Options for operating the NDX?
Posted by: meissmar on 10 March 2011
I am wondering if there are other possibilities than the little screen of the NDX and the n-stream software to operate the NDX? I have no apple products and am not very happy to have buy an ipod or ipad just for this application.
I thought that when the NDX was on tour in Germany one of the lads from musicline told
me that you can operate it from any unit with wifi and a browser. Am I missing something? Has this feature been removed?
When I open my browser and go to the NDX IP address, I only get a handful of setting parameters, but no way to operate the NDX. Or do I have to install something extra to be able to operate it from my browser?
Would be glad for more info.
Regards,
Mario
What many people probably forget is that, at its core level, software is framed by a set of decisions as to how to implement a necessary function. Sometimes, the factors that inform those decisions change–but if the core assumptions as regards the overall approach are sensibly determined at the outset, it is easy to re-cast a software application onto a new platform / OS (given the appropriate capacity).
Without getting into proprietary information, it is safe to say that Naim does a pretty good job of battle-testing their software products within the limited scope of the things they are designed to do–contrast this with other manufacturers who abrogate this to third parties while failing to provide meaningful end-to-end product support. At some point, one must limit the scope of support to third-party products which work well–at the moment, that is iOS 4.x (with Android 3.x not far behind).
I'd even chime in for WebOS when it's ready–more so than Android, I see that as being a serious contender REAL soon.
As for Apple–as they can defend themselves–they are really the stooges of the MPAA and RIAA as regards copy protection, and much of the "walled garden" complaints I see here fail to remember the notion that none of this would be required if an unbreakable FairPlay DRM wan't insisted upon in the first place. (In fact, I am old enough to remember when iTunes supported third-party, insecure portable MP3 players from Creative, Diamond and others!)
IMHO Naim won’t be able to ignore Android smart phones and tablets. For many an iPad to operate a UPnP controller and do a bit of surfing is overkill value-wise. iPads are well designed but frankly whether iOS or Android you are currently pushed to do anything half sophisticated with either before reaching for a computer. I expect the tablet market will become more price sensitive than smart phones which is a market that still carries street-cred/kudos. With Android smartphones now outselling iPhones in some markets (when you aggregate HTC, Samsung, Sony etc) the Android market is not one you can ignore. Interestingly Logitech have just announced their official controller for Android smart phones and tablets (check out engadget etc).
It would be odd to see Naim not thinking about Android even if it is not a gimme to produce an Android equivalent app having produced an iOS app (Objective-C vs Java etc).
So, over to Naim, I’d rather put the £s saved by using an Android device into an NDX or the like: much, much better use of the money. I currently use SqueezeBox and Supernait and have my sights on a quality network player to complement Linn LP front end and old decent CD player hooked into the Supernait DAC.
I love Apple computers BTW (we have 3 in the household), I just hate iTunes with a vengeance – including use of Apps – through bitter experience with an iPod Touch. That leaves me stone cold in thinking I’d ever need to return to that world with an overpriced iPad. It even sets me thinking about stalling the whole NDX idea if Naim want to lock me into that world to gain a fully fledged controller.
This brings me back to Pev’s comment “Naim would be ill advised to commit too strongly to any proprietary platform. If the only way to get an optimal interface for a Naim product is to buy an Apple product that puts Naim in a very vulnerable position.”
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IMHO Naim won’t be able to ignore Android smart phones and tablets. For many an iPad to operate a UPnP controller and do a bit of surfing is overkill value-wise. iPads are well designed but frankly whether iOS or Android you are currently pushed to do anything half sophisticated with either before reaching for a computer. I expect the tablet market will become more price sensitive than smart phones which is a market that still carries street-cred/kudos. With Android smartphones now outselling iPhones in some markets (when you aggregate HTC, Samsung, Sony etc) the Android market is not one you can ignore. Interestingly Logitech have just announced theirvv official controller for Android smart phones and tablets (check out engadget etc).
It would be odd to see Naim not thinking about Android even if it is not a gimme to produce an Android equivalent app having produced an iOS app (Objective-C vs Java etc).
