How do I change from Windows Media Player to Asset on my NDX

I assume you have Asset running on the PC that you were using WMP on. You just need to open the Asset to bring up it's application window and configure it to point Asset at the music folder you have been using WMP with. Using the 'Edit' button in the Asset window will bring up the following window on your PC.

In the 'Audio Library' window at the top, to change the folder you want to scan, first click the [Remove]  item ( top right of this window) then click the 'Add Folder' button which will bring up an explorer window of directories which you can navigate in to reach your Music folder. Once selected click the 'OK' button  to exit this window then in the main Asset window, that you then return to, click  the 'Rescan' button to scan your music folder. After a short while you should be able to go to 'Asset' on your control point app of choice and use it to pick music and tell the NDX to play it.

regards

Geoff

Page 19 in the NDX manual talks about how to set the UPnP function to discover any UPnP servers you have running ( obviously your PC with Asset on it has to powered up so that Asset is running on it, and on the network).

Geoff

Hi Ian,

It is and I tell you I am mightly impressed with Asset!!  It has done a wonderful job of keeping all the albums together and in the right artist and genres.  Best yet.

But I then realised that I had my files converted to such a high resolution so that there was no fluid stream of sound and it stopped and started when the buffer got full.  This happens every 10 seconds or so.

I had all my music files at something like 4096kb/s and 24bit (even though the great majority of them are CD rips).  So I have set the computer off downsizing them to 44kHz and 16bit.

It just feels like I might be losing something!!

I will then get Asset to use this new directory.

Is there a way I could get all the artwork as well from the internet through Asset??  I am converting the files to *.wmp so I suspect that code can be used.

Thanks a lot.

Jon

So I have set the computer off downsizing them to 44kHz and 16bit.

NOOOO !- don't do that. Files you've ripped from CD in Wav should be 16/44.1 at a bit rate of 1411kbps.

Have you downloaded hi res files that are beyond this - from what you say with the 4096kbps this sounds like ita a 24/96 file.

James

Jon

How did you rip your CD's? Did you use Windows Media Player?

What file format did you choose? There are 'lossy' formats such as *WMA which are low quality which you should not use.

If you ripped to *WAV your files should be as James says 16/44.1 at 1411 Kbps. If you have used ripping software that offers higher rate ripping settings and ripped your CD's to something like 24/96 that will create much larger files and they will not be any better than the standard 16/44.1 source you ripped them from.

Downsizing higher bit rate files is only going to make them sound worse.

You can't easily add album art once the CD's are ripped. WMP goes to the internet a lot of the time and uses a link to album art there but once outside WMP that art can be lost.

Best to start again and rip using something like dB PowerAmp from the same software supplier as Asset and as you rip each CD it will pull down and include album art for most CDs from an internet database. If it doesn't you can take the opportunity to add in Album art yourself when the CDs are read into dB PowerAmp.

In dB PowerAmp you can choose which file format you want to rip in. FLAC is a lossless format with smaller files sizes than WAV and is used a lot for quality ripping with good metadata ( album art track and artist tagging) capability. Either will give the best results.

Geoff

Hi,

I ripped all my CDs with Windows Media Player into *.WAV format.  This then presented problems as I did not attach any data from the internet at the time.

So the problem I then had was incomplete albums and some missing art.

I then used Apple iTune converter to put all the files into ALAC format and was really chuffed when Asset recognised all these and transmitted them to the NDX.

But then I realised - when the sound wasn't smooth - that I had made the files too big and that is why there wasn't a stream of sound that was unbroken!!!

So that is when this morning I used a file converter to transfer them 44.1kHz and 16bit but into *.wmp as I noticed that the application TuneUp can apply artwork to *.wmp

It was something I did in case Asset could not do that.

Thankfully I still have my original rips in *.wav (and yes the ripping took me days to do hence my disinclination to do that again).

So avoiding having to rip them all over again, what format do you suggest I rip the *.wav into.  I take it I just keep it as 44.1kHz and 16bit and any high definition tracks I put in a different directory and get Asset to link to that as well.

Many thanks for your help!!

Jon

Not wishing to hijack this thread, but my question is relevant I think.

Is anything lost when converting from one lossless file format to another? In other words, if one were to rip a CD in WAV format and then convert to say FLAC and then to ALAC, would the resulting file sound as good as the original WAV rip?

