Connectedville

Review – Songbird Open Music Player (Version 1.0.0)

2009-01-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hello Connectedville,

Here's another product review for you. This time I'll take a look at the new open source music player Songbird. Will it be the music player that overthrows iTunes? Read on and decide for yourself.

Summary
Songbird is an open source music player created by some of the minds behind Winamp and Yahoo! Music Search. As an open source project, Songbird has encouraged the development community to create add-ons and integrate services, and so far the features have been pretty impressive, especially since the player is available for free. In general, music players are fairly basic and are not expected to do much more than manage and play MP3s, but Songbird’s ability to transfer files to and from an iPod, provide rich information about artists and act as a download manager for online content puts it on another level.

Strengths

Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac
Large selection of Add-ons
Integration with online services (Flickr, YouTube and more)
Free!

Weaknesses

Apple iPhones, iPod Touch and Microsoft Zune devices are not yet supported
No UPnP or DLNA support
Music only player, no video
Crashed often
No CD ripping

Business Model
Free, open source – donations are requested

Description
Songbird is an open source music player created by some of the minds behind Winamp and Yahoo! Music Search. As an open source project, Songbird has encouraged the development community to create add-ons and integrate services, and so far the features have been pretty impressive, especially since the player is available for free.

Downloading and install was fairly painless – the download was 11.7 MB, and upon install, full scan of my files only took about 7 minutes (~6500 tracks). At first glance, Songbird is very similar to iTunes with a navigation tree, a cover-flow view, data based track listing, album art pane and player controls at the bottom. As a matter of fact, in the world of music players these basic features and controls have become standard, and Songbird would not be relevant if it didn’t have these components. I can say that Songbird delivers a very competent set of basic features and they all made sense in functionality and usability.

What makes Songbird stand out from the competition are the add-ons and service integration. Integrated services include Flickr photos, YouTube videos, Last.fm artist data and SHOUTcast radio. Add-ons include lyrics, Media-Flow (cover-flow view), browser-based searching (Google & Hypemachine.com), iPod support and more.

At first glance I was afraid the amount of add-ons and integrated services would make for a sluggish experience, but that was not the case at all. Unlike the latest cumbersome version of Winamp, Songbird loads fast, navigates through a large library quickly, plays and skips between tracks quickly, and the browser based applications move fast as well.

The list of add-ons and features is very large, so I focused on a small set of these for this review, choosing what I thought were the most relevant and desirable for the average user.

mashTape
The first add-on I downloaded for Songbird was mashTape, which is a combination of various online services and content. These are presented as tabs in a moveable pane. This was a real treat. Upon the playing of any specific track in my library I could check out the mashTape pane, which displayed:

Artist bio, discography and related links from Last.fm
Related album/artist reviews from Amazon editors and users
Related artist news from Google, Digg and The Hype Machine (a music blog aggregator)
A photo stream of user generated content from Flickr
Related artist videos from YouTube

Additional functionality allowed me to drag and drop photos from the Flickr stream to the album art pane, effectively changing the album art in my meta-data to that photo.

All of the links in any review or bio were clickable and brought up a browser within the application. This was especially great in the case of a blog article that included MP3 files. Not only could I read the blog, but another pane appeared that displayed a download manager and all the tracks that appeared in that particular blog. I could double click one of those tracks for immediate playback, or even better, click the “download” link and add it to my library! This was my favorite Songbird feature but one that I can see them eventually getting in trouble for – so I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

Album Art
The album art add-on is simple, but very useful. Using the Last.fm database, the album art for the currently playing track will appear in a separate pane. This was great for songs that I did not have album art for. If I ran across an “art-less” track, all I needed to do was drag and drop the image from the album art pane to the “drag album art here” pane – problem solved! The only draw back to this feature was that the Last.fm image was fairly small pixel wise, so it tended to be blurry if shown in a large view.

