Free as in Speech. Free as in Beer.
I finally got around to trying Clementine. I was pleasantly surprised, although I shouldn’t be considering it’s forked from the “cool” Amarock. Unfortunately it seems to lack UPNP support. Fortunately someone wrote a python script that lets it be remote controlled from any web browser… even a smartphone.
The killer feature? Unlike both Rhythmbox and Banshee it has options to rescan the music library. I can’t imagine why the others are missing such a basic feature. EDIT: Banshee does have a rescan menu option. Rhythmbox is supposed to every restart, but it doesn’t.
In either case, I was looking for great playback software for OSX that could read FLAC without spending a little (iTunes plugin) or a lot (Amarra $700!!!). Banshee couldn’t output to the USB DAC, but Clementine came to the rescue!
Sure I don’t personally endorse OSX considering its proprietary nature, but I can at least endorse programs that run on it.
I was helping out a friend recently and found that XLD (X lossless decoder) has been completely transformed from difficult to fantastically easy! It now has options to let it autostart on CD insert, eject disc when finished, etc. Bonus, it has accuraterip support!
Then there’s Clementine for playback…
In: Uncategorized
14 Dec 2011JVC is introducing a new car stereo unit that can be controlled by gestures. This reminds me of that Monster gesture product I mentioned a while ago.
Also, the XBOX 360 just got an interface overhaul and the kinect is finally becoming more useful as an interface medium.
We’re inching ever closer to computers that can interact with us the way we already naturally do.
In: software
14 Dec 2011in short, Banshee’s behaviour when playing back music is weird and annoying. Rhythmbox doesn’t seem to have the ability to sort by “Album Artist” instead of “(song) Artist” so albums by remixers, DJ’s, and Producers get chopped up and organized by song artist in the interface.
To elaborate on Banshee, in addition to the typical listing of all of your music, it has a play queue. At any point an album or song can be played, but if songs exist in the play queue they will sometimes be intermixed with your current album. Also, when you current album finishes the play queue will begin playing where it left off. Both of these examples are far from intuitive. They make Banshee feel weird.
I will now begin looking for solutions.
In: software
20 Sep 2011This guy has a great page on the ins and outs of CD audio. It’s very informative. Unfortunately Morituri is still in alpha phase. I’ll keep checking its status though.
ZOTAC makes lots of things. I just found out they make miniPC’s. Their cheapest model is perfect for a music client or even a modest server. (modest only because storage space is less than ideal) The more expensive models are still under $300 and they’re good enough for HD video too.
What makes them so great:
small – 7.4″ 188mm squares that come with VESA mounts
real x86 core – Intel Atom CPU with on-chip graphics
connections – e-sata, USB, HDMI, vga
pop in a stick of memory and 2GB sata ssd or USB flash drive and go!
In: software
1 Sep 2011I’ve just learned of a Windows program called hdcd.exe for converting hdcd rips into 24 bit rips using the special hdcd material. i.e. this will result in better 24 bit files than regular upsampling.
unfortunately the author is being blocked by microsoft with respect to creating programs for other OS’s. In 5 days I’ll be able to contact him to see if something can be worked out. In the meantime I’m holding my breath!
- or – The Best Music Server Money Can’t Buy
(it’s not yet for sale)
It seems that everyone and his brother are talking about this guys music server. If you read this interview it becomes clear why: He’s an Israeli electronic communications expert. I admit I do love his opinions, except the one about AES. He even admits the caveat, “properly clocked.” I’d like to point out again that $10,000 master AES clocks exist for a reason. It really can cost that much to “properly” clock it. Oh well, at least he agrees with me that ethernet will eventually be the best standard. (Keep in mind my earlier post about Stereophile magazine finding no audible or measurable difference between USB and ethernet.) My favorite part is where he explains why some people are claiming two music servers or two USB cables sound differently. Specifically, it is his answer to the interviewer’s question:
“How important is noise — electrical, mechanical, etc. — in a music server? Is EMI or RFI an issue?”
The fact that USB cables can sound different is why I am hoping ethernet eclipses USB as the de facto standard for music servers. The other is that, with ethernet, one server can serve many DAC’s, thus making it a TRUE server.
Matan Arazi also mentions two other (commercial) Linux based music servers that I’ve never heard of:
Jesus’ VortexBox and Demian’s Auraliti
if you want to read about how to build a music server with more care and over-engineering than an artificial heart, scroll down to:
“I understand you’ve designed and built your own custom music server, which is used by Magico. What can you tell us about it?”
He name drops more U.S. defense contractors than I can count, but doesn’t reach the climax of his Audio Wank Fest until mentioning that the chassis of his music server is filled with an inert gas to make sure no oxygen hurts your music. nice.
In: hardware
18 Jul 2011apparently their new G9 series Android tablets have an option to add a super thin $250 hard drive… for the same price! They say they can get small SSD or big hard drive for the same price; so should you! The 8 inch model starts at $300. That’s a lot of music, a small package, and a hot interface.
Still, this would be most handy for special purposes such as: a fully functioning computer AND hard drive to take to a friend’s house, or an in – car system that’s easily removable. etc. etc.
I tried Banshee for the first time in years. It is now noticeably better than Rhythmbox with one exception (no UPNP). All of the plugins and settings that I mention in my howto guides are already seamlessly integrated into Banshee. It has a fantastic fullscreen mode, burns CD’s, scrobbles to last.fm, and more! More?
It supports Amazon mp3. Amazon offers up to 20 GB of storage for the music that you already own. Any music you buy from Amazon doesn’t count toward your limit. This means you can get your music on your computer, phone, anywhere.
It will pull youtube videos related to the song you’re listening to!
There is one fatal flaw. It doesn’t support UPNP at all. No playing, no serving, and most importantly, no remote control. Although it appears someone is working on it this summer. You can still get your UPNP files using DJMount, but that’s it. Or, if you’re OK with DAAP (iTunes music sharing), Banshee can access that as a client.
But wait there’s more! Someone wrote an Android app / Banshee plugin combo to allow remote control. It works better than anything I’ve tried for Rhythmbox so far!
If your project is standalone then by all means, use Banshee. If you intend to use network sharing then I’ll keep you updated on Banshee’s UPNP progress.
For everyone who has wished to have an amazing stereo, music piped through your house, or even just the coolest remote control on the block, this site is for you.