A Logitech Touch joins my squeezebox powered home

Share

If you've read my previous article on my whole house streaming audio solution, you know that I like the Logitech squeezebox product line.

Since I wrote that article I've added two more squeezebox radios (one for work), built a custom battery pack and recently picked up a Logitech Touch.  I had been waiting on the Logitech Touch as I was using my Media PC to stream music to my main stereo.  As convenient as my Media PC is to use, I've found that having a device dedicated to music is nice to have.  Plus, I missed having a display that showed me what I was playing.

Here are some quick thoughts on what I think about the Logitech Touch.

DIY high capacity battery pack for Logitech's Squeezebox Radio

Share

If you enjoy the Squeezebox line of products like I do, you probably already know about Logitech's Squeezebox Radio.  I've just added a third radio to my collection (shown here with cat 1 of 2).  However, if you don't yet have a battery pack for your Squeezebox Radio you are missing out on one of it's coolest features (it's portable!).  Of course, it still must be in range of a wireless signal (all the more reason to get a really great wireless home router).  Unfortunately, the battery pack must be purchased separately for $50.  Logitech does bundle it with a mini-remote to help make it a bit more tempting.

Since the accessory pack wasn't released until well after the radio, many adventuresome owners went ahead and built their own.  Now that the pack is available, there is less reason to do it yourself.  You can still build a pack cheaper yourself (depending upon the cost of the batteries), but you might not save that much money (and it is a hassle).  The main reason for doing it yourself now (IMO) is that you can build a higher capacity pack.  Logitech claims 6 hours of battery life on their pack, but people have reported up to two hours more - not bad.  However with my pack, I've gotten just under 11 hours!   More importantly, doing it yourself is fun!

Here is what I did:

Easily backup your Media PC (part 2 of 2)

Share

Part 1 of the backing up your Media PC covered the system drive, programs and configuration of your computer.   That was actually the hard part even though it doesn't represent much space.  This second (and much simpler) part covers everything else you want backed up (e.g. your Music, Videos, Photos, etc).

As I mentioned in the previous article, the cheapest and simplest approach to backup is just to buy a large external disk.  Another option that is becoming popular is using a home NAS box (i.e. an external disk that attaches to your network v.s. your computer).  They cost more than an external disk, but offer many cool and convenient features.  I'll talk about home NAS options in a future post.  For most of us, an external disk is the way to go.

Also, unlike backing up your system, there is nothing complex about backing up your Media files.  Simply making a copy is all you need to do.  If you are really worried, you could keep additional copies if you like.

To get started, just drag and drop (copy) your Media folders to your external disk.  This works great the first time you make a backup, but what happens if you add some files?  Or, what if you do a bit of housecleaning and reorganize a few folders?  Or, what if you fix the music tags on some of the files?

You can quickly see that it gets really hard to keep track of what files need to be copied to the backup.  Of course, you could just delete your backup and re-copy everything (potentially disastrous and a waste of time).  A smarter approach would be to use backup software, but in my opinion there is a simpler and more appropriate way to get the job done.  Instead, all you need is file synchronization software that will only copy the files that have changed.

My complete guide to digital audio

Share

A lot of people who see/hear my home audio setup like how I have all of my music available streaming from my computer.  I can play any album I own and can stream it to any device in my house (or remotely).  I have multiple convenient ways to control all my audio devices depending upon what I'm doing.  Finally, I am a bit of an audiophile (and love my music), so I've gone to a bit of trouble to preserve all of the quality from my audio CDs.  I've invested quite a bit of money in my collection and plan to enjoy them for many years to come.

It has taken me a while to get a system/method that I'm happy with (being a perfectionist) and I thought I'd share this setup with others.   This is my complete guide to digital audio.

