Asset not recognising new rips

Asset is a UPnP server - n-Stream is "just" a UPnP control point for the Uniti series products so if the UPnP server that the Uniti is looking at hasn't refreshed then the files won't appear - perhaps Asset is set to refresh more often or is monitoring the folders?

Cheers

Phil

Thanks.  I understand what you have said.  I only mentioned the QNAP NAS and nStream to provide context, should it be required for a sensible reply.  I have looked through the Asset configuration setting, and can't see any way of changing how it picks up addtions to the NAS multimedia folder.  I have also done the obvious thing and tried the Asset forums, but can't seem to find anything on this topic there. (Perhaps I am not using the correct search criteria?).

Basically I was hoping that someone here might know of a way to make Asset ALWAYs add new rips without my having to occasionally do a manual rescan/refresh - which appears to be happening more often as time goes on.  I have Twonky set up to do that, and have never needed to force a rescan.  Alas, Twonky just isn't as nice a UPnP server, and will not output FLAC as WAV, or I would just revert to using that.

Hi Dungassin, I recognise what you say, I think Asset is great, but there is room for improvement here. I find if I am streaming whilst ripping, Asset often fails to automatically register the presence of new tracks, but otherwise it usually picks them up, but not always.....  I use network shares to my NASs from Asset, and that might be something to do with it.

Simon

Dungassin,

Go to Asset configuration and open Advanced Settings by selecting the edit button. In the new window on the right is a General Settings box. Scroll down and make sure 'Detect and Catalog New Tracks' is ticked.

When I updated to latest version of Asset I started having the same problem, but above procedure fixed it. Hope this heps.

If not throw it onto the illustrated forum and I'm sure Spoon will have an answer.

Andy

Thanks.  That option is already set as you suggest.  I'll give it another few weeks of addtions, and keep a log of the frequency of the problem, then if it persists, I will post it on Illustrate's forums to see if there is a solution.  Really just a nuisance - not a deal-breaker.

Initially I thought that might be the problem, but it happens even if I rip while doing nothing else (not even web browsing).  I see mentions on Illustrate forums of a new beta version of Asset - perhaps that will eventually turn out to be the cure.

Ok, thanks for the heads up, I'll wonder over there...

I too have occasionally seen Asset be tardy when it comes to collecting new rips.  Am using Release 4.0 (free version), and wondered if the behavior was any better with the paid for version...

If I notice something is missing in n-Stream, I'll just bring up Asset's UPnP Configuration page, and hit the "Detecting Changes" button.  Within a couple of minutes, all newly added rips show right up.

Asset has been rock solid for me -- months and months of perfect uptime.   This minor glitch doesn't really bug me too much, but it would be nice to see it fixed.  Am sure Mr. Spoon will do so at some point.

Hook

Alas, my version of Asset is the "paid for" one, so the answer is "no, it isn't any better".

Perhaps my laptop is slow (Acer, 2 core processor only 18/12 old), because it seem to take more like 15 minutes when I do that.  I'll have to persuade SWMBO to let me swap it for something like a Tranquil PC MMC12 - after all I only really use my laptop for web-browsing, Asset, a few "office tasks", and a very limited amount of video editing (from our HD camcorder).

I have the same problem for several months already and I think it comes out when the track count is getting high.

I asked for the help on both forums and got no reasonable response. Strange -- my music lib is still below 1 TB so I guess I'm not the first one who should start seeing Asset glitches. 

It seems that Asset  does not have a "magic setting" which may help and it's surely lagging on the new tracks (does not see them). My copy is a paid versions -- so it's not a "demo glitch".

I started looking for alternatives ...

I'm up to 1.3TB myself, and likely to go much higher, as I am about to start copying my LPs to FLAC so that I can play them in my study.  If I do them all I'll need another NAS!

Well, I've been in correspondence with someone called "Spoon" on the Asset/Illustrate Forum.  He (she?) is apparently one of the Asset programmers.  I enclose part of his (her?) reply :

"Asset relies upon the file system telling asset that a change has occurred, Asset then triggers a scan. I am thinking when it is a network share, with a certain number of files present, these changes are not being broadcast (either NAS >> Windows, or Windows >> Asset).  "

This is probably true, but, alas, not very helpful in solving this problem, as I can see nothing in the QNAP setup to make it send these changes out to Windows or Asset.  Neither is their comment that if I had a Windows Server NAS then it wouldn't matter how many tracks I had.  So, it looks like like it or lump it for those of us who wish to use Asset as our server.   

"Spoon" is most definitely a he and that is his surname - he is the author of the software. 

This is correct - when a Windows based server has any folders updated then it broadcasts that those folders have been updated so that any devices that access those folders know that they need to update themselves for the new contents.

Linux based servers do not do this.

The alternative would be to have Asset do regular rescans of the folders that it is accessing which would bring forth a large number of complaints from users that Asset is waking people's NASs up from sleep mode etc. The only practical solution to this is to have it so that you simply set Asset to rescan the folder(s).

