[Fwd: Re: Re: Squeezebox 3]

["rb_ziggy" <richard.boreham@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kevin

Thanks for the detailed feedback.  I suspect you may have already
travelled a path I was contemplating.  And, from your comments, I
think I can do what I want.

My ambition is probably a little less than aiming for full integration
of the squeezebox into xLobby via xAP - although having said that, it
would be a great thing to be able to do.  However, given that things
are quiet on the xL development side I don't see that happening too
soon.  Additionally, having looked at some depth at xL multizone, I
doubt there is a practical way of fully synching a Squeezebox with the
PC based system.

For me the target was to extend music playback into the lounge.  The
rest of the house is on a separate WHA setup with a separate amp.  The
lounge has its own 'traditional' hifi.  I liked the idea of the
squeezebox as much for the osd facilities as for its streaming
capability.  However, I've got the squeezebox and xL options open to
me and I just need to play around and decide which will work best.

Thanks again

Richard

--- In xap_automation@xxxxxxx, Kevin Hawkins <lists@u...> wrote:
>
>
> rb_ziggy wrote
>
> > Thanks for the replies... They do raise a couple more queries:
> >
> > - I infer from your replies that it's unlikely that anyone is
using
> > slimserver 6.2 with xAP. Is this correct?
> >
>
> No indeed not, sorry my post was perhaps a bit misleading  re
that...
> - I use SlimServer 6.2 with xAP...   although I'm currently not using
> all the more involved features as I have changed my music organisation
> quite a bit since using Sonos.   I do use the basic OSD display
features
> and transport control . It is the Squeezebox 3 I haven't any
experience
> with and there are new features in SlimServer 6.2 that are not
supported
> by the conduit.
>
> > - Are people tending to use slim devices with xAP or is this now
a
> > bit of a backwater in terms of music streaming and information
> > display?
>
> It's a fine way to get transport control and information displayed on
> the players (OSD)  ..  With Sonos for example this is currently not
> possible at all.  The big change in V5 to V6 SlimServer has been the
> integration of an SQL database for the music library.  To complement
> this the CLI was revised to support more manageable interaction with
the
> DB, particularly for searches. also a better eventing model was
> introduced to remove some needs for polling that the previous version
> needed. This has allowed the likes of Crestron and AMX to better
> integrate with SlimServer. The xAP conduit does not exploit these
later
> features but they are not required for 99% of purposes either.   The
> conduit is very feature rich compared with any alternatives - unless
you
> choose to drive the CLI directly.  (The CLI is SlimServers command
line
> interface over IP,  a fairly low level but capable interface for
> programmers. Actually you can mix this and xAP at the same time should
> you so desire)
>
> > If so, what are people tending to use now?  (My reason for
> > asking is that I'm using xLobby with Pocket PCs for most of my
audio
> > but in the lounge I need something different to link into the
normal
> > hifi. The xAP to xLobby connector has proved to be the 'glue'
that
> > I'd been looking for in linking a number of components together
and
> > this was my reason for looking into the squeezebox.)
> >
>
> It will work well depending on how much music control you need , and
> from where you are going to originate that control . For example are
you
> wanting to control what music is playing on a track by track basis via
> xAP ? What about playlist creation/editing and management of 'now
> playing'.  Library searches ?   The xAP conduit makes a fine
controller
> for transport but is limited in some other more complex areas ,
> particularly with support of searches etc for which a whole new
> mechansim was introduced in SlimServer 6.2- have a read of the
features
> the conduit offers and see if that suffices.  (It does for me)
>
> Also it is not possible from XLobby for example to set up a Slim
player
> (or indeed any hardware mp3 player) as a music output device ...
> Stephens development on XLobby appears stalled too.  Now playing
> feedback and OSD is supported  so you can get display and transport
> control of a SlimPlayer within  XLobby (via xAP) , just not music
> selection/ playlist management integrated to the XLobby library.   The
> problem is that XLobby doesn't output easily accessible
> filepath/transport requests and even more awkwardly doesn't support a
> way of providing player feedback .   At one stage I had XLobby driving
> its preferred (WinAMP) client and was picking up the activity in
WinAMP
> via xAP and reflecting this onto a SlimPlayer, again via xAP . The
idea
> (kludge) was that XLobby would drive a virtual WinAMP client which
would
> be mirrored onto a SlimPlayer. In practice the synchronisation was a
> very slight issue at trackchange time ( multiroom synch was not
> workable) and also any interaction with the Slim device wasn't
reflected
> back to XLobby (as it still thought it was controlling WinAMP).  The
> better way of approaching this would be to emulate a WinAMP client
back
> to XLobby but actually drive xAP out the other side.   One of those
> things on the 'todo' list but as I changed my own music setup it
dropped
> way down the list.
>
> > - Depening on the answers to the above, if I downloaded
slimserver
> > 6.2 could I 'experiment' with xAP connectivity without a device
> > attached (or do I really need the display/player to make any
sense
> > of things)?
> >
>
> Indeed yes, just use SoftSqueeze, it acts just like a real player
(even
> plays audio). Some people even deploy SlimServer with  SoftSqueeze as
> their only players :-) ..all free...   The obvious thing you lose is
the
> infra red remote of course but you get control back via an onscreen
> keypad or via xAP.
>
> K
>