Playing / streaming digital music without a computer

[paddyb]

I'm trying to help a friend find a cheap solution for playing digital music without a computer

She has over 300gb of music in Apple Lossless, AAC and MP3 formats on a portable hard drive. She also has an iPad mini and Wi-Fi, but no longer has a PC or laptop.

Obviously the iPad can't store a library of this size, and I don't think they can read large portable hard drives, but I was wondering if the iPad could be used to stream the music from a Wi-Fi portable drive or NAS to an Airplay or DLNA enabled device or dock?

Other solutions might be to connect speakers directly to a NAS and use the iPad as a remote, or to buy a dock, speaker or mini system that can read a large portable HDD via USB (though I'm not sure how easy it will be to browse through a library of this size on such a system?).

Oh, and it needs to come in at under £200 (including NAS, speakers etc if needed)! Not expecting earth shattering results at that price, just something that's easy to use and listen to in a smallish room.

Very interested to hear your thoughts / experiences.

 

[jcbrum]

It seems to me that the simplest way for your friend to go is an Apple Airport Express (less than £100), connected to whatever HiFi sytem she already has.

Alternatively she might use an Apple Tv, but that has digital sound out only, unless you use the HDMI output via a modern TV set, and then on to a stereo sound system.

If she wishes to buy a high sound system complete, then she might consider an Airport Express together with AVI DM5 active loudspeakers, which will allow streaming direct from her iPad. Although the DM5s cost £699 they give very high quaity sound reproduction.

JC

 

[Alec]

£200...

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

She can stream from a NAS into a external DAC by a USB cable, i've got my system like that, and with synology DS audio App on ipad to control every thing. And i've got a 1.5 TB in Flac files im the NAS and work perfectly, you can have the size of the HDD in music files and works fine!

The other way is to get powered speakers with a built in DAC like the new Q Acoustic and stream from a NAS, but you'll need a USB optical converter, as the Q acoustics only have optical input.

there will be other ways, and somebody will jump in soon for sure...

 

[paddyb]

Thanks everyone.

I forgot to mention or make it clear enough, she doesn't have an existing Hi Fi or even a TV, the hardware I mentioned is pretty much all she has, along with an Android phone.

The NAS option is sounding like a tall order with the budget available, especially if an external DAC is also required.

Would this work: Portable Hard Drive (via USB port) > Airport Express (controlled by iPad) > Airplay Speakers or Dock?

I'm not sure the USB port on the APE can be used for an HDD though?

 

[The_Lhc]

The NAS option is sounding like a tall order with the budget available,

It's all sounding like a tall order with the budget available...

 

[John Duncan]

My first thought is a cheap bluray or media player (WDTV etc) and some powered/active speakers. It would be easier with a TV but many now have iOS/Android apps which could be used to control them. Let me see if the cheaper Sony players support ALAC and the iPhone app...

 

[Petherick]

Pioneer XW-SMA3? £130

Plus a NAS should be (just) possible for under £100 - yes, I know this comes to more than £200, but only just.

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

My first thought is a cheap bluray or media player (WDTV etc) and some powered/active speakers. It would be easier with a TV but many now have iOS/Android apps which could be used to control them. Let me see if the cheaper Sony players support ALAC and the iPhone app...

Hi JD,

I've a WD TV Live and even with the app to IOS or Android ( wich is payed) She'll still need a TV or a sreen, the app doen't detect a usb pen content.

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

Would this work: Portable Hard Drive (via USB port) > Airport Express (controlled by iPad) > Airplay Speakers or Dock?

this will not work!

airport express don't have RCA output, and a HDD alone can't stream contend...

 

[Dave_]

A Raspberry Pi running Raspyfi or Raspbmc/OpenELEC/Xbian controlled via the iThing into inexpensive actives, like the Studiospares Seiwin SN-4A, or their bigger brothers, Seiwin 5As would see change out of £200...

 

[tino]

What about a Sonos Play 1 for around 160 pounds, then a media router for around 40 pounds that includes a DLNA server (e.g. from DLink).

Plug the HD drive into the media router.

Control the Play 1 from the iPad or Android phone.

 

[paddyb]

Thanks everyone, some interesting options to explore.

What about a Sonos Play 1 for around 160 pounds, then a media router for around 40 pounds that includes a DLNA server (e.g. from DLink).

Plug the HD drive into the media router.

Control the Play 1 from the iPad or Android phone.

This sounds like the best solution so far as it uses the storage she already has and leaves more to go towards a better quality speaker.

I'd never heard of media routers before, is the D-Link Dir 657/B (available for £37 delivered from Dabs) suitable? I tried to include a link, but the forum won't let me post with it, saying its been marked as spam?

As I understand it, she replaces her existing router with the D-Link (or connects to it from her router via Ethernet?), plugs a portable HDD into it via USB and it will then show up on her home network. So its a bit like a NAS, except you can only access it on your home network not online?

The Sonos sounds good, but it sounds like she would also need an Airport Express for it to work with iTunes via Airplay? An Airplay solution would be preferable as the music is already organised in an iTunes library, so I'm hoping her iPad would be able to sync with the library on the HDD remotely and play it to an Airplay speaker without any additional hardware?

 

[tino]

Thanks everyone, some interesting options to explore.

What about a Sonos Play 1 for around 160 pounds, then a media router for around 40 pounds that includes a DLNA server (e.g. from DLink).

