Streaming and multiroom on the cheap?

[dannybl]

Hey,

I have an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air and am keen to get started with a streamed multiroom set-up.

I use both iTunes and Spotify a lot so must be able to stream from these.

Phase one will be hooking my existing HiFi up to wifi - I'm thinking either Sonos Connect, Pure Jongo A2 or just getting an Apple TV box and using AirPlay. The Sonos unit looks an expensive option but I can't find anything else that will do both iTunes and Spotify.

I then plan to add additional rooms via wifi with standalone units as and when I can afford it. I'd even consider hard wiring an additional set of speakers in the old fashioned way.

Anyone got any insight into the pros and cons of the options above? Or can anyone suggest any alternatives?

Ta!

 

[motley]

Bose Soundlink Air/Denon Cocoon

 

[toyota man]

Hey,

I have an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air and am keen to get started with a streamed multiroom set-up.

I use both iTunes and Spotify a lot so must be able to stream from these.

Phase one will be hooking my existing HiFi up to wifi - I'm thinking either Sonos Connect, Pure Jongo A2 or just getting an Apple TV box and using AirPlay. The Sonos unit looks an expensive option but I can't find anything else that will do both iTunes and Spotify.

I then plan to add additional rooms via wifi with standalone units as and when I can afford it. I'd even consider hard wiring an additional set of speakers in the old fashioned way.

Anyone got any insight into the pros and cons of the options above? Or can anyone suggest any alternatives?

Ta!

Hi Ive just bought a sonos bridge + a sonos connect which is very easy to set up and sounds very good the biggist problem is if your artwork is not embedded with your music it will not transfer so you will end up with 90% of your artwork missing there is a dowloadable fix but it looks a bit of a faff to me . there is a free ap so you can use your ipad / iphone as a remote I paid £308 for both units

 

[bigboss]

I use TuneUp media to clean up my collection & sort missing artwork. Super easy with no faff whatsoever, & works extremely well with Sonos.

http://www.tuneupmedia.com/

Trial is free, & there are 30% discount codes floating around when you google if you decide to purchase.

 

[The_Lhc]

Hi Ive just bought a sonos bridge + a sonos connect which is very easy to set up and sounds very good the biggist problem is if your artwork is not embedded with your music it will not transfer

That's not entirely true, Sonos will find the artwork if every album is in its own folder with an artwork file called folder.jpg (that's the actual name, it's not "foldername".jpg, it's just folder.jpg, which is why you need each album in its own folder.). This is standard practice, if you're moving from iTunes then you've discovered that by and large iTunes does NOT store artwork according to the accepted standards, which is why Sonos can't find it.

I just embed the artwork when I rip my CDs though, much easier that way.

 

[andrew_cawood]

You can stream spotify with airplay.

 

[Paul.]

You can stream spotify with airplay.

Spend a few quid on Airfoil and you can.

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

Hi Ive just bought a sonos bridge + a sonos connect which is very easy to set up and sounds very good the biggist problem is if your artwork is not embedded with your music it will not transfer

That's not entirely true, Sonos will find the artwork if every album is in its own folder with an artwork file called folder.jpg (that's the actual name, it's not "foldername".jpg, it's just folder.jpg, which is why you need each album in its own folder.). This is standard practice, if you're moving from iTunes then you've discovered that by and large iTunes does NOT store artwork according to the accepted standards, which is why Sonos can't find it.

I just embed the artwork when I rip my CDs though, much easier that way.

I do the same in my NAS i have a independent folder to each band/singer and inside that folder other severel folders for each album with the art work pic iside that i rename as "Folder".

It works very well with the SBT and with Synology App cotrolled by my ipad.

Now i've connected the NAS to my Rega DAC it has a sound QL as good as the SBT, i'm amaized, it's faster then the SBT when i change tunes.

The NAS is connected as well to my wifi tower i have so many streming possibilities, i've to find out the best for me...

 

[andrew_cawood]

As far as I'm aware, you only need airfoil for multiroom now, you can stream Spotify via airplay straight from idevices and your mac. 🙂

 

[rs6mra]

Hi Ive just bought a sonos bridge + a sonos connect which is very easy to set up and sounds very good the biggist problem is if your artwork is not embedded with your music it will not transfer

That's not entirely true, Sonos will find the artwork if every album is in its own folder with an artwork file called folder.jpg (that's the actual name, it's not "foldername".jpg, it's just folder.jpg, which is why you need each album in its own folder.). This is standard practice, if you're moving from iTunes then you've discovered that by and large iTunes does NOT store artwork according to the accepted standards, which is why Sonos can't find it.

I just embed the artwork when I rip my CDs though, much easier that way.

Pardon me for jumping in here but i have just had a looked at my music folders and those i am aware of that have the album artwork do not have the "folder.jpg" album contained within. It is something i have been meaning to sort out but would like to apply what you method you have mentioned first. My albums are loaded onto my NAS using iTunes and i then point my Sonos to this folder.

 

[The_Lhc]

Hi Ive just bought a sonos bridge + a sonos connect which is very easy to set up and sounds very good the biggist problem is if your artwork is not embedded with your music it will not transfer

That's not entirely true, Sonos will find the artwork if every album is in its own folder with an artwork file called folder.jpg (that's the actual name, it's not "foldername".jpg, it's just folder.jpg, which is why you need each album in its own folder.). This is standard practice, if you're moving from iTunes then you've discovered that by and large iTunes does NOT store artwork according to the accepted standards, which is why Sonos can't find it.

I just embed the artwork when I rip my CDs though, much easier that way.

Pardon me for jumping in here but i have just had a looked at my music folders and those i am aware of that have the album artwork do not have the "folder.jpg" album contained within.

They probably have the artwork embedded in the files then, there are a number of ways of doing it. I use the embedded method myself, that way however you store the files you'll know they'll always have the artwork with them.

 

[rs6mra]

Hi Ive just bought a sonos bridge + a sonos connect which is very easy to set up and sounds very good the biggist problem is if your artwork is not embedded with your music it will not transfer

That's not entirely true, Sonos will find the artwork if every album is in its own folder with an artwork file called folder.jpg (that's the actual name, it's not "foldername".jpg, it's just folder.jpg, which is why you need each album in its own folder.). This is standard practice, if you're moving from iTunes then you've discovered that by and large iTunes does NOT store artwork according to the accepted standards, which is why Sonos can't find it.

I just embed the artwork when I rip my CDs though, much easier that way.

Pardon me for jumping in here but i have just had a looked at my music folders and those i am aware of that have the album artwork do not have the "folder.jpg" album contained within.

They probably have the artwork embedded in the files then, there are a number of ways of doing it. I use the embedded method myself, that way however you store the files you'll know they'll always have the artwork with them.

So in layman terms can you tell me how you use the embedded method?

I load the CD into the PC drive, iTunes launches automatically and copies the disc to my NAS & that's it........

 

[The_Lhc]

I'm afraid I don't use iTunes, I use dbPoweramp.