Squeezebox Touch-tips, tricks & tweaks

heiney9

dB Power amp creates the sub directories based on the user settings.

Mine is simple

Music Server/ Artist / Album Name / Track name.

I then will manually edit anyone one of those fields in MM if I need to add add'l info like "remaster" or "MFSL" or "CD 1" (for a boxset that names everything the same) whatever other identifier I find helpful. Obviously this isn't done to more than a handful of rips. If a cd has bonus live material, I may manually add "live" at the end of the track, etc. Just my own customizing which I try to be consistent with. I have 3 versions of Fleetwood Mac Rumors, MFSL, original and remaster so I label them accordingly.

Keiko has sent me some vinyl 24/96 vinyl drops, so I manually edit some of the fields there as well something like "24/96V" after the Album Name. If you don't do it at the time you add it to your server, you'll forget and possibly not know what is what.

That's why I said in the very beginning the tagging is VERY IMPORTANT if for no other reason than to keep things consistent.

H9

H9

steveinaz

My tags are updated, I think it is the way I have EAC setup that is creating the sub directories "artist - year - album". The Touch is reading the sub directory name verbatim.

heiney9

Steve you can leave all the info in the ID3 tag because it will show elsewhere as you scroll through the SBQ menu with the remote. Don't delete the year from the ID3 tag, simply do as Inspired suggested.

If you go the "more info" screen on the Touch it has the year (if it's included in the rip). You just don't want it to show in your initial "chain" of information.

H9

mdaudioguy

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Squeeze Commander (Android app) converts flac to mp3 when downloading from my library to my phone - a cool and convenient feature. Not sure if iPeng supports anything similar.

heiney9 wrote: »

Is that wirelessly? Bluetooth enabled? What Android phone do you have? I know the new Droid Bionic lets you dl stuff via bluetooth from your computer.

Yes, wirelessly. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, but it should work with any Android. When viewing a song, album, or artist, you can press and hold to get a menu and select download. It converts on the fly - although I'm not certain where the conversion takes place - I think it's on the SB server.

You first have to "Enable Transcoding" in the Squeeze Commander app settings, and set the source (FLAC) and target formats (mp3). You can also choose bitrate and quality. It says that it requires SBS 7.6+. It's an easy way to squeeze more tunes from your home library onto your phone. Although, with a 32GB memory card, and the ability to play FLAC files on my phone, this is becoming less of an issue.

mdaudioguy

nspindel wrote: »

Go into your Squezebox Server, then to the Advanced tab, and then set the drop down to File Types. Look for FLAC under File Format, and then you should see a setting for FLAC, MP3, and PCM. Set FLAC to disabled, MP3 to disabled, and PCM to flac. This will force the flac decompression to happen on your server, and ensure that you're not streaming any mp3.

I'd advise that you go into your player settings, and under Audio, set Volume Control to "Output level is fixed at 100%"

I don't think I ever fiddled with the default settings here. Mine is set to:
FLAC: Native
MP3: flac/lame
PCM: flac

What does this mean? I have both FLACs and some MP3s in my collection. Is there any conversion taking place prior to streaming? Is FLAC quality being compromised?

steveinaz

heiney9 wrote: »

Steve you can leave all the info in the ID3 tag because it will show elsewhere as you scroll through the SBQ menu with the remote. Don't delete the year from the ID3 tag, simply do as Inspired suggested.

If you go the "more info" screen on the Touch it has the year (if it's included in the rip). You just don't want it to show in your initial "chain" of information.

H9

10-4, I just changed directory naming to Artist - Album, didn't touch the tags.

SCompRacer

mdaudioguy wrote: »

I don't think I ever fiddled with the default settings here. Mine is set to:
FLAC: Native
MP3: flac/lame
PCM: flac

What does this mean? I have both FLACs and some MP3s in my collection. Is there any conversion taking place prior to streaming? Is FLAC quality being compromised?

Part of Soundcheck's Touch Toolbox 3.0 has you change most of the File Type settings to avoid flac decoding at the Touch. To repeat what nspindle posted.

For FLAC, mine now reads:

FLAC:

AIFF : Disabled
FLAC: Disabled
MP3: Disabled (greyed out)
PCM : flac

MP3 : native

I did get a bug after installing the Touch Toolbox 3.0. After playing an entire album, my Squeezebox app can't find the player to select another. Both with my cellphone and the Squeezebox Controller. I had to exit the app and restart it. That has never, ever happened before and I dont like it. I reset the Touch, which removes the Linux changes to it. I'll review all the settings and reapply, see what happens.

SCompRacer

The link that nspindle previously posted. Scroll down to 1.6 for Server Based Decoding / File Type settings.
http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/2011/11/touch-toolbox-30.html

mdaudioguy

SCompRacer wrote: »

Part of Soundcheck's Touch Toolbox 3.0 has you change most of the File Type settings to avoid flac decoding at the Touch. To repeat what nspindle posted.

For FLAC, mine now reads:

FLAC:

AIFF : Disabled
FLAC: Disabled
MP3: Disabled (greyed out)
PCM : flac

MP3 : native

I did get a bug after installing the Touch Toolbox 3.0. After playing an entire album, my Squeezebox app can't find the player to select another. Both with my cellphone and the Squeezebox Controller. I had to exit the app and restart it. That has never, ever happened before and I dont like it. I reset the Touch, which removes the Linux changes to it. I'll review all the settings and reapply, see what happens.

Thanks for your reply! I just bookmarked Neil's link that you kindly repeated for me. I meant to do that before, but this thread keeps growing... very informative, though!

