to play music, as the laptop is static - not out and about with you!

I have considered a variation of this, (laptop, DAC, amp, headphones) but I am put off by the high pitched whistle coming from my laptop (Dell Inspiron) and noise from computer equipment has been touched upon elsewhere in the thread. I am no longer in my teens but I can still hear the noise emitted by the Mosquito device used to stop teenagers hanging about outside shops etc. How much of a problem is noise from laptops, servers etc?