Re: Whole House Music Servers

["keyvan2r" <keyvan@xxxxxxx>]

Vinyl is nice, and I use it regularly, but it has a couple of
shortcomings when it comes to a multi-platform, multi-zone whole
house audio.

I have been trying out various solutions (and bought a few pieces of
software - Homseer plugins, J River Media center, MusicLobby, etc.).
Below is kind of a wish list for "whole household" usable system:

1. Multi-Source & Multi-zone = Means any user in any zone can select
and play the music they want ot listen to, or alternatively listen
to a selection currently playing from a source (i.e if the zones are
set to the same source then the same music is playing throughout the
house).
2. Easy music search & selection from any zone: This is particularly
important if there is a large music liberary - the remote devices
are also an issue here. Ideally the same (or similar)interface on
all devices: networked pc's, wireless tablets, touch displays,
pocket pc. A basic IR remote device would be nice just for volume,
mute, pause, track forward/back, etc. Also the concept of "one
touch" playlists would be nice, particularly for touch displays or
activated by an IR command.
3. Availability of playlists from all devices: i.e it would be real
pain to have to compile the same playlists on vinyl as well as WMP,
etc.
4. The ability to "lock-down" a source. Reason being that if you
are
listening to some relaxing music in the bedroom and somebody else
selects the same source from a different zone and starts playing
some heavy metal - V annoying!!

Other factors like a pleasant looking front-end (I really like the
Cinemar flash based stuff from Mario)and album art presentation
would be a nice bonus.

I am sure there is more that I have overlooked - feel free to add
your "must have" feature.

So far the winning combo is Media Center for the server-side and
MusicLobby for the client(next release - see the Cinemar Forum for
screen shots). They have a PocketPC version coming too.

Media Center has as good a set of features as WMP or Winamp, but
handles practically any format (WMA lossless, ape, and more). It has
a good set of library management tools and tagging. As far as I
know, it is the only package to handle multiple zones (by using
multiple sound cards on the same pc). In the next update, you can
even set the pre-amp startup setting for different cards/zones. It
also lets you play internet radio in different zones - no need for a
seperate tuner.

For now I am using Homeseer with the WMP plugin with HSFlash.
It lets me get a reasonable way of finding music and playing
playlist, but I will try the new MusicLobby/Media center solution.

This still leaves the option of using "local" audio devices
(networked pc's with sound, DAR's, etc.) and just using the music
server as a file-server. Of course local amp & speakers would be
needed.

Any ideas or input would be appreciated.

Keyvan R

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "John Andrews" <groups@j...> wrote:
> one word: Vinyl
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Nick Broughton" <mail@n...>
> To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:33 PM
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Whole House Music Servers
>
>
> > I think I must be Tony Butler :-).
> >
> > WHA should be able to do both of these things.  It's not a
proper WHA
> > solution if it can't do both.
> >
> >  - I might be hosting a party and want the same music everywhere.
> >  - I might want the same source (sync'ed) in all the downstairs
rooms
> while
> > ths kids have something different upstairs.
> >  - I might want one source in the lounge and another in the
kitchen.
> >
> > I can acheive different sources in different rooms by _NOT
HAVING_ WHA.
> >
> > It must do both, but I can acheive different sources without
having it, so
> > therefore the most important thing it does is allow the same
synchronised
> > source.
> >
> > Discuss(?).

> >
> >