OK, so time has come to really sort out the house system. I'm not entirely up to date with the state of the various client/server combinations, so I would welcome any recommendations/views/comments you might have. Here is my requirement/wish list:

- server *must* be Linux/*BSD-based
- there are web tablets or computers in all rooms with Receivers, so use from Receiver user interface is a secondary concern
- ability to syncronize receivers would be nice
- alarm clock functionality a plus
- I would *really* like to be able to use the receivers as an announcement/PA system as well - both broadcast (same sound file to all Receivers or group of Receivers) and to individual Receivers

Pipe dream?

Julf

Well, looks like you've had a go with xPLRioNet before...but as of the v3.8i (21-Oct-04) version, it has the following:

• Support for Rio, ExStreamer, SliMP3, MVP and WinAmp.
  
• Multi Unit MVP support.
  
• Built-in customizable web interface.
  
• Support for MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC and OGG.
  
• Support for synchronizing multiple Rio's
  
• Shoutcast support (including support for DabBar/Wavefinder MP2 streams)
  
• Text-to-speech announcements (via xPL messages)
  
• On-screen messages (via xPL messages) e.g. for caller ID etc.
  
• Generates Pronto/Pronto Pro csf files (for quick album/artist/playlist selection)
  
• Generates Voice Recognition files (for use with xPLRioNetTTS and xPL_Voice)
  
• Uses any ODBC-compliant database (ships with a Microsoft Access database)
  
• Can be fully controlled and monitored using xPL messages
  
• Installs as a Windows service using Microsoft .NET technologies
  

I realize it is not Linux based, but... there are some efforts of developing Linux applications of the xPL platform, perhaps xPLRioNet will come along there too...?!?

Given the feature set of this latest version, I'm pretty excited about rolling this out at home--including synching players.

I'd say consider it again...

Cheers,
Tim

There are posts about YARRS and Ampache.

Let us know what you do. I would like to setup a server on one of those Linux based NAS boxes (NSLU, KuroBox, etc).

YARRS is just perl so could be made to serve FLAC (if there's a perl module like MP3::Info)

Streaming is really a client issue.

I have a linux/perl server (rougly based on Jeff Mock's original and Yarrs) but made to run off iTunes data. IOW iTunes is used to encode and control the music/playlists and then I can play this on any of the Rios around the house.

I'd like to add streaming support, alarm clock functionality etc for the client, so I'm looking at alternatives, but no solutions yet.

No, sorry, you've jumped to one conclusion too far:-)

I use iTunes to encode everything (with iTunes LAME) and all the music is stored on the linux server (NFS shared to the Mac/PC). My scripts parse the XML backup file and make the appropriate files for my server to hand out to the Rio Receivers (and also .M3Us to update the RioCar) via Apache and perl CGIs to read these files.

I check nightly if anything has changed and rebuild if required, but a cold reboot of a Rio will initiate a rebuild if any change is detected.

It's not perfect, I'd rather the rio server (the perl CGIs) could simply access the real iTunes data directly without any inbetween 'rebuilding' of additional data files, but that is much trickier (probably beyond my capabilities). However, it does work. So I use iTunes to maintain the music and all that music and any iTunes playlists are (nearly) immediately available to all the Rios.

The biggest problem at present is detecting any changes. It used to be easy since I only had to check for any change in the XML file size, but Apple now write 'usage' info every time you play anything which scotched that idea. I'm still looking for the definitive answer to that one.

Anyway, sorry to disappoint you.

There is a perl flac module available as part of Slimsever. However, I have not done any investigation as to how to implement it though, as I am not much of a program.