By complete I mean this guide covers everything that I want to do with digital audio (CDs) step-by-step:

1. The Perfect Rip - copy CDs to your computer
2. Format Conversion - turn your CDs into MP3s, AACs, etc.
3. The Ultimate Burn - create perfect audio CDs
4. Modding SqueezeCenter - for on-the-fly HDCD processing
5. Backup all my CDs (and other Media) and keep them up to date
6. Finally, I have some tools for checking for missing album artwork, duplicates, corrupted files, etc.

This is far too much for a single post, so I've broken it up into separate parts.

(This) main post will talk about some of the challenges/choices with digital audio and how I approached the problem.  For the actual instructions per step, click on the links above.

NOTE:  (more) LINKS above coming soon....

My digital audio guide - SqueezeCenter modded!

Share

This fourth part of my complete guide to digital audio covers modding SqueezeCenter so that I get the most quality out of my CDs.

One of the things that I really like about Logitech's SqueezeCenter is that it supports my favorite format right out the box.   I'm talking about Cue Sheets with FLAC audio.

However, I have two minor problems.  Since I store my audio CDs as perfect rips (without any modification), I have effectively (and intentionally) deferred the issue of handling pre-emphasis as well as HDCD decoding.  Good high-end DACs usually handle these (when paired with a CD transport), but squeezeboxes don't behave like a CD transport.  HDCD will work with a Squeezebox & DAC, but the preemphasis flag is always lost.  I don't use a DAC anymore, so I wanted a solution for both issues.

Since there have been bug (enhancement requests) covering these features forever, I got tired of waiting for someone else to do this.   There are already programs that handle these conversions (hdcd.exe and Sox), all that remained to be done was to plug them into SqueezeCenter's audio processing pipeline.  Fortunately, the software architect(s) and SlimDevices/Logitech made this pretty easy to do.  I'll show you how to install this mod so you too can have HDCD/Preemphasis decoding.

First, here is what the mod can do:

My digital audio guide - the ultimate burn

Share

This third part of my complete guide to digital audio covers burning your audio CDs

Now I know you are probably thinking, burning an audio CD?  Child's play, right?  Yes, it is if you don't really care about the details.  However, if you want your burned audio CDs to be perfect replicas it will require a little effort and the right tools.   Fortunately, all of the hard work really is in ripping accurately to cue sheets.  Making a replica from a cue sheet becomes pretty easy.

Most people assume (incorrectly) that when they rip a CD they get a perfect copy.  A similar set of problems cause errors during the writing process as well.  Try it sometime (and compare the results) and you will find it isn't so easy (impossible with most audio tools).

Why would you want to burn an audio CD anyway?

Good question.  Frankly, I don't do this very often anymore.  However, I can still think of some uses:

1. Expendable CDs for your children (or your parents).  We all know that kids can be pretty hard on CDs.
2. Expendable CDs for your car.  Many car stereos don't have fancy MP3 player plugins, and still use old fashioned CDs.  Cars and CDs don't always get along (heat/sun do bad things to plastic).   Again, you don't want your originals destroyed when a blank CDR costs only a few pennies.
3. Adding CD-Text to a CD.  Most CDs don't have this, but you can add it to your CD-Rs as long as your burner supports it
4. Peace of mind knowing that you can reproduce the original, exactly
5. Obsessing over technology details is just plain fun sometimes

My digital audio guide - format conversion

Share

This second part of my complete guide to digital audio covers transcoding your audio CDs.  This means converting them to MP3s, AACs (for iPod) or whatever format and quality you want.  Fortunately, all of the hard work has already been done and this is an easily automated task.

Once you have your music stored on your computer, you will probably want to enjoy them on other devices such as your phone or portable music player.  Your car CD player might support MP3 discs (a CDR containing folders of MP3s or WMAs).  You might also want to create a music "mix" CD, combining your favorite tracks

Unfortunately, the cue/flac format really isn't all that convenient (directly) for these applications.  Don't worry because it is really easy to transcode your files into just about any format you wish.  This is a simple task and it can all be handled by your computer with a few clicks.  Converting things is what computers do best.