I'll wait to hear what's going on with your bug issue before delving into Touch Toolbox 3.0.

zingo

My father-in-law and I are playing with his new Touch and have come across a question since the manual says you can plug USB storage devices straight into it. If he buys a USB harddrive and plugs it into the USB jack on the Touch, since the Touch is already on his network, will he be able to see the harddrive from his computer on that same network? Obviously a NAS drive would do this, but why spend 3x as much if it would work through the Touch. I'm trying to get hiss set-up for PC-less listening, but don't want to tell him to buy something if it wouldn't solve his problem; I'm too nice a son-in-law for that...

heiney9

No, the question has actually been answered a few times.

The USB is there for convenience and will not run an entire music server or interphase with the network.

H9

zingo

I guess my reading skills must not be up to par then...

heiney9 wrote: »

No, the question has actually been answered a few times.

nspindel

Besides, you don't need to spend 3X as much. You can turn any USB drive into a NAS with something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Adapter/dp/B003VSTDFG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321903700&sr=8-2

steveinaz

Interesting, talk to me goose.....can you load SB server on that pup?

heiney9

steveinaz wrote: »

Interesting, talk to me goose.....can you load SB server on that pup?

On what pup? It's a cable. The NAS need need the capablitly to run the SQB software the only one I know of that can do that (as a standalone w/no PC) is the Qnap otherwise you still need a PC.

H9

steveinaz

I thought it might be one of those "squeezeplug" doohickies.

heiney9

Steve, I have no idea what you are talking about.

The SQB needs a computer to run, you can buy a stand alone NAS (the only one I know of is the Qnap) for about $600-700 with the HD's in place. That will run the SQB independant of a computer. Other than that I am not aware of anything else that works as effectively, quickly and with all functions intact when using a SQB.

H9

nspindel

You can't do the transcoding from flac to pcm on server side if you run the server software on a NAS, I don't believe the processors are powerful enough.

punk-roc

The new software with Synology's NAS's says it will work with the Touch. I haven't tried this myself yet, but others on their forums seem to be utilizing Synology NAS's ok

Jason

heiney9

nspindel wrote: »

You can't do the transcoding from flac to pcm on server side if you run the server software on a NAS, I don't believe the processors are powerful enough.

I think they are now in the newer ones. That would be only function of the processor on the NAS and at 2.0Ghz with 512K of RAM I think it's possible, but I honestly don't know for sure. My brother has a Qnap for his SQB and has zero issues but I can't say for certain if he is transcoding from FLAC to PCM at the server.

H9

heiney9

punk-roc wrote: »

The new software with Synology's NAS's says it will work with the Touch. I haven't tried this myself yet, but others on their forums seem to be utilizing Synology NAS's ok

Jason

I had heard that, but the jury was still out at the time. I still think I read the Qnap is a little better. I'm sure the gap will be closing.

H9

steveinaz

Brock, do a search on Sheeva plugs for squeezebox....it's basically a power-supply sized "computer" that some people run SQB server on.

here: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Sheevaplug_SBS_Server_for_dummies

heiney9

steveinaz wrote: »

Brock, do a search on Sheeva plugs for squeezebox....it's basically a power-supply sized "computer" that some people run SQB server on.

I see, but you still need a computer, no? I don't understand how this would replace your current computer? How would you tag, rip, etc? I guess you could use that as a network device and plug a NAS into it, but what's the cost? It seems less powerful than a Qnap and I doubt it's much cheaper in the end. The sole purpose of a stand alone NAS or the Sheeva seems to be taking the processing away from the main computer. But with both you still need the device networked in order to make changes and add things to the NAS, etc.

H9

nspindel

Wow, that's pretty cool! Never saw that before. Brock, it's not meant to fully replace a computer, it's only meant to run the server component of Squeezebox. So you would rip, tag, etc. on your laptop or desktop, save the files to your nas, and then you don't need to have a full computer running just for Squeezebox. The main advantage here is power consumption, this plug thing is going to use a tiny amount of power compared to a laptop or desktop.

steveinaz

Correct, it's basically for someone who doesn't want to have to run the computer all the time, or leave the computer "stuck" where the usb hard drive is. You set it up, kick it on and leave it on. You do all your tagging/ripping/etc on your main computer.

For instance, let's say I want to use my laptop (my main computer) on the patio---but I also want to hear my touch via usb hard drive, can't do it---well, not without a ton of inconvenience. (carry my laptop, usb hard drive, all associated cables/connectors out to the patio?..you get the idea)

Enter the Squeezeplug.

Nspindel, you're a computer whiz, help us figure this thing out---I like the concept!

heiney9

I guess for me I never thought about it, my PC runs 24/7 unless I'm gone for more than a day. I guess I can see the advantages if you had a laptop that wasn't on all the time or a PC you hardly ran. I run my SQB on an old Dell, since I bought a new Dell it just seemed logical. I only did it that way because I had an extra computer if it died tomorrow I'd run it off my main PC. I always assumed people mostly kept their PC's powered up, perhaps it's not that common.

H9

heiney9

What is the cost of something like that? I am not sure you can run the SQB software on it. For a long time the only self sustaining NAS that was able to run the SQB software was the Qnap at a pretty hefty price. So does this plug in computer have the capability to manage a nas and run SQB?

H9

wattmeworry

Have you ever checked out vortexbox.org Ive used one for over a year with no issues comes pre-loaded with squeezeserver.Vortexbox to router to touch to dac.

steveinaz

Brock, I didn't do much research, don't know what they cost. I think there are some youtube videos of people using them for different purposes. Somehow you can connect it up to a monitor using it's usb and a hub--monitor/keyboard/mouse. From there you load Media Server, plug in your usb hard drive, and you're off to the races.

nspindel

You don't need the NAS attached to the plug computer, the two will just sit on the network together. Essentiallly that's how I do it, except I use a full blown computer, not the plug. I have a server that's on all the time (my server does a lot more than just squeezebox) and then the music sits on my NAS. Works like a charm.