'Audiophile' server into naim amps

I am guessing foobar works differently

Yes, I would guess so and it must be convoluted.

Playlist=Library.... for me.

One and the same. I have used both extensively. Not a huge difference generally speaking. There are many subtle differences and major UI differences. And of course there is no "store" in Foobar.

Can you simply play everything straight from the library without creating a playlist? In Itunes, can I listen to music without creating a playlist?

Playlist is always optional in iTunes. I create only "smart" playlists for occasional use.

quote:

Originally posted by pcstockton:

quote:

Originally posted by ferenc:
Generally I use playlists, generated on the MacPro, which is the server for the MacMini.

Aha. Got it.

....

Question... why not simply go straight from the MacPro to the Konnect? Is it an issue of cable length, routing the cables etc??? The Mini seems superfluous.

thanks
-p

The route from one room to other and the location of the MacPro makes it difficult if not impossible. Plus there is a danger of the ground loop too.

PCS have you ever used the iphone (for instance) to control itunes?

Of course you can play music without a playlist, just pick artist to pick music by artist or go straight to album if you know what you are looking for.

There is no need for a playlist at all unless, well you want something to play in a specific order.

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
PCS have you ever used the iphone (for instance) to control itunes?

Of course you can play music without a playlist, just pick artist to pick music by artist or go straight to album if you know what you are looking for.

Sweet! Yes I have used Remote app for iPhone with iTunes, as well as Songbird, VLC, XBMC, and J-river (not free). Ive tried everything I can find. I still preferred Foobar by a long shot. It just works well for me.

So technically, there is no reason why you would absolutely require anything other than a iPhone/pod to control everything in iTunes?

Are there some activities that are difficult or impossible with iPhone only? What do you do on the MacPro that you dont with the iPod?

thansk again for the edjumacation everyone.

-p

The problems I have ran into are simply ones of wished for extended functionality, like for instance being able to turn on the visualiser would be cool from the ipod, but not possible.

Otherwise it all seems to be there. I am still curious as to why your library ground to a halt.

I have a small library compared to yours but its still 12,000 tunes and its lightning. In the latest remote app and itunes softwares connection to the library takes about 3 seconds. Mac to mac itunes sharing is much improved as well, I can share the main library which is on my mini (linked to a drobo NAS) from an imac, it will pick up that share in about 4 seconds.

Garyi,

I have a nicely beefed up PC. plenty of proc power and 2GB of RAM.

I am not sure if it is using iTunes on a PC, or if its a performance issue. But at about 30K to 40K songs, i bogs down entirely. Especially when it wants to "determine gapless playback" every time I open iTunes.
Ill convert things again and go to the Macbook and see if that changes anything.

Back in the day i used Window Media Player. At about 20,000 songs it was completely unusable. so I moved to iTunes. Then the same happened at about 35,000 with iTunes. (plus there is the whole album art issue.... why oh why wont iTunes look in the folder the files are in and recognize .jpgs there? i hate that...)

The slowness and album art issue made me search out for a better option and found Foobar. No limitations whatsoever.

The art isn't a huge issue but enough to be a deal breaker. If I import my library into iTunes, I get art back on less than 1/3 of my music.

One culprit is numerous very rare/obscure albums that it just wont find art for. The other is that I have my music tagged with specific information that wont allow iTunes to find art for it. For example:

Led Zepplin II...

My tag in "album" is"

Led Zeppelin II {Atlantic - Barry Diament Master}

This extra info in the brackets is enough for it not to recognize the album.

About half of my albums are tagged this way if here is anything "special" about it. Usually at least the record label is noted here.

Perhaps i shouldn't have tagged them this way. But if I didn't how would I differentiate between my four versions of Steely Dan's Aja, for example.

If i could find a way around the album art dealio, i would really consider using iTunes again. If it supported FLAC as well I wouldn't even think about Foobar again.

Can you help on the art front?

thanks,
-p

Yea the tagging would cause an issue with music searching, but can foobar not implant the image into the first tune of the music you have now (As I understand it itunes will work out that the image in the first tune is for the whole album)

Another thing, and I am not nit picking, but do you really need three versions of the same album, would not the 'best' of the three suffice. God only knows I got upto about 16,000 tunes then I realised that most of it was never and probably would never be played so why chug up harddrives with it?

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Yea the tagging would cause an issue with music searching, but can foobar not implant the image into the first tune of the music you have now (As I understand it itunes will work out that the image in the first tune is for the whole album)

Another thing, and I am not nit picking, but do you really need three versions of the same album, would not the 'best' of the three suffice. God only knows I got upto about 16,000 tunes then I realised that most of it was never and probably would never be played so why chug up harddrives with it?

Do you mean imbedding the art? Not going to do that. Some of the scans are pretty big.

And re: multiple versions of the same album? I love it! Its why I bought them in the first place. I have all Zappa albums sourced from vinyl as well as CD. I have mono versions and stereo versions of peeps like Dylan and Beatles.
Often there is no definitive "best".

I also have three translations of Crime and Punishment and as well as almost every other Dostoevsky novel. They are all quite different and each have their own particular character. MFSL, DCC, remaster, vinyl versions of certain albums are no different.

Why I am defending myself on this though, I have no idea. Why do you care?

just to add, if we had decent size SSHDD then having them in the same room, rack or casework wouldnt be an issue. this has got to be th way to go... the only moving parts remaining would be the voicecoils in the speakers!

quote:

Originally posted by ferenc:
This is a simplifed diagram of what I have. Sorry for the quality of the drawing, but I had only few minutes to make it. I hope soon I can show Naim DAC too I do not have HDX at the moment, hope to have it again soon. I liked it very much when I had.

ferenc hope you don't mind me asking a few questions ...

How do you access the iTunes library on your MacMini and MacBook Pro (clients if I can use the term) computers? Do you use the "shared library" function of iTunes, or do you use AFP file sharing back to the Mac Pro?

Also, if using file sharing back to the Mac Pro, does each client have it's own iTunes Library files (not music files obviously) or do they all access a single iTunes Library file located on the Mac Pro? How do you manage importing new CDs and other music?

Thanks
Eloise

My new iPhone remote for Foobar.

Simply awesome.

great album there PC. sophie barkers an old friend of mine, from my clubbing days.

apples remote app looks exactly the same, now all you need to do is ditch foobar and switch over to itunes 8.2.1

Just got back from a day at Naim HQ and was listening to this album on the way home. A great album, indeed, and perfect for dealing with the M3/M25 at the end of a long day.

So, r-tee, you know Sophie Barker do you....?

yes i've known her for years. i know her sister better.... do you know sophie too?

quote:

Originally posted by r-tee:
great album there PC. sophie barkers an old friend of mine, from my clubbing days.

apples remote app looks exactly the same, now all you need to do is ditch foobar and switch over to itunes 8.2.1

Rtee... no way on iTunes. I tried three different times since I've moved on to Foobar. It is not my bag. There is no reason to, unless I go Mac. And even then I would use Songbird.

And these aren't my personal screenshots. Although my other Foobar thread does have my screenshots.