[Leaplist] spreading music throughout the house via Linux

[Dan Cherry]

On Monday 26 May 2008 10:13:38 pm Mark W. Alexander wrote:
> On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 05:46:43PM -0400, Dan Cherry wrote:
> > After several years of procrastination, I'm going to take another shot at
> > delivering music to several rooms (5 including porch and garage) using
> > Linux.
> >
> > Amarok is currently handling the files, and I've got a line out splitter
> > going to one other room (although the distance taints the signal, so not
> > a good way to go, in general).  There's wireless in the house, and cat5
> > would be a pain, but not out of the question.
> >
> > Powered computer speakers are acceptable quality in most of the rooms,
> > but buying a pc for each room would be pretty pricey and the size might
> > be a show stopper unless I use laptops or VERY small footprint boxes.
> >
> > I'd be interested in what others are doing to accomplish this.  Any
> > suggestions for a cost effective way to get there - both hardware and
> > software - would be welcome.
>
> I've got both a Roku (http://www.roku.com/) SoundBridge and a SoundBridge
> Radio. The SoundBridge has great sound using decent PC speakers. The Radio
> has radio-like sound but also has a sleep timer and alarm. If I had to do
> it over, I'd get a second SoundBridge. I already scripted a sleep timer
> (although you had to go to a PC to use it) and a alarm would not be too
> difficult.
>
> There are a lot of 802.11 media devices with prices all over the map. You
> can start here:
>
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=
>wireless+media&x=0&y=0
>
> I selected the SoundBridge primarily because it was the only one that
> didn't look like a something from a bad 1950's sci-fi movie. It looks nice
> most anywhere and I am very pleased with the audio quality. And, it turns
> out that it's fairly open. I've written a python module that encapsulates
> their Roku Control Protocol (RCP) so anything you can do with the remote
> can be done in a script.  Unfortunately, that does not include fine-grained
> track positioning, fast forward or rewind, so...
>
> Where you're going to having fun is synchronizing sound between clients, if
> you're looking for the "Whole House Experience." There's big $$ solutions
> that I'm not even thinking about trying
> (http://www.sonos.com/products/how_sonos_works.htm). There's got to be
> ways, but I haven't found them in my limited googling time. I suppose you
> could have a script that controls starting each track in the playlist at
> the same time on all clients so you'd be close but I doubt you'd be close
> enought if more than one client was in hearing range.
>
> If you don't care about synchronizing, the SoundBridge is easy to grab and
> take with you to another room. You'll want powered speakers so if you cart
> them all you'll want a basket to carry the 2-3 speakers, the unit and the
> power adapters. I just set up one set of speakers upstairs and another
> downstairs so the only thing that moves is the SoundBridge.
>
> On the server side, I use mt-daapd (apt-get-able) aka Firefly Media server
> (http://www.fireflymediaserver.org/) running on an NSLU2. Amarok sees and
> plays from the server just fine as well. Since it's light enough to run on
> a teeny ARM, I doubt you'd notice it running on any box that is always on.
> I've started ripping tracks in FLAC format and mt-daap transcodes them to
> mp3 on-demand so I get high-quality music archives that still play easily
> on most any client.
>
> Another popular option is SlimServer... Oops.. looks like it's
> SqueezeCenter now, and bought by Logitech:
>
>  http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html
>
> When I got it originally, it was a time-limited demo then pay for a
> license. Don't know if that's still the case, but I had problems with it
> hanging anyway. That, plus FireFly using standard DAAP (aka iTunes)
> protocol means just about anything can discover it and play media from it.
> When I was looking for what to set up, a lot of people swore by slimserver.
> I just found mt-daapd easier to get and keep running, GPL, a standard
> protocol, and it did what I want.
>
> mwa

Thanks Mark, Jason and Steve...

I took a look at the Roku, and it appears to be a 'Pull' system, eliminating 
any chance of synchronizing the rooms, so that's on the way back burner.  The 
Haupauge MediaMVP is also a 'Pull' system, but runs Linux, and might 
be 'talked to' in order to simulate a push, as Steve alluded to.  At first, I 
ruled that out for the same reasons as the Roku, but I'll do a little more 
digging to see if it's feasible.  The cost is reasonable on the MediaMVP ($85 
wired - $140 wireless) so doing 5-6 stations isn't a bank breaker.

The best thing I've found in theory, is the wireless Startech Airlink.  Very 
cost effective, and designed to transmit to several receivers.  But it's a 
2.4Gz system and prone to phone, microwave and other disturbances.

The more I look, the more I'm leaning toward several used small footprint pc's 
running Linux (besides, you can always use a spare Linux box ;-)  )  And I 
considered getting a couple ASUS eee pc's, which could be easily 'borrowed' 
for trips and such.  But again when looking at 5-6 of them, it seems like 
overkill.

As I said earlier, the synchronization is important (Music doesn't matter 
much, but I listen to a lot of audio books, and jumping around in a book, 
while going from room to room wouldn't work at all).

again, thanks for the feedback.  If I make any headway, I'll post back.  In 
the mean time, if anyone else has any suggestions, I'd still appreciate them.

Thanks, 
Dan
Finding a solution to a problem doesn't solve the problem...
Implementing the solution, solves the problem