Your QNAP is not Windows based and so therefore does not have the ability to broadcast that it has been updated. I'm afraid that this is not a limitation of Asset but of the NAS / network / usage case itself. Asset can be installed on a Windows Home Server machine and works very well in that instance.

Cheers

Phil

+1 to that. I have Asset running on my WHS NAS and it is flawless. It has had to keep up with a library that has grown to about 40,000 tracks and has always 'found' added music within 15 minutes.

Sorry that is no consolation but I wanted to defend Asset which works very well for a lot of folk on here.

I understand this, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.  If I had known this when I was buying my QNAP I might well have gone for a WHS NAS instead, but at that stage I was a Newbie to the whole streaming thing, and didn't really appreciate the failings of Twonky.  Needless to say, I don't really want to have to buy a WHS NAS to solve it, so I suppose I'll just have to put up with doing manual rescans as necessary - unless ...

I just wonder whether it is possible to force a Linux based device such as the QNAP to pass on the relevant information to Asset/Windows.  Do Apple users of Linux NAS have similar problems, or do they use Asset "substitutes" which don't run into it?

Been doing a little bit of research and found this page :

http://deinoscloud.wordpress.c...indows-7-nfs-client/

Would doing this cure the problem?  It all looks a little bit daunting.  It talks about enabling NFS on the QNAP admin page, but setting up a new share folder called NFS.  Surely I could just tick my Multimedia folder, as that is where I keep my Audio Files?

Also, it talks about enabling NFS client on Windows 7, but in Control Panel> Progams and Features, there is no box actually marked NFS, just one for net framework (which has a solid selection box, not a tick).  Is this the one they mean?

Yours, very confused ...

John

OK, I've done a little bit more reading.  The net framework bit may not be relevant, but I still can't find anything on my laptop to enable nfs, but I assume it must be working or how else would I be able to access my network drives via My Computer?

Do I need to enable NFS on the QNAP, and if so, how do I go about it to make it tell Asset/Windows about changes to my Multimedia Shared folder?

I just don't want to bugger up something which works, albeit not exactly how I would like it to work.

Hi Dungassin -

PC's access folders on a NAS using a protocol called CIFS.  Mac's use AFS.

NFS is an alternative to both of these protocols.  It was developed way back in the 80's at Sun Microsystems for UNIX servers. 

I do not see how accessing your NAS via NFS (versus one of the other network file system protocols) helps with this Asset update issue.

Wouldn't it just be easier to hit Asset's "Detecting Changes" button after you do some rips?

Hook

Thanks.  That is the conclusion I am reluctantly coming round to.  I think I'm really just exposing my lack of knowledge about networking matters.  After all, the only reason I got into it was to make life easier for SWMBO (failed miserably there due to complete refusal to learn a couple of basic things), and to listen to music by streamer.  These days I only tend to learn something new if I have a need for it. (getting lazy in my old age, I suppose)

For what it's worth, I got rid of my qnap after cutting my finger on it. (Don't ask).

Synology works much better. Got the 212+ version and I'm happy with it. Set it up a few weeks ago and everything is kosher.

Seems to work perfectly with my squeezebox touch. Should work great with the naim streamer too...

Switching from one Linux-based NAS to another will do nothing to address this specific issue.

Did you read the thread before posting? 

Hook

Where's the fun in that ? And have to live up to my moniker, no?

But seriously, I liked qnap better than synology initially, but found it a major pain to deal with. Twonky sucks big time too, and qnap couldn't be bothered to come up with something better. Asset does work great on a PC.

Had no issues with the synology Nas. My workflow is slightly different though: I rip cds on my PC. I then use microsoft synctoy to sync folders between my PC and the Nas. I use folder navigation to get to the music. The system does pick it up eventually: I think I've got it to rescan hourly, when it's turned on, or something like that. I turned the server on about a month or so ago, and have no issues with it, and haven't bothered looking into it or tinkering with it.

In fact, I don't even know whether I've got the squeezebox server or the Synology Upnp server running: it just works!

I have one thing that I don't like about the Synology NASs that I've tried and that is that you can share any point in the directory tree as a folder on the network which can lead to some very messy structures being created by users who aren't quite sure of what they're doing - other than that they've been OK from our perspective of being used as storage for our servers.

As far as the UPnP server apps on NASs are concerned then I have to say that we've never been truly happy with the installs of Twonky on the NASs that we've tried - they've all seemed to have operational foibles somewhere along the way. That's not to say that others are perfect by any means either - that's one of the reasons we implemented our own and made sure that it worked with out UPnP clients.

Phil 

I prefer Asset to Twonky because of

1.  Better Indexing, making it easier and quicker to find tracks/albums/artists etc

2. Will search on Composer

3. Displays higher res album art than my version of Twonky (with NDX/nStream) does.  I know that someone posted how to make Twonky/nStream display the high res art, but it didn't work when I tried it - mainly because I couldn't find one of the indicated changes in the QNAP setup (perhaps it varies between different NAS?)