What are you using???

sirianni

AK Subscriber
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What are you using to play music files? I was using Windows Media Player but in the last couple of weeks it crashes every couple of songs, the machine is a Intel Core i5 with 16 GB of memory.
I have run MS fix it programs but nothing seems to work, any thoughts?
 
To play files, and stream them from MOG, PandoraOne, BeatsMusic, radio stations, etc., I use a Sonos Connect.

To store files that the Sonos can access, I use a 128Gb USB flash drive, plugged into the back of my wireless router. Sonos mounts the drive across the Wi-Fi network using SMB, and does all the indexing, slicing and dicing. No media server required.

I had a 2TB WD "Personal Cloud" NAS, but it was overkill, as I no longer rip CDs, given the quality and quantity of content available via subscription streaming.
 
To play files and stream from the internet I use a laptop running squeezelite. The laptop is soon to be replaced by a pogoplug running squeezelite. The other rooms have a SB Duet, a pogoplug running squeezelite and a laptop running squeezelite. I used to use a Raspberry Pi but it is now a video client running Rasbmc.

For storage I use a dedicated server (a 5 year old computer) running Logitech Media Server. I have two 1TB hardrives hooked up to the computer. One is for backup. The server is hardwired to a wireless router running dd-wrt firmware. All the clients receive the data via wifi. Any of the "squeezeboxes" can be controlled from any computer on the network, a SB Duet remote, a tablet or smartphone.

I download a lot of free concerts from the Live Music Archive site so I will need to keep the hard drives for a while longer.
 
for me its amarok 1.4 wave or flac files.through dac to 2 channel amp. It has the best search or jump to file functioning of anything else i've tried. I can turn the monitor off punch in a title and goes instantly to the song even with mispellings. then immediatly clears to be ready for next search.
 
What are you using to play music files? I was using Windows Media Player but in the last couple of weeks it crashes every couple of songs, the machine is a Intel Core i5 with 16 GB of memory.
I have run MS fix it programs but nothing seems to work, any thoughts?
Sorry I missed your post. I am not a fan of windows and I've used it since the 80's. When ever one of my Windows machines craps out, I change the OS to Ubuntu or Kubuntu. I never seem to have problems with a computer running linux. You could also make the computer a dual boot. Windows and linux.

A computer like yours could run Logitech Media Server and squeezelite without breaking a sweat under Ubuntu. I doubt it would use 1% of one core or 1% of your RAM.

Probably not what you want to hear but it is what I have done and none of my computers is any where near the speed of yours. :tresbon:
 
Logitech Media Server and either hardware squeezeboxes or squeezelite depending on location.

But I think you have a different issue, MS fix it is not always the best. Try using foobar on that machine and see if it works. http://www.foobar2000.org/

Also meant to say make sure you scan your computer with good anti virus scanner and also a maleware scanner like malwarebytes free version (make sure you update it) https://www.malwarebytes.org/
 
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I use a raspberry pi running volumio. I have a 1tb hardrive with flac files. The DAC is the JDS Labs ODAC. Twin custom built 5v linear power supplies. Control comes from the Mpad app on my iPad. Sounds great!
 
1U Atom based server, with 4gb Ram and 1.5Tb HD running VortexBox 2.2.
Output to a DAC (nothing special one of the BlueRing things connected Via USB)

Controlled from anything in the house: iPod, iPhone, Workstations Via App or Web Browser.
 
I use a Mac Mini either running iTunes with Audivrana or JRiver for Mac with (2) external HDD (one that is for my library files the other as back up) connected via FireWire and then a USB connection to my Bel Canto integrated amp/DAC.
 
Media Center

I use and have been using Windows Media Center since it was in XP. My current system is a Windows 7 64bit i3 with 8gig ram and a 1 TB HD. I store all my music and movies on it and have no issues with the computer. It streams music and movies to all computers in my house as well as the main TV hooked up VIA HDMI. The only issue is with the TV, it's an older Plasma and the HDMI clearly states "Not for use with computers". To resolve that issue I have a task set to restart the computer each night at 3 a.m. This resets the handshake ( used for HDMI) between the TV and computer. Check to make sure your newer windows machine doesn't have things like Bluetooth audio installed in the media player. That does nothing but cause issues, unless your using it of course.
Good luck.
 