LyricMaster
The LyricMaster add-on was another great addition. Using data from two lyrics sites, Lyricsplugin.com and Lyricwiki.org, LyricMaster would find the lyrics for the currently playing library track and post them in a separate pane. This worked for most of my library. It also allowed me to add lyrics to the meta-data of any specific library track – then marking the track with a small icon as having lyrics in my list view. If lyrics were not found, an option was presented to search for them via Google in the player’s browser. This worked well to find missing lyrics, but there was no obvious way to add them to the lyrics pane.

Concert Info
Songbird also has an available add-on that provides local concert listings using data from SongKick. The add-on has an area for entering your city and state, and then local listings are available through clicking “concerts” on the left-hand navigation tab. Clicking the “buy tickets” link for the artist takes you to SongKick’s page where you can jump to either Ticketmaster or StubHub to make the purchase. Although the listings are a little light, seemingly only listing the major events in any given city, it is still a nice value add.

iPod Support
iPod support is an obvious add-on considering the popularity of the player, but it is not always done well (Media Monkey has put a plague of issues upon my iPod many times). My iPod synced quickly and it was easy to manage my playlists, edit met-data and add/remove tracks from the player. Editing meta-data did not create any weird doubling of data on my iPod (a common Media Monkey bug). A very nice facet of this add-on was the ability to copy tracks from the iPod to my desktop – iTunes does not even have this capability! However, not everything was peachy with this add-on. If I tried to copy too many tracks at one time, Songbird would crash. Also, changes made to album art through Songbird were not always showing up on the iPod, and in one case artist/song/album info changes appeared on a different track!?! Overall though, it is more important to me to be able to move tracks freely between my iPod and desktop, than to have album art for all tracks.

Conclusion
In my book, any application that’s free starts out in a positive light. After all, there’s got to be something about the product that’s worthwhile, and if it’s not a totally great piece of software, who cares? There was no money lost on it. The great thing about Songbird is that it starts from that point and soars upward in value. Sure, there are some bugs and it crashes more that Winamp or iTunes, but the software is still relatively new. By making Songbird open source, add-ons are coming in daily – I only tried a few but was very pleased with the usefulness. In general, music players are fairly basic and are not expected to do much more than manage and play MP3s, but Songbird’s ability to transfer files to and from an iPod, provide rich information about artists and act as a download manager for online content puts it on another level. I look forward to explore more of the currently available add-ons and can’t wait to see what’s coming next – I just hope they don’t get sued out of existence for content licensing issues.

Other Reviews for Songbird

CNET – 4/5 Stars
“…still a bit buggy, it's also a very fun app that's part music player, part Web browser, and all about music discovery, management, and playback.”

TechRadar.com
“…if you like the idea of a skinnable, customizable media player that combines your music library with the top online music services, then Songbird 1.0 should be winging its way to your PC.”

How Do You Create A Connected Home?

2009-01-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

All right, it’s meat and potatoes time. Now that I’ve piqued your curiosity about a connected home, there’s one big question hanging out there – How do you make it happen? First let me warn the techies out there, this is a basic primer for those who are new to this game.

Ok, let’s tackle the question of "how to?" Of course you could just hire somebody to connect your home – like one of those guys in the matching polo shirts at the electronics store – but that’s not you, you’re hands on! So, let’s break it down. We can separate the components you’re going to need into four categories:

File Storage
Here’s where you store all your digital media – music, video and photos. For most people this would be your home computer. However, keep in mind that to access your files the system needs to be turned on. Depending on your computer, this could use up a bit of power and be a little noisy. Another option is to store your media on a Network Attached Storage device (NAS). A NAS is a stripped down computer that is composed of a minor operating system and a big hard drive for storage. It takes a lot less power to operate than your desktop, and is usually a very discrete machine – running quietly in the background. All it needs is to be connected to your network either via Wi-Fi or hard-wired Ethernet, and loaded with your media files. Once this is done you will see it on other computers in your network – appearing much like an external drive.

Media Server
A media server is nothing more than a piece of software that finds out where your media files are located and serves them up to other devices. There are many media server software programs out there ranging in price and capabilities so have a look around. Once you choose your media server, download it and install it on your computer or NAS. Some NAS devices already have a media server installed so you might be able to skip this step.

