HDX and attached NAS

Is the RipNAS streaming to Uniti using UPnP. Is the RipNAS set up as a share, with log-in credentials? Have you set these up on the HDX?
Two people guessing must be better than one

Sorry to hijack this thread but it is a related issue. I've just been looking at the revised HDX reference manual and I'm a bit confused about the difference between a network share and music store as follows:
If I want to copy a CD file ripped by the HDX to a NAS do I need to convert it to a Music Store first or can I just nominate the network share to be copied to?
If files ripped by the HDX can only be copied to a NAS that has been converted to a Music Store, does this mean that I can't copy other music files (e.g. downloads) to the Music Store?

Sorry if these are dumb questions but it's all new to me (I'm planning to use a ReadyNAs Duo).
Regards
Jon

quote:

Originally posted by Jonn:
Sorry to hijack this thread but it is a related issue. I've just been looking at the revised HDX reference manual and I'm a bit confused about the difference between a network share and music store as follows:
If I want to copy a CD file ripped by the HDX to a NAS do I need to convert it to a Music Store first or can I just nominate the network share to be copied to?
If files ripped by the HDX can only be copied to a NAS that has been converted to a Music Store, does this mean that I can't copy other music files (e.g. downloads) to the Music Store?

Sorry if these are dumb questions but it's all new to me (I'm planning to use a ReadyNAs Duo).
Regards
Jon

Hi Jon
The way I understand it is that only Music Stores can serve as a target for storing Rips made on the HDX.
Network Shares can only be read from by the HDX (and need to be filled by other means then by HDX-Rips) and do not serve as a storage location for HDX-rips unless converted to a Music Store.

-
aleg

Just to add...the Music Store starts life as a network share, but the HDX 'prepares' it for storing its rips. It's recommended that the Music Store (which you can set up on the ReadyNAS) is left to its own devices, as the HDX adds database info, cover art etc to it, and that you do NOT copy any files to it from another source.
I have made another share on the ReadyNAS for my downloaded music, and the HDX picks that up just fine.

Aleg/John
Thanks for your responses - it makes it clear now. I need to set-up a Music Store on the NAS for HDX rips and a separate share for downloads which I can then access via the HDX using the desktop client on my notebook. Hoping to receive the 1.5a discs and ReadyNas this week so can have a play around this coming w/e
Cheers
Jon

It is not necessary to have UPnP services active on the RipNAS, as the HDX will aggregate this data and serve it up via UPnP at a far higher standard (better metadata, transcoding, etc.)

With 1.5a software, the NAS can simply be as dumb a device as required.

On a single NAS device one can still set up and use folders that the HDX sees (as it did before v1.5a) as external network storage and from which it can read once it has scanned them.

What is new with v1.5a is the concept of the Music Store. The trick here is to create an emppty folder on the NAS drive and label it uniquely (I chose to use "Music-HDX"). It has to be a shared folder.

Then, on the Naim HDX, wait for it to start seeing that new folder on the NAS Drive.

At some stage, you have to enter the NAS drive username and password separately on the HDX for the new Music Store folders as well as for the normal on board folders.

Next, using Manage Music Stores (I think - or perhaps Create Music Stores) that new NAS folder can be classed as a Music Store. These are treated as a virtual part of the Naim HDX's own CD collection, rather than as external folder. The HDX sets up the same folder hierarchy and content per album on such folders as it does on the HDX on-board drives (one can now see that internal folder structure - courtesy of the new UpNp function in V1.5a, I believe).

Music on the HDX can be moved to a Music Folder (and I guess vice-versa).

In addition a Music Store can be designated as the primary "rip to" destination for new CD rips made form the HDX.

Provided the sharing is enabled, all the content on a NAS drive is legible and accessible from any machine on the network - so the new outboard Music Stores are not readable only by the HDX; and - with the new UpNp function - the HDX on-disk content becomes visible to and readable by outboard devices also (up to 6 streams at a time).

