Use iBroadcast, use Plex.
@106rallye
I have just found iBroadcast. What do you think of it?
Western Digital recertified store, a small NAS is quite cheap on the website. When available the 2TB model in the UK is £45 and more than enough room.
@106rallye
IBroadcast is up and running. May not be exactly what I want….BUT IT WORKS, my music out of my sonos system at last. I can now look for a more permanent system.
@Belly M
When you say “a small NAS” are you referring to WD Cloud units ?
@106rallye
IBroadcast is up and running. May not be exactly what I want….BUT IT WORKS, my music out of my sonos system at last. I can now look for a more permanent system.
@Belly M
When you say “a small NAS” are you referring to WD Cloud units ?
Yes anything they label as a NAS, this is the MyCloud Home
https://www.westerndigital.com/en-gb/products/recertified/cloud-storage/my-cloud-home-recertified?sku=RWDBVXC0020HWT-EESN
@Belly M
Please pardon my ignorance with respect to networks and NAS drives.
Am I right to think that one of these plugged into my router or office hub will allow me to copy my music library across and then Sonos will play it just as if was on my USB drive plugged into my BT Smart Hub 2 router using SMB V1. I assume the WD unit will be SMB V 2 or better?
Sorry to be a pain!
Yes a NAS will do exactly that, SMB versions is not an issue on new(ish) equipment especially a NAS.
I still have an old WD MyCloud bought as re certified a good 10 years ago and that’s running SMB 2, it’s no longer supported but continues to serve music tracks.
There is still an outstanding issue with compilations with Sonos showing multiple entries for a single album.
@Belly M
Cheers
Getting my music back up and running was / is the main issue.
Would you suggest a WD unit or are there other options that would be suitable?
I only suggested the WD as they are cheap and do the job which is quite basic. If buying for other purposes I would get one from Synology.
@Belly M
Many, many thanks for your help and assistance.
WD it is then.
I will leave you in peace to enjoy the rest of your day.
This assumes you have a Windows PC…If you end up with a WD NAS map the Shared Music folder to your computer then copy your USB library to the Shared Music folder ( A Western Digital default folder. At least on mine ).
I have a Roon sub that I use for serious listening with wired speakers, DAC, Integrated Amp et al. I can stream Roon from my server to my Arc, sub and surrounds for casual listening. Best of both worlds, so far.
ROON is great for controlling a number of different brand streamers. Had it for a year. Now I just use MinimServer to serve up my music library to KEF & WiiM. Sonos indexes the library from the same NAS location. Also LMS for SqueezeBox players ( WiiM included ) also from the same NAS location. Another option used is Linn’s Open Home for the Sonos Port ( UPnP-not gapless. Open Home-gapless ). None of these as universal as ROON, but no SQ loss issues caused by ROON processing. LMS-SqueezeBox = best SQ.
I like iBroadcast - it works at least. The music quality on the free version is only so-so though.
@106rallye
I uploaded everything in FLAC, took a while, but it is there if I decide to stay with iBroadcast and move to the paid service.
As you say it does work.
I am currently following @Belly M comments and looking at the WD cloud home units.
I had a 512GB USB drive plugged into the back of my BT Home Hub (probably the UK’s most popular router) which was rendered unusable in May by the app update and the Samba change.
I’ve resurrected this with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with not much effort and at a cost of about £45 ($60). It draws 2W in power, and delivers almost the same functionality as the £600 ReadyNAS NV+ I started out with about 15 years ago, in a tiny low-power unit.
if it would be useful I’d be happy to lay out the steps.
@healthily_skeptical
ibroadcast is “working”, but I feel I am being short changed as I am not “in charge” i.e. I am reliant on iBroadcast working.
I looked at the Pi route, but ended up not being able to give it enough time to get my head around everything.
I would appreciate any guidance and support you could offer.
Cheers
@GMR Here’s my two pennies worth…
I too was in a similar situation and looked through all the options as well.
I did go down the SMB (Single Board Computer) of which Raspberry Pi and Arduino are example.
I went for an Odroid HC2 using linux free OpenMediaVault. I am not familiar with Linux but managed to get it working and by using an old Hard drive i had a working solution. I learnt a lot but would I do so again… the answer is no. Too much fussing about and doing things with blind faith.
The next options I considered was buying an old Corporate computer from ebay, such as an old Dell corporate machine, attaching an old drive or memory stick and using that. Old pcs can be had from £50. It’s quick and easy and can be expanded in the future to include more storage. It’s not as quiet or small as a NAS but does the same thing.
In the end I went for a NAS as I wanted a solution to back up ALL my files not just the music. I am very happy but it was not cheap, especially when factoring in new HDs. Been running 3 years now and never an issue.
@bockersjv
I have a history of upgrading computers, so the bits and pieces are not an issue for me. I did look at running an old mini Lenovo PC, but people say its a bit overkill just for the music.
A Pi Zero is overkill but after a few minutes setup it just works.
@Stanley_4
Any guidance would be appreciated now the dark nights are moving in. Plenty of time to “tinker”.
A Pi Zero is overkill but after a few minutes setup it just works.
Overkill in what way? Power consumption at 2W. Cost less than $60. Smaller than a credit card and less than 1cm high. I’m keen to hear what’s cheaper to buy and/or run that that.
$60 for a Pi Zero? A Zero W (with WiFi) is about $15. Add a spare USB power brick and SD card and you are at about $20. Even the original Pi is more than enough.
As I said (in relation to the mention of overkill in the post above mine) the Zero is overkill, it has more RAM and CPU than is needed to stream music. I haven’t tested above four FLAC CD quality streams, that with the PI OS GUI running was using about 10% of the CPU for the Samba share options. Media Vault would likely be a few percent higher.
mini Lenovo PC, but people say its a bit overkill
I did a couple options for using a Pi a while back, they are not updated recently but should still be pretty close.
Live Journal: Stan https://stan-miller.livejournal.com/
A Pi Zero 2 W + card is £20 in the UK plus a power supply at £8, a case and a micro-to-USBA shim for the existing USB card you get to £45 with VAT (sales tax).
I’m not too fussed about under-using the processor at that price. I mainly care about size and power consumption as it will be on all the time.
I’ll look up your lower power options.