Transfer Path
Now that you have your media files sitting on your computer or NAS, and your media server is running, you’ll need something to get them to an end device such as your TV. First, you’ll need a router. A lot of people already have a Wi-Fi router hooked up to their computer – this works great. Or, if you’re paranoid about the C.I.A. hacking into a wireless system, you can use a hard-wired router. The basic setup is that your broadband connection feeds into the router and the router feeds your computer and/or your NAS. Next, you’ll need to connect your router to a Digital Media Adapter (DMA). There are a variety of DMAs out there with makers ranging from D-Link to ZyXEL, but you may already have a DMA connected to your TV – example: a gaming console such as Xbox or a Playstation 3. Yes, the same machine that your kid has been driving you nuts with can be used as a DMA, feeding your media to your TV! All you need to do is connect your router to your DMA (gaming system) either via Wi-Fi or hard-wired Ethernet. Then connect the DMA to your TV. Most DMAs have a HDMI output, which I would recommend using, but you can also use a basic connection like a composite cable (red, white & yellow cable).

End Location
Some DMAs are an end location, such as the Roku Soundbridge audio player. But the main use case I’m focusing on here is the television – so we will call that our end location. To re-cap, you’ve got your media files on your computer/NAS, they have been detected by your media server, the computer/NAS is connected to a router, the router is connected to a DMA, and the DMA is connected to your TV. Guess what? You’re done! Turn your TV on; select the input you’ve got your DMA plugged into and start enjoying your digital media! The look of the DMA interface will vary depending on what type you’re using, but let’s use the gaming console example again (Playstation3). On the Playstation 3 main menu you will see the option the “Search for Media Server.” In your new connected home your computer/NAS is your media server, so click on that option and the console will find all your photos, music and video and you can now see them on your TV! In addition, you can run the audio out from the gaming console into your stereo receiver and listen to your music files, using the gaming controller as a remote – that’s a Two-Fer!

This is just a basic scenario intended to get the thought process rolling. Below are a few links to some of the devices I’ve mentioned above. There are many ways to connect your devices to each other, and many pricing options, so have a look around. But keep in mind; it’s easier than you think to have a connected home!

NAS Devices (with and without a Media Server)

Media Server Software

Digital Media Adapters

Review - Sonos Music System with iPhone Remote Control Application

2008-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

In addition to posts regarding how-to's and technical explanations, Connectedville will review various pieces of software and devices that relate to the connected home. If you have any comments or requests for future reviews, please let us know. This post will cover the Sonos Multi-Room Music System and the new Sonos iPhone remote application.

Summary

The Sonos Multi-Room Music System is a high-end alternative to in-wall, multiple room sound systems. The Sonos Multi-Room Music System is, in a word, awesome. The UI is super intuitive, the sound quality is great and the wireless performance is very strong. The only thing that keeps it from being a no-brainer is the cost.

Strengths
· Comprehensive audio file support
· Free iPhone/iPod Touch remote application
· Line-in support (CD, MP3 player, etc.)
· Support for Pandora, Last.fm, Rhapsody, Napster & Sirius

Weaknesses
· Very high price
· Non-DLNA compliant
· No internal storage
· No Wi-Fi connectivity to router
· No individual user profiles
· 65,000 track limit

Business Model

System is in components and sold separately or bundled. The basic Sonos system has a street price of $1000 and includes a controller plus two players (one with speakers and one without speakers). You can add additional Zoneplayers for $349 (no internal amplifier) or $499 (contains internal amplifier). A ZoneBridge (which connects your router to Zoneplayers wirelessly) and other bundles are available as well.

Description

The Sonos Multi-Room Music System is a high-end alternative to in-wall, multiple room sound systems. Having no internal memory, the Sonos detects digital music files on a home network (PC, Mac or NAS), and wirelessly shares them with all the Sonos Zoneplayers in a home; allowing control of playback, tone adjustment and volume of those files in each room equipped with a Sonos Zoneplayer. The Zoneplayers come in two varieties – the amplified 120, which just needs speakers connected, and the non-amplified 90, which needs powered speakers, or connection to an amplified receiver.