Finally, because we started with cue sheets and lossless flac files, we will end up with the best possible (highest quality) results.

My digital audio guide - the perfect rip

Share

This first part of my complete guide to digital audio covers getting your audio CDs onto your computer. This is also the part where many things can go wrong as I outlined in my previous post.

If you are like me, you treasure your music collection and plan to enjoy it for many, many years.  Therefore (to me), taking the time to make sure you get the most out of your collection is time well spent.  Fortunately, once you have a working setup, copying CDs to your computer is a totally routine task.  Do it right the first time and you'll never have to do it again (hopefully).

The actual process of reading an audio CD is called ripping and I'd like to go over the steps which should give you a "perfect" rip of your CD.

I currently use Windows for this purpose and I recommend using EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for the main ripping process and FLAC for compression.  The EAC software is a little tricky to setup, but does a really good job and is well worth the effort.

NOTE:  This post has been updated for an awesome new feature in EAC (1.0 beta 1) - specifically automatically finding album cover art!

NOTE 2:  An even newer version of EAC (1.0 Beta 2) is now out.  There are some differences.  See below for comments (especially the change in strings used for the external compressor).

There are, of course, many other ways to accomplish this same goal (on Windows and other platforms).  This process also uses my recommended audio format of Cue Sheets.  Cue sheets aren't the most convenient way to access your music, but they are (IMO) the best way to archive you music.

Step #1:  Install the software

• FLAC for windows
• EAC for windows
• Activestate Perl

Turn your Media PC into a SqueezeBox audio streamer

Share

I'm a big fan of SlimDevices' (now Logitech) Squeezebox products.  See an overview of my whole house audio system.  As I now use my Media PC in my main audio listening area, I wanted to replace my older squeezebox classic with the same functionality on my Media PC.  While I love squeezebox products, I like even better that there is one less box in my TV stand.  +1 for my Media PC v.s. device clutter.

Fortunately, this is pretty easy to do and it works great.

If you already use Squeezeboxes, all you need is some software running on your Media PC called SqueezeSlave.  Download it and extract it into a folder on your Media PC.  SqueezeSlave is essentially a software version of a Squeezebox and connects to your SqueezeCenter audio server just like any other Squeezebox product.

Setting up Squeezeslave is pretty simple, I'll go through the steps so you can have it too.

Whole house streaming audio and more

Share

Have you ever been to one of those new model homes with some incredible feature that you really lusted after (backyard fireplace, pool overlooking the valley, being next to a golf course, etc)?  For me, my first love has always been audio.  So when I walked into a home that had speakers in every room of the house playing some nice Jazz, I was in heaven.

Okay, so maybe having the same music in every room isn't such a great idea all of the time.  I could have separate audio systems, but it is really nice to be able to share music without having CDs or MP3s scattered about the house.  This is a problem that screams out to have technology solve it for us.

SlimDevices (now owned by Logitech) created a product family that really does fit nicely into the home.  I've owned every one of their products since they introduced the Squeezebox (rev 2) five years ago.  I will say that the products have taken a while to mature, but I now finally have that whole house audio system and it was a lot cheaper than buying a new house!  Here is what is great about the squeezeboxes and system in general:

• I can listen to music in my collection (or any streaming Internet audio source), in any room in my house.
• All boxes are wireless G, so can be moved freely in the house
• I can operate each squeezebox independently or synchronize them if I like
• Family friendly (my kids love theirs)
• Audio quality is superb.  As an audiophile, I'm impressed with features like loss less audio support, high quality digital and analog outputs, etc.
• For the enthusiast, endless opportunity to tinker with plugins ranging from live weather updates to (amazingly enough) complete digital room correction.
• Smart-phone apps for remote control

Strange as it sounds, I also love the fact that this product comes from a company other than Apple, or Microsoft.  I like the smaller companies and their support for open standards.

Here are the details...