Streamlining the browsing tree & multiple configs

[DavidHB]

(21-09-2013 08:12)Dieter Stockert Wrote:  ... the system of music servers and control points, working together like they are now, is in my opinion more 18th than 21st century of computer age.

I think you might wait a long time for the update! The issue here is not that the current state of things is outmoded, but programmers and equipment makers, sometimes in sheer stupidity and sometimes for commercial reasons, while claiming to be standards-compliant, try to impose their own variations on the system.

DNLA is a very clever concept; it essentially takes UPnP and locks the user out - the price of predictable operation is that the user gets few if any choices. Even worse is the "you can have any standards you like so long as we control them" approach associated with Apple, Microsoft, Adobe and now Google. Contrast this with the approach adopted by Linn; they do try to extend the established standards but make sure that their kit works without those extensions if need be. There are those who would say that, being outside the mass market, Linn can afford to be virtuous. I disagree; anyone can be disciplined and control their greed if they choose.

As a wise project manager once said to me, "We love standards here. That is why we have so many of them".

David