Implementing a music streaming system: request for advice or comments

[DavidHB]

Introduction
Firstly, apologies for making my first post on the forum a long one. My purpose in posting is to seek advice and comments on the implementation of my Minimserver-based streaming system so far, so that I can correct any errors that more experienced users identify and make use of suggestions offered. I also hope that my experience and thinking will be of some use to others.

What I am trying to do
My current main audio system is based on 1980s technology, in particular a much-loved Quad (34/FM4/606) setup which still sounds well to me, but which cannot sensibly be connected into my otherwise digital media world. The idea is to replace the Quad components with a DSM player providing a DAC, control unit facilities for various components and (probably) power amplification. Current models under consideration are mainly Linn and Naim, but I am going to have to devote a good deal of effort to listening tests before I make a choice. It seemed to me that, even before I do that (and particularly before I invest a sizeable chunk of my savings in high end kit), I needed to get the infrastructure up and running in order to understand how things come together and to keep future installation hassles (hopefully) to a minimum.

The host network
When I had my house rebuilt in 2004, I had wired networking installed in all the living areas. My non-wireless Broadband router (Netgear DG234v2) also acts as the DHCP server and 100 Mbps switching point for these connections. In the study, this connects to a gigabit switch which serves the main Windows 7 desktop computer and my NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2). In the living room, the Ethernet connects to a Wireless access point (Netgear WN604) which also serves as a switch, and this is where the connection to the DSM player would go.

The intention from the outset was that the ReadyNAS would host the music server. There has been nothing so far to suggest that this decision was wrong.

Workflow
A decade of experience in digital imaging has convinced me (1) that handling large amounts of media requires an efficient and comfortable workflow and (2) that complete and accurate tagging (or metadata, as it is known in digital photography) is crucial to success. The earlier that tagging is done in the workflow, the better.

My music library will (at least initially) consist entirely of ripped CDs. Fortunately, my CD collection is not overly large (500-600 discs). I decided to start from scratch, and progressively rip the whole of my collection. I cleared out the whole of the music folder on my PC, so that I could develop the folder tree as the ripping progressed. I have already made changes, and expect that there will be more.

Aother decision was to use FLAC as the format for all CDs. This seems to be the format preferred by the high end digital player manufacturers, and involves relatively few user decisions on configuration.

Drawing on my imaging experience, I decided to develop the library (i.e rip and tag the CDs) on my PC, and then, using Microsoft's free SyncToy utility, make an exact copy in the media folder of the NAS and keep it updated, for use as the 'working' library. This approach has several advantages. Firstly, each copy of the library becomes a backup for the other. Secondly, the NAS can act as a server independently, while ripping and tagging are in progress on the PC. And, of course, the PC does not have to be on for the music library to be available on the network.

Software choices and installation
Server. The ReadyDNLA application pre-installed on the NAS works pretty well for images, but I knew I would need something much more configurable for my (mainly classical) music library. MinimServer was an obvious choice because:

• it runs directly on the NAS, so I don't need to have my PC on when streaming music (and it also saves network traffic);
• it is standards compliant, which makes it about as future-proof as it can be;
• the design takes into account the particular requirements of classical music;
• the support is excellent!
  

CD ripping. With its excellent facilities for importing and editing tag data and managing the file tree, and its provision for secure ripping, dBPoweramp seemed worth the relatively modest cost. I am using the dBPoweramp default (medium compression) for ripping to FLAC.

Tagging. MP3Tag is a good fit with dBPoweramp, and allows the inevitable errors made at the ripping stage to be corrected relatively easily; its facilities for handling album art also complement those of dBPoweramp.

Rendering and Control. This is an area where I am still experimenting. Currently I am accessing the music through UPnPlay on my Android tablet and foobar2000 on my PCs. If I do buy a high-end DSM player, computer- and tablet-based rendering will in any case be of secondary importance.

Installation of all this has gone pretty smoothly. The only slightly problematic installation for a PC user was getting MinimServer on to the NAS. The instructions for doing this are very clear and explicit, except that the sentence

"MinimServer should now be running, and you should be able to see it in a UPnP control point."

is confusing to a novice because (1) there is no explanation of what the control point is or where it should be (i.e. not on the NAS!) and (2) the new user might not yet have a control point installed (I didn't). It seems to me that what I did to check that MinimServer is running, that is install and run MinimWatch on the PC, is a simpler way of doing the test. The new user can then go on to install, say, UPnPlay on a tablet to discover whether it can 'see' MinimServer.

So - is this all OK?
I have a working system, and no obvious (to me) major problems. With only 35 or so albums ripped so far, I expect to do further work on standardising my tagging procedures (especially as regards album and track names) and on keeping the folder tree under control. But my real concern at this point is that, as a novice in this area, I may have committed some boo-boo of which I am completely unaware. On this basis, if any kind reader of this forum is able to offer reassurance, advice, warnings or suitably gentle criticism, I should be most grateful.

David