Unitiserve and Macbook pro connectivity

I think you should direct that question to the OP.  He is the one stuck with a Naim product that cannot work with Apple.

OTOH, perhaps you are right. I suggest you send a note to Tim Cooke at Apple, telling him his products do not fit your idea of connectivity. 

I think you will agree, that is not very likely to succeed. So a more sensible solution might be for Naim to include USB connectivity into their products.  That way, those that want to use third party software (J Rivers, etc) and uPNP to achieve their goals can do so.  Others that wish to implement iTunes, etc can also do. Everyone is a winner.  

Richard

Richard samba networking is a windows protocol, apple do impliment it, some people appear to be having issues with it, i have no idea why.

Who to blame is difficult. For certain though its not naim, it utilises known protocals, samba, upnp etc.

Apple on the other hand will go their own way and do it in such a way as its inly compatible with apple products to keep the buy in, so for instance upnp will not be supported, instead they will creat airplay.

Flac will not be supported instead they will do apple lossless. Samba will not be supported, instead they will do bonjour.

Inthis context the lack of conectivity is down to apple. And as mentioned before itunes is shit, stop fawning over it, really. Its a piece of software with so so organisation abilties and a shed load of methods to make people spend money.

In the words of the old Adam Faith song, "I am Easy Going, Me".  I have no beef with iTunes.  I enjoy its intuitive, reliable connectivity.  I have had a bellyful of tweaky programs that may or may not work some or most of the time.  I actually, shock, horror, download occasionally from the iTunes store.  I have never visited any illegal DL site at least not to download.  (I did unknowingly visit Pirate Bay once, not realising what it was about).  Of course Apple have ploughed their own furrow.  It has worked very well for them and many of their customers, I being one of them.  

Isn't it fortunate we have freedom to choose?  I choose iTunes you choose something else.  After all, it is purely subjective. Nobody has the keys to ultimate SQ.  

But with great respect, I believe it is rather arrogant to state your opinion as fact, regarding the suitability of one piece of software (iTunes) over another.  We are all into our own personal choices and just because we each choose differently is no reason to disparage another's choice.

It is rather unfortunate that there are some in this group who take any criticism of Naim or their personal choice of software personally. This is a pity. We should all try and get along, despite our differences.

No offence is intended.

Richard

Each to their own, eh? I find iTunes' organizational abilities fuss-free, intuitive and more-than-adequate. I can't imagine what else I would want. I can find any song, any artist or any album instantly. I can create playlists either manually or automatically. Genius is just that (OK, I exaggerate - but I do use it quite a bit). When ripping CDs, I have to intervene to fine-tune tags only very rarely.

As for it being a way to "make people to spend money". But the iTunes software itself is free, unencumbered with advertising, and it doesn't force you to buy anything. You don't even need to open an account (I think). I'm not sure what your point is with that comment.

Richard and All,

I am sure the passion comes as many of us feel our advanced knowledge is hard-won.  At our best, I know we all are glad that passionate people come to contribute; and I hope nobody gets discouraged from letting us in on their secrets of success. 

I have been into hi-fi since 1971, when I was 10.  I've been in the Naim game only since May, and am thrilled at every progress mark.  Many of my successes have had more to do with following kind advice than buying more expensive gear.

Look around at other brands with similarly passionate folks, and their forums, and see if the environment supports the hobby as well.  I have; and I am happy to spend my time and effort here.  Satisfied customers are more than mere fanboys.  Good products and support lead to this.

This is a party, friends.  Enjoy!

Nick

Winky Itunes does what it does adequatley, i think you sum it up well. If all you want is a basic list type layout affair with hobbled funstionality, itunes is your man.

There are however a number of options out theree that are visually stunning, and play pretty much any known music format to man.

"Visually stunning" is not important to me at all. I've tried XBMC (and one other that I can't recall but looked identical to XBMC and didn't work either - might have been Plex?). Apart from the fact that these it didn't actually work, the cluttered and confusing alleged interface and general style made me puke. Yes, they can be customised, but I couldn't be bothered. I just want something that works.

I typically use the "cover flow" view in iTunes, with the lists displayed below. This has been copied by many other media players. Apple probably copied it from someone else, too. No matter, works great. I have a choice of about 50 tags that I can select to have displayed there. I use about 9 of those. I usually have the library ordered by either album or artist. I often just type into the search box to find something specific. It never misses. The FREE "Remote" app on the iPad is just great, too. Much faster (instantaneous for everything with about 100 albums - 8000 like Lontano might give some pause for thought) and less clunky than the Naim versions in my experience.

