Back To PC For Streaming Music

I would keep the Nas for storage and put in place a UPNP server using Asset, utilising the files on the Nas.

I have this arrangement, PC with files on the Nas.  I picked up an end of line barebones Dell Zino PC.  These are very small and quiet. Mine is an Atom based model with 2 gig of ram. I use Windows Server 2012 foundation edition, but any version of Windows would suffice.

A Nettop PC would be another good bet, these are small, quite and cheap.

Richard

Get yourself a better server solution perhaps such as the excellent little proliants, many times more powerful than off the shelf NASes and rock solid. (and cheap)

I used a Netgear ReadyNas Duo for many years without any issues.  Perhaps it would be worth describing the issues and see whether anyone else on this forum could provide some advice.

It would seem a shame to start using a PC when you already have a NAS. If there are constant glitches, it sounds as though there are problems with the setup. Once they are resolved, it should just keep trundling along without problems. 

I agree with David I have and continue to use a couple of Netgear NAS's over the years one of which is  the Duo and have never had an issue. My experience has been one of rock solid  reliability and performance. ( I do run mine on a UPS)

So it might be worth explaining what the difficulties are as it might be nothing to do with the NAS and therefore resurface later on.

Simon

I agree with Simon and David.  I've used a ReadyNAS Duo V2 running Minimserver for just under a year and have had no issues whatsoever with the NAS.  I would guess the problems lie elsewhere.

Yes–very good platform option, with dBpoweramp & Asset (among other sowftware / OS options).  The older SPARC-based ReadyNAS were adequate for file-sharing purposes but fall tremendously short once you throw transcoding into the mix–to say nothing about some of the speed issues with file copying.

Thanks for all replies / advice.

Thing is with the RND is it does work great most of the time but it does seem to crash quite a bit too.

For example some of my albums go missing or won't play even though I know I've ripped them. Also,I don't   like  the Logitech server. The NAS won't stream WAV FILES. I have to do a rescan every time I've ripped some music on RAIDAR & on the Logitech Server. I've checked all connections and there are no problems there so I've grown tired of faffing about. 

I could just use Asset with the RND but that means having both the NAS and my PC switched on all the time which defeats the object of having a standalone music streamer. 

I do need a replacement PC mainly due to demise of Windows XP and that's the main reason I'm thinking of going back to the PC option. If I go PC then I could use asset which was was always very stable when used previously.

As always I'm trying to learn all the time but my very basic knowledge of streaming does sometimes find me out. 

One final point on my PC it seems that I have two RND's instead of just one and I don't know why ? 

I started off with a NAS, a Seagate, which worked quite well if a little clunkily (is that a real word?) for a year and which then gradually became a pain the in the bum.  I'm pretty computer literate but I have lost count of how many hours I spend trying to get its data-base to compile accurately and in the end I gave up.  I now use Asset on my existing PC and it works brilliantly; its flexible, lets me transcode to wav on the fly, and best of all, its invisible once the PC is switched on and logged in.  I did consider getting one of the dedicated servers you see in use on here but I really don't know what I would get from it other than not having to turn my PC on.  I still use the NAS to back up all my files for which it works just fine.

If you have a duo v2 you can run MinimServer and transcode from FLAC to wav on the fly. I've had no problems with performance or reliability . Check out the Minimserver websiteweb site - the developer is extremely responsive and helpful.

There are certainly differences between the v1 and v2 Duos.  The v1 can only run its own in-built DNLA-based software and that has limitations. The v2 seems to be more powerful and flexible and can run other upnp software such as Minim.

My RND is a V1 ..