For this review I was using a combination of the Zoneplayer 80, 100, the CR100 remote control, and an iPhone equipped with the Sonos remote application. (It should be noted that the Zoneplayer 80 & 100 have since been updated to the 90 & 120 respectively - redesigned to be smaller, but the functionality is still similar.)

Setup

Setup was quick. After I connected the Zoneplayers to a power source (wall plug), the 80 was connected to a powered set of speakers, and the 100 was connected to an input of a Sharp Aquos TV and wired to a router via Ethernet cable. After all components were connected, it was necessary to reset their network detection – not only connecting them to the network, but with each other. Once the PC that was attached to the router was turned on, all my audio files appeared on the CR 100 control, I did not even have to direct the Sonos to my audio folder! In addition to recognizing my MP3 and AAC files, the Sonos system also supports less popular but important formats including FLAC and Ogg Vorbis (however, there is no support for WMA Lossless and WMA Pro). There is a 65,000-track ceiling on the Sonos system so folks with huge libraries would face limitations. The CR100 remote control never really turns off, but the start up time after it had a long rest was 7-10 seconds, and it took 1-2 seconds to start up using it regularly. The entire system set-up took no longer than 10 minutes and I was now ready to explore my music catalog.

Control Point

The interface of the CR100 is identical to an iPod scroll wheel, with all file info appearing on a 3.5-inch color LCD display. With such a nice LCD display, the first thing I wanted to do was use it as a touch screen – unfortunately, the CR100 does not have that technology. The CR100 has buttons for volume control, mute, skip forward/backward, play/pause, Zone choice and main screen. The UI was so intuitive that I needed no instruction. I easily added music to each Zoneplayer and had it running within seconds. With the CR100 I was able to tie the two Zoneplayers together, playing the same track simultaneously while adjusting each’s volume separately – or controlling both volumes together.

When it comes to control, I should note that the system also comes with a PC/Mac interface for the computer. All of the functionality of the CR100 is contained within this client.

Internet Radio & Online Service Integration

The Sonos system goes much deeper than just playing local music files. There are 15,000 Internet radio stations that are integrated into the system, organized by genre. It is also possible to enter your city and state, or a zip code, and have local stations presented to you. Of course it is possible to enter in a station name and the Sonos will search for it. This particular experience was not the best, as I had to scroll through the alphabet via the scroll wheel to enter in a station name.

New software upgrades to the Sonos include integration of music services including Pandora, Last.fm, Sirius, Napster and Rhapsody. I did not try the Sirius, Napster and Rhapsody services, as I am not a subscriber, but I do have Pandora and Last.fm accounts, so I gave them a try. The experience was fantastic! Unlike other integrations of these services, Sonos provides a full experience. I was able to set up streaming playlists based on artists or genres, and give the “thumbs up/down” and “love it/hate it” to tailor the playlists, just like the online interfaces of those services. The Thumbs Up/Down & Love It/Hate It features were available in full capacity via the iPhone Remote application (mentioned below) – but had limited capacity on the CR100.

As I utilized the Pandora & Last.fm services, entering in my username and accessing all my previously set stations, I realized that Sonos missed an opportunity to add separate user capability. The way it is currently configured, Sonos only allows for one username to be entered for these services. Perhaps they will adjust that in future software upgrades.

Analog Inputs

Sonos also incorporates analog audio inputs into the back panel of each Zoneplayer. This allows the user to plug in other audio sources such as MP3 players, CD players or even a pre-amp audio out from a stereo receiver.