Hope this helps .... quite simple when you have it implemented.

Tony

Great, thanks Tony that's made it clear now. Ny NAS will be part of the network but in another building 30metres away. Hopefully this won't make any difference to the replay sound compared to CDs ripped to the HDX harddrives.
Cheers
Jon

The HDX will store all music files on a Music Store in WAV format, in just the same way that it would store ripped CDs locally as WAV files.

If the end-to-end network link between the HDX and the NAS drive which hosts the Music Folder(s) is of good enough quality (including responsiveness and performance of the NAS drive), there should be no discernible difference in playback quality.

I get good playback of WAV files and of ordinary resolution FLAC files over an ethernet-over-the-mains setup in my house. However, the HDX is not at all happy streaming 24 bit FLAC files received over that network (but the same files are OK if read by the HDX from a local USB memory stick).

So I am about to replace that ethernet-over-the-mains network (which I think is rated at 80 mbps) with one that is rated at 200 mbps, and I hope this will fix the problem.

Tony

Ok, thanks for all the explanations. I finally managed the HDX to see the RipNas. I just had to enter the username and password. But a little obstacle was there: the password was ripnas=100617. But it seems to be impossible to enter the = in the HDX, so I had to do it over the DTC. But now everything works fine.
Thanks also for the explanation of MusicStores

Gaudenz

Guys your help please..

I started using a shared folder on a NAS but I did not define the Music store before I started to copy music from another hard disc to the shared folder. If I now create a Music store I cannot approach the shared folder anymore. Should I start all over again, removing the music from the shared folder, define the music store and then copy the music again to the shared folder?

thx Don

Don
If you create a Music Store, you should leave it exclusively for the use of the HDX. Any other music you might have should be put into another share - the HDX will see it just fine
Cheers
John

There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers - some of which may follow......

Regardless of where the music is stored, the GUI simply lists what is available, but you can filter the listing to see just music on the internal server, USB devices or network shares if you want.
The iPod/iPhone app lists everything available as far as I can see.

Can't answer the iTunes question, as I don't use it for music (can't see the point of playing compressed music on the hifi). But I seem to remember there is an application provided on the CD for working with your iTunes Music Library, but no idea what it does.
Cheers
John

quote:

Originally posted by AllenB:
Does the music found on Music Stores and, say, other network folders containing downloaded music get amalgamated in the GUI, so all music is shown as one list for browsing?

I'd like to know this as well...

I'm hoping the answer is not that you have to navigate to separate folders to play content away from the designated store...?

I think I understand the concept of the HDX's designated Music Store folder, but I do have a dumb question of my own to add to Allen's - is the HDX created content in that folder easily used by other items on the network, such as iTunes on other computers or a Sonos system...?

Steve.

I can play back anything on the HDX HDD or NAS over the network via my PC. IIRC the HDX will scan any music it can see and present it almagated with what's been ripped on the machine itself. I haven't tried this but the manual suggests it is the case. I personally don't want music plastered over various bits of my network presented to the HDX but pulling it through the other way is useful for me.

In 1.5a, the set of Music Stores (which includes the internal storage by default) is aggregated into "CD Collection"; Network Shares may be viewed individually by share or aggregated into "All Music", which includes everything (stores, USB devices, and shares)-and has been this way from the outset (1.3l).

quote:

If you create a Music Store, you should leave it exclusively for the use of the HDX. Any other music you might have should be put into another share - the HDX will see it just fine

John, do you mean to say here that the store and the other music should be on different shares (in my case meaning different NAS environments) or can I divide one Openshare environment into different sections that will be recognized by the HDX..

You should be able to set up several shares in your NAS - no problem with my ReadyNAS Duo - but keep one of the shares for conversion to a Music Store by the HDX. Put your other music in another shared folder or folders, and when the HDX does a scan, it will see those too.
A Music Store is only required by the HDX for ripping purposes, so it has to be set up by the machine for that purpose.