Media time
I'm wanting, yet again, to sort out my media playing at home.
The main problem is music. I have a large-ish iTunes library (like 60 Gb) of MP3s ripped from CDs. This was once great for playing from my PC. It was a bit of a pain to manage on my iPhone (it wouldn't all fit, so I had to regularly fiddle with it to get the latest additions and drop the oldest/least-wanted), and is even worse now I've upgraded to an Android smartphone. And it's hopeless for playing in the living room (where there's a stereo and a TV) and the kitchen (where there's a cheapo iPhone dock). And now my iTunes Library has grown so big that iTunes struggles to cope, and is jerky and unresponsive and really frustrating to operate.
At the moment, I mainly listen to FM radio in the kitchen, FM radio or actual CDs in the living room (old school!), and very small and select playlist on my phone via headphones or an FM car transmitter while travelling.
I don't want to have to fire up the PC to play music. Which probably means I want a low-power instant-on streaming server of some sort, which I could helpfully combine with a backup hard drive - maybe a Raspberry Pi, or cheapo PC. But that then means I'd need something with smarts to stream the music to wherever it needs to go. I have a Chromecast in my TV, which might work (if there's the right app combo), but I'd need to wire the TV to the stereo to get decent sound - which might not be a bad thing generally. Also, that'd give me Internet radio in the living room which would be cool. (Radio 6!) But that leaves me without a plan for the kitchen. I do have a cheapo Samsung tablet that can just about stream music (I think with XBMC? I did a proof-of-concept streaming from the PC a while ago), so maybe pairing that with a 3.5mm-in speaker might be the ticket. I could also get one of those Bluetooth speaker boxes which might do the trick and be portable for round-the-house stuff too. Hmm - can you get a Bluetooth thingummy for the streaming PC and stream direct from there? Or over the house wifi? Or an FM transmitter?
It all seems very faffy, and there is a bewildering array of sort-of-maybe compatible products, and I don't have a lot of time to spend setting this up. I could throw money at it and get a Sonos system ... but that is way more money than I have available. At least, I think without investigating that it is.
What do you lot do for listening to music?
This entry crossposted to http://doug.dreamwidth.org/279250.html, where there are
comment(s) not shown here.
The main problem is music. I have a large-ish iTunes library (like 60 Gb) of MP3s ripped from CDs. This was once great for playing from my PC. It was a bit of a pain to manage on my iPhone (it wouldn't all fit, so I had to regularly fiddle with it to get the latest additions and drop the oldest/least-wanted), and is even worse now I've upgraded to an Android smartphone. And it's hopeless for playing in the living room (where there's a stereo and a TV) and the kitchen (where there's a cheapo iPhone dock). And now my iTunes Library has grown so big that iTunes struggles to cope, and is jerky and unresponsive and really frustrating to operate.
At the moment, I mainly listen to FM radio in the kitchen, FM radio or actual CDs in the living room (old school!), and very small and select playlist on my phone via headphones or an FM car transmitter while travelling.
I don't want to have to fire up the PC to play music. Which probably means I want a low-power instant-on streaming server of some sort, which I could helpfully combine with a backup hard drive - maybe a Raspberry Pi, or cheapo PC. But that then means I'd need something with smarts to stream the music to wherever it needs to go. I have a Chromecast in my TV, which might work (if there's the right app combo), but I'd need to wire the TV to the stereo to get decent sound - which might not be a bad thing generally. Also, that'd give me Internet radio in the living room which would be cool. (Radio 6!) But that leaves me without a plan for the kitchen. I do have a cheapo Samsung tablet that can just about stream music (I think with XBMC? I did a proof-of-concept streaming from the PC a while ago), so maybe pairing that with a 3.5mm-in speaker might be the ticket. I could also get one of those Bluetooth speaker boxes which might do the trick and be portable for round-the-house stuff too. Hmm - can you get a Bluetooth thingummy for the streaming PC and stream direct from there? Or over the house wifi? Or an FM transmitter?
It all seems very faffy, and there is a bewildering array of sort-of-maybe compatible products, and I don't have a lot of time to spend setting this up. I could throw money at it and get a Sonos system ... but that is way more money than I have available. At least, I think without investigating that it is.
What do you lot do for listening to music?
This entry crossposted to http://doug.dreamwidth.org/279250.html, where there are
comment(s) not shown here.