56 replies to this topic

[Daniel]

i was playing some music through my kindle the other day.. pretty awesome

[splinky]

oh no! someone bought the two $150 sonos off ebay before the auction ended.
it looks like i'd still need the bridge to have full networking. will have to hunt down a discount because now i really want the sonos

Is your router near your stereo? If so, you don't need the bridge, just run an Ethernet cable from the zone player to the router.

sl, do you store all your music files on a time capsule or external hard drive?

I have all of my music on an external drive set up to be network accessible. That way I don't have to have a computer on when I play music from my library.

i guess maybe i'll put mine on time capsule and save myself buying the ipod dock. i see that target will give you the the bridge for free with the purchase of a sonos 3 or 5 unit.

[rancho_gordo]

I was just listening to my Cowan mp3 player with a simple line out into an AUX hole, as Morita describes, and it's pretty great. I wonder how much of the problem is the mp3 file itself. It's not a .wave file certainly and it's limited. Does the protection crap add to that? And I do remember listening to an ipod and then a cowan and thinking the audio fidelity was much better on the cowan.
My new auto stereo has a USB input so you need no player at all, just a flash drive. The quality is all over the map, I suspect based on how well the mp3 file was made. Mine are all pretty good (using Exact Audio Copy) but none are CD quality, mostly notable at top volume.
re itunes, why do you need it? Can't you just move files around from player to hard drive? I did it once a few computers ago and it seemed to want to take over everything. Amazon is comparable and cheaper, plus there's emusic, for purchasing.

[splinky]

went with the sonos and got a nice discount, so i'm happy. woo hoo! now i just have to get my music files onto my time machine and i'm in business.

[mongo_jones]

it's not generally a good idea to have your backup drive and the drive that contains your music (or any other files you access on a regular basis) be the same drive.

[splinky]

so far, i am in lurve with sonos! stil having trouble bringing my files over into the library but that's a problem on my end. what did import sounds wonderful and i love having all the new radio stations and services. woo hoo!

[Nathan]

or just not use iTunes. what a crappy piece of software.

what's wrong with it?
what's better?

every other music software on the planet is better. Zune is multitudes better (the software not the defunct hardware).

Here's the problem with iTunes...it's super-restricted in what you can do. For example, before it was possible to make iPhone backups to the cloud it was impossible to change the destination drive for iPhone backups. The C drive was the only option. I don't see software that restricts you like that. you can't edit MP3 tags. there's no automatic de-duping. If you switch music folders it copies everything. it only plays one or two formats. etc. etc. etc.

it's also a system-resources hog.

[SLBunge]

or just not use iTunes. what a crappy piece of software.

what's wrong with it?
what's better?

every other music software on the planet is better. Zune is multitudes better (the software not the defunct hardware).

Here's the problem with iTunes...it's super-restricted in what you can do. For example, before it was possible to make iPhone backups to the cloud it was impossible to change the destination drive for iPhone backups. The C drive was the only option. I don't see software that restricts you like that. you can't edit MP3 tags. there's no automatic de-duping. If you switch music folders it copies everything. it only plays one or two formats. etc. etc. etc.

it's also a system-resources hog.

It was never really designed as an application for a collection of computers. So it really doesn't do very well when you have a common music folder and multiple laptops.

It can't manage a continuous queue, rather you have to create a playlist to get started on anything.

No support for Pandora or other streaming services. You have to open a separate app.

Playlists cannot include music from a music service.

[Anthony Bonner]

or just not use iTunes. what a crappy piece of software.

what's wrong with it?
what's better?

every other music software on the planet is better. Zune is multitudes better (the software not the defunct hardware).

Here's the problem with iTunes...it's super-restricted in what you can do. For example, before it was possible to make iPhone backups to the cloud it was impossible to change the destination drive for iPhone backups. The C drive was the only option. I don't see software that restricts you like that. you can't edit MP3 tags. there's no automatic de-duping. If you switch music folders it copies everything. it only plays one or two formats. etc. etc. etc.

it's also a system-resources hog.

It was never really designed as an application for a collection of computers. So it really doesn't do very well when you have a common music folder and multiple laptops.

It can't manage a continuous queue, rather you have to create a playlist to get started on anything.

No support for Pandora or other streaming services. You have to open a separate app.

Playlists cannot include music from a music service.

if I had to pick one thing that drive me craziest about both iTunes and iPhoto its their stupid file architecture. It makes using them + a third party app a PIA.

My wife had a ton of pictures saved in iPhoto on her laptop. When I moved them on to our network drive it was a needless hassle, and they still don't play well with the rest of our pictures. I can't even get photoshop to find them. Instead I have to open iPhoto and click on the picture. Its dumb and its not consumer friendly for anyone with a clue.

[Nathan]

or just not use iTunes. what a crappy piece of software.

what's wrong with it?
what's better?

every other music software on the planet is better. Zune is multitudes better (the software not the defunct hardware).

Here's the problem with iTunes...it's super-restricted in what you can do. For example, before it was possible to make iPhone backups to the cloud it was impossible to change the destination drive for iPhone backups. The C drive was the only option. I don't see software that restricts you like that. you can't edit MP3 tags. there's no automatic de-duping. If you switch music folders it copies everything. it only plays one or two formats. etc. etc. etc.

it's also a system-resources hog.

It was never really designed as an application for a collection of computers. So it really doesn't do very well when you have a common music folder and multiple laptops.

It can't manage a continuous queue, rather you have to create a playlist to get started on anything.

No support for Pandora or other streaming services. You have to open a separate app.

Playlists cannot include music from a music service.

if I had to pick one thing that drive me craziest about both iTunes and iPhoto its their stupid file architecture. It makes using them + a third party app a PIA.

My wife had a ton of pictures saved in iPhoto on her laptop. When I moved them on to our network drive it was a needless hassle, and they still don't play well with the rest of our pictures. I can't even get photoshop to find them. Instead I have to open iPhoto and click on the picture. Its dumb and its not consumer friendly for anyone with a clue.

yup. in a nutshell, they are designed for 1. someone who only uses Apple products exclusively to manage music and software; 2. doesn't use multiple computers/drives; 3. any sort of "power user"...

and I love my iPhone and the most recent Apple computer hardware is much better (the 27 inch iMac is a reasonable deal (that screen would cost you close to $1K by itself from anyone else)) and the Macbooks/pros aren't blatantly inferior in their hardware specs the way they used to be.

[Stone]

Here's the problem with iTunes...it's super-restricted in what you can do. For example, before it was possible to make iPhone backups to the cloud it was impossible to change the destination drive for iPhone backups. The C drive was the only option. I don't see software that restricts you like that. you can't edit MP3 tags. there's no automatic de-duping. If you switch music folders it copies everything. it only plays one or two formats. etc. etc. etc.

it's also a system-resources hog.

It was never really designed as an application for a collection of computers. So it really doesn't do very well when you have a common music folder and multiple laptops.

It can't manage a continuous queue, rather you have to create a playlist to get started on anything.

No support for Pandora or other streaming services. You have to open a separate app.

Playlists cannot include music from a music service.

I guess I'm o.k., because I don't know what most of that means.

[SLBunge]

I guess I'm o.k., because I don't know what most of that means.

You're OK.