Sonos Remote Control Application for iPhone/iPod Touch

Just recently, Sonos introduced a free application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that turns the Apple devices into a remote for the Sonos system. I downloaded the app onto an iPhone and gave it a try – I was very impressed. After the app had been downloaded, all I needed to do was direct the iPhone to the network the Sonos was attached to, and reset the network detection on any of the Zoneplayers. Download and setup took less than 3 minutes and I now had an extra remote for the Sonos system. What I soon discovered was that using the iPhone as a remote was better than using the CR100! Although the scroll wheel on the CR100 is great, having the touch screen interface and keyboard of the iPhone is even better. All of the CR100 functionality is included in the app, and some of it has been improved. For example, entering the name of an artist or radio station into the search window was much easier with the iPhone interface. Browsing through the artist list is made simpler by having the alphabet on the right side of the display. You just need to run your finger down the letters to get to the section you desire – very fast. Controlling volume in the various zones is also easier with the iPhone app. Instead of the rocker switch on the CR100, volume is controlled on the iPhone with a fader on the touch screen. This especially makes it easier to control the volume of the zones while they are playing the same source – bring up the volume of zone 1 on one fader, lower the volume of zone 2 on another and bring up the volume for both with a third fader. The overall performance of the iPhone application was so good that I would suggest buying an iPod Touch 8GB for $199 and using it as the primary remote for the Sonos system, instead of getting the CR100 for $399 – it’s not only cheaper, but you get all the extra features of the Touch as well.

Conclusion

The Sonos Multi-Room Music System is, in a word, awesome. The UI is super intuitive, the sound quality is great and the wireless performance is very strong. The only thing that keeps it from being a no-brainer is the cost. The most common price online is $999 for a bundle of the CR100 and two Zoneplayers (one 90 & one 120). Some deals throw in a charging cradle for the CR100, but it’s still pretty steep. I kept thinking about alternatives for a similar system like a couple of Roku Soundbridge’s and the Twonky Media Manager, which would price out at around $400 - $450. Not all the functionality of the Sonos would be represented (like synchronized playback), but saving $500 is pretty appealing. However, the Sonos goes on my “when I win the lottery” list for sure!

Related Reviews

Geek.com
“The Sonos represents the most elegant, powerful, and scalable system of its kind on the market.”

ZDNet.com 8.7/10
“Sonos continues to refine its excellent multiroom digital audio system--but the price remains high compared to alternative streaming audio products from Logitech and Apple.”

BoingBoing
“With the new free app, this might just be the best gateway into the Sonos system yet.”

VIDEO LINK - iPhone/iPod Touch Remote Application Demo

Welcome

2008-10-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and welcome to Connectedville, a forum for all things related to the Connected Home. You may asking, “Uhhh, what is a connected home?” Great question. If you look up “connected home” on Wikipedia, you’ll get this definition: “There is no page titled ‘connected home’.” Bummer. I guess that’s why we’re here.

The term “connected home” applies to the idea of bringing all of your media and gear together in harmony. You watch a recorded program on your TV, look at digital photos on your laptop, listen to MP3s on your mobile phone – but what if you could perform any of those actions on any of those devices – sharing media across devices and throughout your home? That’s what the idea of a connected home is all about.

In the not too distant past, it was about tricking out your shag-carpeted den with a stereo receiver, cassette deck, turntable, fancy EQ and if you were really fancy, an $800 compact disc player – hooking it all together with a handful of gold-plated RCA cables – sweet! Welcome to the 21st century. Now it’s seven-channel surround sound, high definition video, gigabytes of digital music and video files, desktops, laptops, MP3 player integration, online video and photos, Internet radio, digital photo frames – in more than one room!

It sounds daunting to get all that gear up and running smoothly all by itself, but to get it to talk to each other, share content and be interconnected? Get outta here! Have no fear friends, it’s actually pretty easy.

To acquaint you with this brave, new, connected home, future installments of Connectedville will talk address:

· Accessing your media, slideshows and playlists from any room in the house
· Viewing digital photos stored on your PC on your TV from the comfort of your couch
· Watching Internet video on your television
· Which products are essential in creating a connected home
· Tips and techniques for installation and implementation
· And best of all, impressing your friends with your super cool stuff!

It’s a big, fun toy store out there and we want to give you the keys! Come back soon and get connected.