PC compared to Sonos for streaming

[SteveR750]

 but I can understand pc streaming is for good reasons not for everyone, and unlikely to ever become a mainstream format.

the problem with that statement is it's actually the other way around nowadays.  Itunes, spotify and it's ilk are now the most popular ways to listen to music.

Not off a PC it's not.

 

[SteveR750]

But as my laptop is used for other things too, then what do I do?  Get on my knees next to my TV to use MS Office?

no, you buy a dedicated pc for streaming, just as you would a dedicated streamer.  This is what I meant by people putting unnecessary complications in the way.

Then you'd just buy a streamer! The main reason using a PC is its cheap. You don't need to buy another box for the house, I use my laptop as a laptop when I need to use it conventionally, and as a streamer when I don't. I'd much rather have a nice shiny streamer than buy another bloody pc!

 

[cheeseboy]

but I can understand pc streaming is for good reasons not for everyone, and unlikely to ever become a mainstream format.

the problem with that statement is it's actually the other way around nowadays. Itunes, spotify and it's ilk are now the most popular ways to listen to music.

Not off a PC it's not.

i disagree. You're looking at it from a hifi persons perspective. How many kids have laptops/tablets? All those students sat in dorm rooms etc. sure, they also use thier mobiles, but a lot of them also have a pc.

 

[cheeseboy]

Then you'd just buy a streamer! The main reason using a PC is its cheap. You don't need to buy another box for the house, I use my laptop as a laptop when I need to use it conventionally, and as a streamer when I don't. I'd much rather have a nice shiny streamer than buy another bloody pc!

woooosh and you totally missed what I was saying

 

[jonathanRD]

[/quote]

i disagree.  You're looking at it from a hifi persons perspective.  How many kids have laptops/tablets?  All those students sat in dorm rooms etc.  sure, they also use thier mobiles, but a lot of them also have a pc.
[/quote]
This is very true - my son (21) first got Spotify in the early days when he added it to our desktop pc. Since getting a laptop of his own (left home for college) he listens to all his music from his laptop - using both Spotify, Youtube and a host of other sites, and if he had a better phone he would do it all on his phone. My daughter is the same and her boyfriend does everything off his mobile and is keen on getting Sonos for his new house. What he likes is that he can control everything from his phone, and store the music files on his Mac.

 

[MajorFubar]

Incidentally Major, Sonos will be supporting Apple Music by the end of the year, the first 3rd party vendor to be announced as doing so.

Cool. Unusual for Apple to do that so quickly, maybe they realised they need to pull their fingers out because they were already late for this bandwagon

 

[MajorFubar]

For the best results from a PC, I'd avoid a wireless set-up, so I'd want an ethernet cable from my router (in my lounge sat next to hifi/AV set-up) and optical or HDMI from my laptop to my amp.

Daft question but if you feel you can't rely on wireless on a laptop presumably because you have bad wifi in your house then surely you'd also need to rig-up an ethernet connection for a streamer as well

 

[SteveR750]

Then you'd just buy a streamer! The main reason using a PC is its cheap. You don't need to buy another box for the house, I use my laptop as a laptop when I need to use it conventionally, and as a streamer when I don't. I'd much rather have a nice shiny streamer than buy another bloody pc!

woooosh and you totally missed what I was saying

Thankfully we're not all as smart as you eh?

I personally would not buy a lap top over a streamer, some might but I wouldn't, that was my point. I don't own a streamer because it won't surf the Internet, email or run a spreadsheet, so for me (again perhaps not everyone) using my PC is a compromise. I've yet to look at a dedicated streamer that is equally as, or more complicated than setting up a good quality media player properly so that it is comparable, ie bit perfect data output. YMMV.

 

[cheeseboy]

Thankfully we're not all as smart as you eh?

not even that. My reply was aimed at Leeps, as he was talking about how much of a faff is was to use a pc as a streamer. But he's using his laptop which he uses for other thing as a streamer as well. I was just saying that you can buy a pc to use as a dedicated streamer (raspberry pi, the new NUC's for example) and that by saying that using a pc as a streamer was a faff because of how he used *his* pc was not, I thought, a valid argument for why people shouldn't use a pc as a streaming device.

It wasn't about why people should buy a pc over a dedicated streamer.

 

[Macspur]

But as my laptop is used for other things too, then what do I do? Get on my knees next to my TV to use MS Office?

no, you buy a dedicated pc for streaming, just as you would a dedicated streamer. This is what I meant by people putting unnecessary complications in the way.

Then you'd just buy a streamer! The main reason using a PC is its cheap. You don't need to buy another box for the house, I use my laptop as a laptop when I need to use it conventionally, and as a streamer when I don't. I'd much rather have a nice shiny streamer than buy another bloody pc!

Plus 1

 

[Jota180]

If you have a NAS for backups, storing music/movies then you're as well using that for streaming. You can stream your music anywhere as long as you have your phone. You can stream the music from the NAS in your home while in your friends or famlies house via their internet. No more listening to their music!