99% of my music is ripped CDs. Formats don't really matter to me. I just use Apple Lossless. On the rare occasion I download, I just convert from FLAC if required. No big deal.

We also use iTunes as a video player over HDMI and it works great for that, too.

I guess I just don't know what I'm missing. Really, I don't.

Guys-- lots of good stuff here -- but Im still wondering what to do about my original post query!!

If I installed XBMC on my MBP would that make it more likely that the US would see my itunes library??

Anyone done this and have any advice as to how to set it up??

Thx

Rich

I really feel for you, Rich.  To refresh my memory of these problems I dug out my Netgear ReadyNAS duo.  I have already had installed CAT 5e cabling to a cupboard in the hallway.  Five minutes connecting it up and switching on.  Then five hours trying to get my MB to "see" it.  Strangely, it can see it in one screen, even asks me for the login pass phrase, but resolutely refuses to accept it.  In another screen on the MB I can immediately login as Guest.  But cannot access anything, despite apparently logged in.  I will not bore everyone with all the gory details (and the expletives that issued forth), but suffice to say, I gave up in disgust.  OK, that is not the same as you are experiencing, Rich. But it does give a sense of frustration that you must be feeling.  

As far as I can see, I believe it should be made manifestly clear on purchase that the US is designed to work best with a NAS which implies a Microsoft Windows system.

Without wishing to sound trite, I suggest you beg or borrow a friends laptop PC and see if that works any better.  What does your dealer say?  What do Naim say?

Richard

Patrick.  I was wrong, wrong, wrong!  You are right, right, right!   

Seriously. I am old and probably should be put out to grass. Having read other's posts in a different thread, I see some have connected their Mac Mini directly into the nDAC.

As you say, use the Toslink output. As every recent Mac is already fitted with an optical output, it is easy. However, many PCs are not so well equipped.  So it could be argued that Naim actually favour Apple products over Windows by not including the USB connection .

So I take back all my criticism of Naim for not including a ubiquitous USB connection. It is only the PC owners who may have a problem of connecting directly to their computer. All us Apple customers can just connect using its included optical output. .

So thank you, Patrick and I apologise to the group if I raised anyone's blood pressure. . 

Richard

Cheers!

You can even use UPNP to the Naim streamers and eventually direct Airplay "connection".

If for some reason you dont have SPDIF on your Mac (some dont), or you dont want the Mac in the listening room, you could always stream to an via Airtunes to an iOS device connected via USB.

You could even use PlugPlayer on the iOS device and stream directly from your NAS or UPNP server on your Mac.

Good luck to you!

Patrick

I think the point is that iTunes exists solely as a portal to the iTunes store. It also of course exists to load up your iPods and iPhone with music/video bought from said store. Trust me, they would stop developing iTunes in a heartbeat if for some reason the iTunes store was "closed".

Then they try to come up with clever proprietary codec requirements for both music and video that will once again force you into buying from them.  They do this under the guise of "it just works".  They have made it difficult to buy content from other sources by not supporting those file types everyone else uses.  Why would you buy FLACs directly from an artist or HDTracks when you cant play them on your iDevices or in iTunes? 

Apple has gone to great lengths to "break" the compatibility of iDevices and other media players.  The alternate ways of loading up an iPod dwindle every day. 

On top of that gentle nudging into complete immersion in their world, they will sell you very low quality music for almost full market price then have the gall to limit that to a specific number of computers.

And on and on.

Of course it is a VERY savvy and shrewd business model that has propelled them to the highest ranks of global business.  Although this is no more attractive to me than the anti-trust aspects of the Microsoft method.

It is all very sneaky and subtle and it does "just work" for maximizing profits.  And I have no problem with that.....  I am just explaining what some of the exceptions to iTunes are, and why. 

-p

I agree absolutely with everything that you say. Nevertheless, I have gone willingly to the Temple of Sir Steve whereby loads and loads of Appley Goodness is rained down upon me (for cold hard cash).

Richard,

At last some one has got through to you.

Well done Pat.

Its only taken over year or two.

Stu.

I am happy to be annoyingly persistent.