Plug the HD drive into the media router.

Control the Play 1 from the iPad or Android phone.

This sounds like the best solution so far as it uses the storage she already has and leaves more to go towards a better quality speaker.

I'd never heard of media routers before, is the D-Link Dir 657/B (available for £37 delivered from Dabs) suitable? I tried to include a link, but the forum won't let me post with it, saying its been marked as spam?

As I understand it, she replaces her existing router with the D-Link (or connects to it from her router via Ethernet?), plugs a portable HDD into it via USB and it will then show up on her home network. So its a bit like a NAS, except you can only access it on your home network not online?

The Sonos sounds good, but it sounds like she would also need an Airport Express for it to work with iTunes via Airplay? An Airplay solution would be preferable as the music is already organised in an iTunes library, so I'm hoping her iPad would be able to sync with the library on the HDD remotely and play it to an Airplay speaker without any additional hardware?

Not sure if this the optimum solution if you are planning on using Airplay and iTunes. I'm not clued up too much on Apple devices, so perhaps others can advise. My proposal was for you to use a cheap DLNA server (as per the D-Link solution) which serves the music library for a DLNA compatible device like a SONOS or other system. You might be better off looking for an Airplay speaker and a way of storing your iTunes library on a true NAS device which is accessible from the iPad.

 

[The_Lhc]

What about a Sonos Play 1 for around 160 pounds, then a media router for around 40 pounds that includes a DLNA server (e.g. from DLink).

Plug the HD drive into the media router.

Control the Play 1 from the iPad or Android phone.

Not sure if this the optimum solution if you are planning on using Airplay and iTunes. I'm not clued up too much on Apple devices, so perhaps others can advise. My proposal was for you to use a cheap DLNA server (as per the D-Link solution) which serves the music library for a DLNA compatible device like a SONOS or other system. You might be better off looking for an Airplay speaker and a way of storing your iTunes library on a true NAS device which is accessible from the iPad.

Sorry, can I just make one point: Sonos does NOT require a dlna server to be running, so you don't need to worry about that, it just needs the music location to be shared using the standard CIFS/SMB protocol, nothing else.

 

[tino]

Sorry, can I just make one point: Sonos does NOT require a dlna server to be running, so you don't need to worry about that, it just needs the music location to be shared using the standard CIFS/SMB protocol, nothing else.

Agreed but it will work with a DLNA server also. Just trying to think of a very cheap solution without the cost of a NAS.

 

[The_Lhc]

Sorry, can I just make one point: Sonos does NOT require a dlna server to be running, so you don't need to worry about that, it just needs the music location to be shared using the standard CIFS/SMB protocol, nothing else.

Agreed but it will work with a DLNA server also. Just trying to think of a very cheap solution without the cost of a NAS.

Nothing wrong with the solution, just no point complicating matters introducing a DLNA server that isn't required.

 

[paddyb]

Ok, so it sounds like it is possible to access and play songs from the network media drive on an iPad, but I found the article on iLounge which suggests that this won't work with iTunes:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/managing-an-itunes-library-on-an-ipad-and-external-hard-drive/

The article was from Sept 12, so maybe something has changed, but if I understand it correctly, the version of iTunes running on the iPad doesn't work in quite the same way as iTunes running on a Mac or PC and it needs a Mac, PC, Mini Mac or NAS running an iTunes server app to access external music? Seems strange that they can't implement this if dozens of DLNA apps on IOS and Android can?

What concerns me with using a non iTunes solution is that I think all the album artwork etc is stored with the iTunes library, rather than with the music itself, so this would be lost if the music is synched with another app? There was also a huge amount of work to be done to get her compilations to show correctly in iTunes, as some tracks were grouped with artists rather than compilations, and this might also need to be done again?

 

[paddyb]

Well, she went into an apple shop for advice, and came out with a Bose SoundLink Mini blutooth speaker! It doesn't really solve the problem as far as I can see, but she's smitten with the sound, so perhaps its worth seeing what the best solution using this might be. The other complication that I've just discovered is that she's using her landlords Wi-Fi, so anything that requires an Ethernet connection isn't really going to work until she gets her own broadband account.

So, would one of these do the trick:

http://www.ebuyer.com/413975-buffalo-500gb-ministation-air-mobile-wireless-storage-hdw-p500u3-eu?gclid=CNqvqMTI77sCFeTLtAod8XwA1Q

If she put her music on this, can the iPad (with any app) play it from there and then stream via blutooth to the Bose?

 

[paddyb]

Someone has recomened one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/RAVPower-FileHub-Wireless-External-Portable/dp/B00AQUMZRA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8&colid=LTTDI2NER5I0&coliid=I17HMDLMTDUNN9

It has its own Wi-Fi network and will accept a USB hardrive. I don't think this will work with the iTunes app on the iPad, as it can't access network drives, but hopefully will work with other DLNA music player apps that can play from a network drive. Can somebody recomend a free iPad app that might work?

 

[Style Jukebox Team]

Have you thought about uploading the music to Style Jukebox Cloud Player, for example?

Style Jukebox supports most audio formats, including FLAC and ALAC. All the music is available anywhere, anytime for streaming or download on Windows, Android, iOS or Windows Phone.

You can upload 1000 songs for free, so you can try to see if you like it. It's like Dropbox for music.

Hope we helped!