Homegrown motorhome media servers? (2 Viewers)

kevenh

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didnt realise that is only a demo download did 5 cds and now want payment
EAC still says it’s free for none commercial use:
This program is free for private use! This means, using the program will cost you no money, as long as you only use it for non-commercial purposes. No registration is necessary in this case, just use the version from the download page, it is already the full version.
not sure where you got your copy from but check things out before spending money.

dbPowerAmp is paid for software.
 
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7 years campers before that
i got it from the link you posted earlier woil uninstal and re download tommorow

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Gellyneck

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Thank you for that ive got that working,next question is ive ripped two cds and saved them to the same place but it has alphabetised them so now they appear as a list intermingled. I had already transfered the first to my stick so now i have one cd on stick and the second intermingled with the first on computer is there a way to keep them in their normal playlists ie one cd at a time
kevenh has linked you to the detailed configuration information(y).

A simple way to differentiate each CD album is to place it in an individual folder within the USB stick, eg USB stick\ABBA\Greatest Hits\ then the tracks.
The simplest configuration is probably Track No then Title and you set this up as follows -
  • in the toolbar at the top click "EAC"
  • in the drop down box click "EAC Options"
  • select "Filename" tab
  • enter %tracknr2% %title% in the "Naming scheme" box
To get the metadata information you click the down arrow head to the right of "Get CD information from Metadata Provider" (the blue CD and orange plus sign) and select "Cue Tools ........" from the list.
This will pull in the track title, album cover, etc data to EAC.
1582121342582.png

Then you follow previous instructions saving to the individual folder.
If you want all your CD tracks in one big list change the configuration to %albumartist% %albumtitle% %cdnumber% %tracknr2% %title%

Again, if you need further give us a shout.
 
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kevenh has linked you to the detailed configuration information(y).

A simple way to differentiate each CD album is to place it in an individual folder within the USB stick, eg USB stick\ABBA\Greatest Hits\ then the tracks.
The simplest configuration is probably Track No then Title and you set this up as follows -
  • in the toolbar at the top click "EAC"
  • in the drop down box click "EAC Options"
  • select "Filename" tab
  • enter %tracknr2% %title% in the "Naming scheme" box
To get the metadata information you click the down arrow head to the right of "Get CD information from Metadata Provider" (the blue CD and orange plus sign) and select "Cue Tools ........" from the list.
This will pull in the track title, album cover, etc data to EAC.
View attachment 363634
Then you follow previous instructions saving to the individual folder.
If you want all your CD tracks in one big list change the configuration to %albumartist% %albumtitle% %cdnumber% %tracknr2% %title%

Again, if you need further give us a shout.
I am still confused as to why you do not use the Media Player that comes free with Windows 10. The moment I put a music CD into my USB CD reader it offers to rip the contents onto my computer. I have never failed to be able to do so with any CD I have ever bought, and I have got some old ones. It saves them as an album and knows the name of the album, the artist and every song. Once on the PC it can Sync all my music content to other devices attached to the PC, including my phone if I bluetooth it to the PC.
 

Gellyneck

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I am still confused as to why you do not use the Media Player that comes free with Windows 10. The moment I put a music CD into my USB CD reader it offers to rip the contents onto my computer. I have never failed to be able to do so with any CD I have ever bought, and I have got some old ones. It saves them as an album and knows the name of the album, the artist and every song. Once on the PC it can Sync all my music content to other devices attached to the PC, including my phone if I bluetooth it to the PC.
I don't want WMP scanning and collecting all my media upon installation.
EAC offers superior output quality options.
EAC provides a report on any errors on the rip.
etc.

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kevenh

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I am still confused as to why you do not use the Media Player that comes free with Windows 10. The moment I put a music CD into my USB CD reader it offers to rip the contents onto my computer. I have never failed to be able to do so with any CD I have ever bought, and I have got some old ones. It saves them as an album and knows the name of the album, the artist and every song. Once on the PC it can Sync all my music content to other devices attached to the PC, including my phone if I bluetooth it to the PC.
WMP is a valid easy choice.
For me:
Until Windows 10 you couldn't get a FLAC version.
WMP doesn't appear to have a v0 rip option for MP3 - but there is a 320k CBR option.
The app I use can correct for damaged CD - but that slows down the rip considerably.
And a Media Server (NAS) iTunes & Google Play is where I use my music!

And different personal choice.
EDIT: And there's the WMP going beyond it's remit as mentioned by Gellyneck
 

kevenh

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:eek:
Looking at WMP on my work laptop I can see it's been off lurking and found it's own music from somewhere.
What it found it may've been present on the PC at one point but it isn't now & I hadn't meant for Win10 to track it.

Finding a CD to music file workflow that works for you is a personal choice.
I can't easily help with music playback queries without basing my help & advice on what I know works for me ;)
Using iTunes to manage what's on iPads & iPhones isn't for everyone but is OK for me when away from home and needing some tunes.
Those devices aren't what I use when I sit and listen to music at home. There I use FLAC from the NAS direct to hifi separates :) (or via SONOS Connect instead of the NAS)
 
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I responded to the original post some time ago and it piqued my interest at the time. Although, I was not planning to set up a music server in the motorhome it kept on nagging at me! In the end I decided to implement what I suggested.

I used a raspberry pi as the basis for the server and loaded Max2Play. I created both a server and a player on the the pi. The pi has wireless lan and bluetooth so I can connect to bluetooth speakers and control from my phone (or laptop) via the Mifi lan. There is a plugin to run a wireless access point on the pi. I haven't managed to get it working as a standalone server yet but it would mean that I wouldn't even need to run the Mifi.
PiServerPlayer.jpg

The music is stored on the mSATA SSD in the silver case. The SSD was hanging around from an previous laptop and has room for 500GB of music.

I am using Squeezer as the client to control the player (via the server).
NowPlaying.jpg

The pi and the SSD have pretty low power requirements. In normal use with bluetooth, wireless lan and the SSD, the current is typically measuring 0.5A at 5.17V, i.e. just over 2.5W. The server/player can run off usb in the van, from a power pack or the bluetooth speaker battery. It has run for many hours in test on just the power pack.
For those that are interested, the pi is running at less than 0.1% cpu playing flac files.

As the server is based on the Logitech squeezebox it can access radio, Spotify, Tidal, etc as well.

I will add a small touch screen to see if it is a worthy addition but it is not necessary and I will need to see how much power it demands.

I wasn't sure whether it was worth creating a music server. I have concluded that it is a better solution than playing via the radio/sat nav. The interface is much nicer and it would appear to be more flexible and (hopefully low power). It cost virtually nothing as I already had the SSD and pi. It was quick to set up (less than an hour) although I have since spent quite a bit of time fiddling with it to optimise operation. I haven't had a chance to use it in the motorhome yet although it may be an excuse to go and sit in the van!

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May 14, 2019
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For many people, WMP may be exactly what they want but the OP asked about Homegrown Media Servers. WMP is just a player. It does the job of a player with little requirement for intervention. However, it is not a media server. There are many options for music/media servers and I was just posting about one possibility. In my original post, I wasn't sure that it was worth the effort to create such a server because it is often possible to use the ICE. I have changed my mind and concluded that it is possible to build a small, cheap, lightweight, portable, low power server in a very short period of time.
The server I described above can be used standalone or could serve multiple players. Those players could run individually or synced together in any combination. It can play internet radio and access music services such as Spotify, Tidal, last.fm, etc.

I have subsequently added a small touch display and set it to operate a wifi access point. That means I can control it via its own display or connect to its WAP (from a phone, table or PC) and control with Squeezer or another client of choice.

WithDisplay.jpg
 

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