Peter

Jon

Once ripped it is a pain trying to add Album Art. There are programs known as Tag Editors ( search with Google) which can be used with already ripped files but *WAV files are not typically handled because the file format is not friendly to Tag editing. Converting them to *FLAC won't make it much easier to edit in Album Art though FLAC easily accepts tag editing. If you really want Album Art you will have to use an Album Art editor ( google again) but be prepared for quite a session doing it to many CD's worth of rips.

On the other hand If you are not fussed about missing artwork then just use your WAV files as is. They will produce the best result sound wise.

It is a pain to re-rip but maybe that is still the best long term solution. As I mentioned if you use dB PowerAmp you will get Album art and other tags automatically added when each CD is first read. dB PowerAmp will successfully tag WAV files ( an unusual capability) when it is ripping them as well as FLAC so you can decide in favour of either format at your choice.

How you file individual music is your choice. I use subfolders for different music genres and file sources inside my Music folder and find keeping HiRes downloads in a separate subfolder makes for easy searching especially if you use Assets 'Folders and Filenames' search function.

Peter ( and Jon)

In theory converting between lossless formats should have no audio effect. I just don't like doing all these conversions as you suggested if you can avoid it. For example i-tunes will accept and playback WAV files it just doesn't offer the opportunity to rip them.

regards

Geoff

I use DBpoweramp for ripping and, as others have mentioed, it is a very good program.

I use (or at least am trying to) use JRiver as a UPNP (DLNA) server. JRemote is an iOS application that works with it, but nStream does too and so does a web browser called WebGizmo.

One thing I would say though, it's far more powerful than many other Media Servers and has a learning curve. There is a good basic guide to using it at Computer Audiofile.

Jriver seems to pick .wav, FLAC etc files up, tags them correctly and comes up with the right artwork.  it does it all in the background too. It does have a good ripper in built.

Historically, on the whole, FLAC has been the easiest format to deal with and .wav the most difficult.

Regards

Huw

It depends how good your router's wifi is and how well the PC receives it but the recommended approach is to not use WiFi. Even if only to see if it fixes your problem connect your PC to your router with a network cable. If this stops your 'dropouts' from happening then you know that using WiFi for the PC is the problem.

Geoff

Thanks Geoff.

The other thing that puzzles me is that is there any real difference sound wise between ripping a CD (to the same file format) when using different software? The suggestion seems to be that there is, very much so. Why is this, surely all the software for ripping does exactly the same thing? Or does it? Is it just the software that plays a role here or does the hardware affect things too? If I were to rip a CD to WAV using WMP on my netbook with an external drive would there be any difference in quality if I did the same using a top specification desktop PC?

Sorry for all the questions, but as you can tell I have much to learn about computer based audio!

Peter

Peter

That is the 50,000 $ question. The THEORY is that the rip process transfers a series of data bits (0s & 1s) to a file and that assuming this process is error free ( which you can check with software like dBPowerAmp and EAC), this will be the exact same data regardless of which PC or MAC, which read drive or Hard Disk is involved and which lossless file format is used and they should all sound the same through your DAC. 

In PRACTICE this process is a source of endless debate with people arguing theory vs what others claim their ears hear in the way of differences between rips, hardware and software. Just to add to complexity there are arguments about the make of Network cable and using Cat 5 vs Cat 6 or even Cat 7 cable.

This will rage on for the future I am sure. All you can do is try a few personal experiments if you really want to. If you have more than one read drive and more than one computer available you can try ripping with various hardware combinations and software and file formats hand get tied up in that

OR

You can sit back and enjoy the music that you have ripped already and leave the debate to others.

Geoff

Ian, Geoff and Jon,

Many thanks for the info. I feel as if I'm just on the fringes of computer based audio and gingerly making my way in. It's a whole new world for me and the learning curve is a steep one. I honestly don't think I could be bothered to compare different ripping solutions to any great extent, though I'm not in a position to do so at present anyway due to budgetry constraints. I'll continue to watch and learn. Hopefully when the time comes for me to take the plunge I'll then be much better placed to make an informed choice on equipment and software.

Best,

Peter

Jon

Did you find out if your music drop outs are due to trying to run using WiFi?

Did using a network cable connection instead fix that problem?

Geoff