UPDATE: I replaced the laptop with a pogoplug. I am now running the server software on a dedicated server from another room. I needed to actually use the laptop for what is was designed for.
 
Foobar player.

W7-64
Core 2 X6800
3GB Ram

Runs fine.

'Bout all I can think of in your setup is something corrupt that Fix It can't fix, or malware that isn't identified.
 
XBMC w/ WASAPI Audio via HDMI.

Windows 8.1 x64
Core i7-2700k
16GB RAM

Couldn't be happier.
 
Sorry I missed your post. I am not a fan of windows and I've used it since the 80's. When ever one of my Windows machines craps out, I change the OS to Ubuntu or Kubuntu. I never seem to have problems with a computer running linux. You could also make the computer a dual boot. Windows and linux.

A computer like yours could run Logitech Media Server and squeezelite without breaking a sweat under Ubuntu. I doubt it would use 1% of one core or 1% of your RAM.

Probably not what you want to hear but it is what I have done and none of my computers is any where near the speed of yours. :tresbon:

YES ! ! !
Linux Rules
 
- 2010 Mac Mini w/ 8GB RAM (running OS X 10.9.2)
- G-Technology 8TB external hard drive (solely dedicated for iTunes)
- iTunes (for music management)
- Audirvana Plus (for music playback)
- Squeezebox Touch (for internet radio)
- Mytek 192 DSD DAC (with Oyaide FW cable from Mac Mini and Oyaide USB cable from Squeezebox Touch)

Extremely happy with this setup.
 
Most of the time I'm playing back off a PC; so I'm either accessing files stored directly on a 2TB external; or accessing files on somewhere on the network using standard windows file sharing/smb/samba. I play back with Winamp and in to my USB DAC using ASIO.

For actual music server; I use Asset UPnP. It's not a free solution; however it is one of the few that will support *any* audio format and will transcode to a supported on-the-fly if needed. For example, my home theater receiver supports FLAC over DLNA, but my TV only supports MP3 and WAV; I can convert non-supported formats to either. I can also control media transcoding based on client ID; so my TV and tablet will have their own transcoding configurations without me having to do anything.

I've also played with the free Serviio server; but I found it's audio support to be pretty poor and no where near what the claimed.

The only reason I run UPnP is to stream files to the Onkyo (which supports SMB file shares but the interface isn't as eloquent); as well as being able to stream music over VPN.
 
I listen to music in a variety of ways depending on mood.

For when I have a computer in the mix, I use a 2010 Mac Mini running either Fidelia's music app (great for headphones), iTunes, Spotify, or Rdio. I have the Mac Mini connected to two audio setups (one is HDMI and the other is Optical) since the room shares a wall with my living room. I also have Airplay devices all over the house and listen to a lot of music directly from the iPhone to the Airplay device.

For PC use, I liked Foobar (if you like to tinker with plug ins) and J River (great out of the box, but costs money), but I rarely use a PC for music anymore.

You can read more about my setups in my signature link.
 
What are you using to play music files? I was using Windows Media Player but in the last couple of weeks it crashes every couple of songs, the machine is a Intel Core i5 with 16 GB of memory.
I have run MS fix it programs but nothing seems to work, any thoughts?

Short of a system restore probably re install it or maybe run a SFC in an elevated CMD first .

SFC check : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929833

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/download-windows-media-player

If you have your music files in the usual file explorer librarys or in file folders they will remain and you can re build your WMP librays easily .

OTOH if you have win 10 the UI Groove Music app is miles better than WMP and it will fetch meta data ,art and tagging locally and /or from the web even even on CD rips. Grooove Music be exlusive to Win 10 or aviliable free at the windows store for Win 8.1 .ofc if you are on win 7 not .

OTOH if you are on a genuine copy of win 7sp1 or 8.1 you might want to take a look at the free trade on and in place update to win 10.
its substansially improved from Windows 8.1

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10


Sent from Windows 10 Pro Evaluation Copy build 10240
 
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