Announcing MinimServer 2

[simoncn]

Are you sure that the NT-505 does not support Tunein? This page and this post imply that it does. It would be worth checking this with TEAC.

[Carefant]

(04-04-2020 10:11)simoncn Wrote:  Are you sure that the NT-505 does not support Tunein? This page and this post imply that it does. It would be worth checking this with TEAC.

Hi. Yes the Teac supports Tunein, but 95% of my radio listening is BBC national stations and the BBC has ceased access via Tunein on ’devices capable of receiving these stations via other means’. They have left SONOS alone for now, presumably because there is no alternative on that platform. On the Teac, Tunein can only get a handful of stations of limited interest.

I have temporarily moved a SONOS Connect to the hifi room and am running that through the Teac DAC. Means I have two controllers, LUMIN and SONOS, but at least I have all the radio stations I want.

Thanks

[simoncn]

I believe TuneIn allows the user to set a custom URL for a radio stream. If the TEAC provides a way to do this, I can post instructions for creating such URLs for MinimStreamer radio stations.

[Carefant]

(04-04-2020 15:25)simoncn Wrote:  I believe TuneIn allows the user to set a custom URL for a radio stream. If the TEAC provides a way to do this, I can post instructions for creating such URLs for MinimStreamer radio stations.

Thanks Simon. Please do if it’s no trouble and I can have a go at that.

[simoncn]

There is some information about this on this page. See step 8 for what to use for the custom URL. You can ignore the previous steps as they are not relevant to your setup. You should remove transcoding when you try this.

[tarnkappe]

Hello Simon,

I would like to share my thoughts about the new minimserver 2 license model... Most people find it quite ok as I have read here. Maybe the others are not interested or do not dare to comment?

First I want to say thank you for the great software and great support. I completely understand that you have introduced licensing for getting more financial support for this. I already donated twice (the first time for implementing ogg/vorbis support years ago) though I can't remember how much it was. But I believe that many people do not donate for software.

I also think, it is a good thing to not only earn money once for endless support and development. So kind of a subscription model is fine. I like the model to pay for 12 month, being able to continue the software after this period as long as you do not need further updates.

But: When using minimstreamer things get quite expensive if I compare the price of asset upnp. And compared to the previous donation model. If minimstreamer would be integrated in the full license and would be handled the same, it would be completely ok. So paying for it again if you need updates, but continue using the same version if you do not.

I certainly will license the synology version with minimstreamer, but it feels a bit... well... yes... expensive.

Greetings
Gert

[simoncn]

Thank you for these comments and also for your previous donations.

I considered this carefully before deciding on the new licensing model. There are many UPnP servers but I am not aware of anything else that has all the capabilities of MinimStreamer.

As well as providing support for transcoding (which many people find improves sound quality), MinimStreamer can play radio streams in a number of formats and can record these streams either in real time or using a timer schedule. It can also use FFmpeg to provide a wide range of filtering options including convolution and replay gain adjustment. Asset UPnP can do some of these things but not all. Implementing these capabilities has required a very large amount of development effort, most of which is not apparent because it "just works".

Unlike MinimServer, MinimStreamer has never had a non-expiring license. It has always been licensed separately from MinimServer for a time-limited period of 6 months which until now has regularly been renewed before its expiry. The new arrangement is the logical continuation of this and in my opinion the cost of GBP 10 per year (less than the price of one CD) is very modest considering the value that it provides.

[Peter@57m]

(13-04-2020 21:01)simoncn Wrote:  in my opinion the cost of GBP 10 per year (less than the price of one CD) is very modest considering the value that it provides.

I agree and am very happy with this

[tarnkappe]

Hello Simon,

(13-04-2020 21:01)simoncn Wrote:  in my opinion the cost of GBP 10 per year (less than the price of one CD) is very modest considering the value that it provides.

I find it quite difficult to determine the value of software. In business you may calculate how much money you save by using it. But in "luxury" topics like in HIFI it is very subjective.

In my case I only use the to-wav-transcoding of minimstreamer. So I might think about using Asset UPnP, BubbleUPnP or convoFS instead. They all can transcode on the fly, too. But I like minimserver and your support, so I think I will keep at it.

But if every software that I am using requires me to pay 11€ per year this might sum up to quite much in some years. Usually I prefer to pay once and being allowed to use the software as long as I want. Only for a new version with new features and bugfixes that are interesting for me I would like to spend money again. But maybe my point of view is a little bit old school when many big players switch over to very expensive subscription models like microsoft, adobe, etc.

It is difficult for me to describe this in English. It is not meant to be offending. I only want to describe my point of view to this new licensing. If I compare it to the donation model of minimserver/minimstreamer the new licensing model is a big step. I guess it is much more than you every did hope from getting by donations, isn't it, even if everybody would have donated from time to time? If every user would donate 2GBP per year, would this still be less than you initially had expected?

I am aware that my post will not change anything. You can define every price that you want. But for me it feels a little bit disappointing because a former hobby project becomes a commercial software. Maybe this is good because we will see more great features. But it is less sympathic/likeable(?) somehow for me.

But enough with this. I wish you good luck and am looking forward for the most recent album folder feature.

Also it would be great if a folder adopts the cover art of a subfolder in folder view. Where the user can define if the alphabetical first or last or most recently newest or oldest subfolder is taken.

Also it would be great if minimserver 2 could give a reminder if the minimstreamer license will expire in x weeks even without running minimwatch. E.g. it could display a virtual folder with an appropriate text. Otherwise it could happen that either you listen to less good sounding music and wonder what is wrong without understanding the reason. Or you have to turn on the computer first to pay the new license when all that you wanted was listening to one or two tracks before going to sleep.

Kind regards
Gert

[simoncn]

The donation model was not sustainable. Some users donated generously a few years ago but have not donated since then. Many more users have never donated at all. Over time, donation income has been reducing while support costs have been increasing. There are many projects providing excellent technology that are no longer maintained. I would prefer that this does not happen to MinimServer.

Some other server might suit your needs better at lower cost. You are free to make that choice.

A renewal reminder will be sent by email to all MinimServer 2 users who have purchased a license. It is harder to provide this notification for MinimServer 0.8 users when MinimStreamer 0.7 expires on 31 July. I have email addresses for those who have donated. I have thought about your virtual folder idea but I have not yet tried to create a prototype that does this. It might be difficult to make this work with all control points.

Can you explain the use case that requires the folder art image change that you have requested?