Recommend a wifi mp3 player?

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Recommend a wifi mp3 player?

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#75878 25-Jan-2011 09:23

I've finally ripped all my CDs on to my NAS Drive (2TB ReadyNAS Duo), and want to get them boxed up and off the living room shelves before my 1year-old does it for me (actually he's already started...).

When I'm out and about I play music on my phone (SE Vivaz), but don't currently have anything set up at home to play Mp3 tracks.

Can anyone recommend an MP3 player that I can plug into the AV input to my living room stereo (Philips micro) that will be able to stream the tracks from the NAS drive and run playlists or auto generate them?

I was thinking of getting an iPod Touch, but read on another thread here that the wifi wasn't that great.

Any suggestions with pro's and con's gratefully accepted.

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1916 posts

Uber Geek

#430890 25-Jan-2011 10:14

The new ipod touch is the best... Yeah the wifi could be better, but for steaming mp3's it should be better than my iphone 3Gs.

garvani

1873 posts

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#430896 25-Jan-2011 10:21

Ive heard great things about the Logitech Squeezebox range, it does exactly what you want. But ouch, you sure do pay for the privilege! linkage

bazzer

3438 posts

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#430901 25-Jan-2011 10:32

Should be able to get the Boom a lot cheaper than that. It only has 3.5mm out, but works OK. I sometimes use it in that way.

garvani

1873 posts

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#430905 25-Jan-2011 10:34

i was more thinking the duet or touch.. has rca outs, optical out etc

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#431296 26-Jan-2011 09:30

Thanks for your replies.
The squeeze box duet does look good, however the logitech web site is a bit annoying, it doesn't really give me a good sense of how the menu system would look, or how I"d be able to create play lists. Its also more than I was intending to pay. Dlink and Netgear don't seem to offer anything that isn't a video media player (or at least requires a separate screen). Then again I'm not the iPod touch will enable me to stream the music over wifi rather than just update / synch the files onto the player itself.
More research required.

garvani

1873 posts

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#431297 26-Jan-2011 09:40

try this video, it will show you the menu structure of the duet. It is my first look at the interface too, looks impressive! I agree it is quite expensive, but after seeing that video it doesn't seem quite so bad for some reason

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#431579 26-Jan-2011 21:36

Well according to JB Electronics the iPod won't stream from the NAS via wifi, that's only for web browsing; so its looking like the Squeezebox Duet. $499 via pricespy is better than the logitech web site price.
Frustratingly, they're US$299 (NZ390) on amazon, but the import tax bumps it to over NZ$500 and exporting from the US invalidates the warranty.

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CWeiser

18 posts

Geek

#438342 11-Feb-2011 16:19

Hi, I have been looking into trying to do something similar on a much smaller scale (and probably a lower budget!). I'd be interested to know what solution you came up with.

Also, your thread made me look at things differently. Have you looked at these software aps and would they help in any way: HomePipe and WiFi2HiFi ?

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#438353 11-Feb-2011 16:55

kUD: Well according to JB Electronics the iPod won't stream from the NAS via wifi, that's only for web browsing; so its looking like the Squeezebox Duet. $499 via pricespy is better than the logitech web site price.

Frustratingly, they're US$299 (NZ390) on amazon, but the import tax bumps it to over NZ$500 and exporting from the US invalidates the warranty.

You can stream music from itunes installed on a PC, with an ipod touch, but you would need to attach that NAS to a PC. There also maybe apps that connect directly to the NAS

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#439844 15-Feb-2011 15:13

CWeiser: Hi, I have been looking into trying to do something similar on a much smaller scale (and probably a lower budget!). I'd be interested to know what solution you came up with.

Also, your thread made me look at things differently. Have you looked at these software aps and would they help in any way: HomePipe and WiFi2HiFi ?

Thanks for these suggestions.
Wifi2hifi requires a pc to be running to stream music to an ipod; so that doesn't work for me, as I want to be able to connect the device that plugs into my stereo directly to the NAS without anything else having to run
Homepipe looks more promising, as it appears to support multiple devices and also audio streaming. Its a subscription service, but has an advert funded trial, so I think I'll download it and have a play. I'd still need something to connect to the stereo though...

da5id

550 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#440027 15-Feb-2011 21:58

I don't know exactly what you're trying to do, but I do know that with iTunes it's possible to stream to an Airport Express via Bonjour. I have an Airport Express in one room connected to my Thompson modem to make a wi-fi network. I also have speakers plugged into the Airport. When I open iTunes on my network-connected desktop PC (which is in another room), down the bottom right there is a dropdown that tells you where the sound gets played to. I can choose my local PC, or the network. choosing the network will play the music through to the Airport Express, to the speakers that are plugged into it.

It's probably not what you're trying to do, but I thought I'd drop it in anyway.

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#440461 16-Feb-2011 21:17

kUD:
Homepipe looks more promising

Well Homepipe was pretty painful to use, just trying to test it by connecting from my pc to the NAS it dropped the first song at 58 seconds. It also doesn't work when the PC isn't on, as it can't be installed directly on the NAS....nice thought but I've uninstalled it. I think the software approach was taking me off track.

I'm trying to play music that is stored on my NAS drive (which is always on and connected to my wifi network) on my stereo, without having to switch on a pc.

If I go down the apple route, I need itunes running somewhere. I don't want another PC running, so it would have to be on the iPod and the library located on the NAS, unless I can somehow install itunes on the NAS. I'm not sure if this is feasible.

The airport express doesn't have a user interface, so I wouldn't be able to select music, so whilst it looks interesting it wouldn't work for me.

I appreciate all your help and suggestions - thanks.
At this stage, it looks like I may be biting the cost bullet on the squeezebox duet.

b0untypure1

1426 posts

Uber Geek

#440494 16-Feb-2011 22:16

The airport express lacks some features, squeeze ftw :)

deliveryguy

42 posts

Geek

#440508 16-Feb-2011 22:38

You could also use a PS3 if your network storage uses dlna but I haven't had a play with creating playlists

CWeiser

18 posts

Geek

#440587 17-Feb-2011 10:13

OK, sorry to throw more software at you, but I just saw an announcement by QNAP regarding their QMobile application. Dunno if you need QNAP NAS though.

Just a question, will Squeezebox Duet run without a PC? You've been doing the nitty gritty homework so I ask. We have a similar quest to yours as we are on a sailboat and want access to all our media without running a PC due to power requirements.

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