So, over to Naim, I’d rather put the £s saved by using an Android device into an NDX or the like: much, much better use of the money. I currently use SqueezeBox and Supernait and have my sights on a quality network player to complement Linn LP front end and old decent CD player hooked into the Supernait DAC.
I love Apple computers BTW (we have 3 in the household), I just hate iTunes with a vengeance – including use of Apps –
through bitter experience with an iPod Touch. That leaves me stone cold in thinking I’d ever need to return to that world with an overpriced iPad. It even sets me thinking about stalling the whole NDX idea if Naim want to lock me into that world to gain a fully fledged controller.
This brings me back to Pev’s comment “Naim would be ill advised to commit too strongly to any proprietary platform. If the only way to get an optimal interface for a Naim product is to buy an Apple product that puts Naim in a very vulnerable position.”
I'm still trying to get my head around the last sentence. Naim products on probably the best OS platform on the planet .... Hmmm tricky .... Much safer to be using Android ... Or perhaps Windows 7 for phones ...
After all who wants their software to function properly. :-)
Tog
IMHO Naim won’t be able to ignore Android smart phones and tablets. For many an iPad to operate a UPnP controller and do a bit of surfing is overkill value-wise. iPads are well designed but frankly whether iOS or Android you are currently pushed to do anything half sophisticated with either before reaching for a computer. I expect the tablet market will become more price sensitive than smart phones which is a market that still carries street-cred/kudos. With Android smartphones now outselling iPhones in some markets (when you aggregate HTC, Samsung, Sony etc) the Android market is not one you can ignore. Interestingly Logitech have just announced their official controller for Android smart phones and tablets (check out engadget etc).
It would be odd to see Naim not thinking about Android even if it is not a gimme to produce an Android equivalent app having produced an iOS app (Objective-C vs Java etc).
So, over to Naim, I’d rather put the £s saved by using an Android device into an NDX or the like: much, much better use of the money. I currently use SqueezeBox and Supernait and have my sights on a quality network player to complement Linn LP front end and old decent CD player hooked into the Supernait DAC.
I love Apple computers BTW (we have 3 in the household), I just hate iTunes with a vengeance – including use of Apps – through bitter experience with an iPod Touch. That leaves me stone cold in thinking I’d ever need to return to that world with an overpriced iPad. It even sets me thinking about stalling the whole NDX idea if Naim want to lock me into that world to gain a fully fledged controller.
This brings me back to Pev’s comment “Naim would be ill advised to commit too strongly to any proprietary platform. If the only way to get an optimal interface for a Naim product is to buy an Apple product that puts Naim in a very vulnerable position.”
No one said that Naim was ignoring Android devices–but it would serve you well to look at other developers who have committed to Android 3.0 support.
Some phones will be unable to run Android 3.x due to system hardware requirements. This means that these developers will likely ignore support for 2.x devices–whereas iOS developers will continue to develop for both iPhone and iPad form factors.
So who's ignoring what?
I walked around a Barnes & Noble bookstore here in the States the other night, looking to purchase a Nook Color for Android tinkering–but the concern lies with the realization that, because there is no standardization of hardware specifications for Android devices, it might be likely that the (hacked) Nook Color would ultimately be under-powered for the applications I might need.
Quote:
"I'm still trying to get my head around the last sentence. Naim products on probably the best OS platform on the planet .... Hmmm tricky .... Much safer to be using Android ... Or perhaps Windows 7 for phones ..."
My point was simply that it would be unwise for Naim (or any sensible company) to have their products' appeal dependent on the actions of just one other company, especially if the other company is much bigger and therefore not mutually dependent on Naim. Surely this is just common sense. Apple may the best OS platform but if it was the only OS option then that would be a worrying situation. There would be nothing to stop Apple either removing support for that OS or introducing punitive or restrictive licensing conditions. I'm not saying they would but I wouldn't bet my business on them not doing it...
Of course Naim should support Apple devices, but not to the extent of denying me a choice. There are cheaper options that would be adequate as a remote control. Basically the first paragraph of Groovy's post sums up my view.