Media Media.. enough all ready. Lets get Outside abit.

We seem so excited by all these technologies... and they are quite cool I must admit. The record player, to tape, to cd, to IPods and Media Centers... but there is some assumption that we have time to listen and watch more.

Many of the new technologies are bundled inside computers and though they give a wonderful interface, they also bring another computer into your life. With that comes all the maintenance, protection planning, backup, organization of files, security and everything else.

Now, ok, admit it, it is pretty fun for a while getting things to work together and moreover to organize your music and more.

Maybe I am getting tired, but I will admit tht I have been listening to the Public Radio station more than the organized music library. For one thing, I like to hear some intermittent news, to hear music I have not heard before...

I also note how much TIME it takes to get computers going. Unfortunately I end up running about 3 Workstations and Laptops, plus another 4 Servers and it wears on me. And here I am typing again.

Enjoy your life. Include Computers in that, but don't let them dominate it. They are just tools and we only have so much time. We need to get out and hike some trails and enjoy the seasons too.

Media Client s WMP9, WMP10 w/ Twonky Media Server (UpNP)

I have been working on Implementing Client and Media Server subjects at home. Basically I want to have one (small) library, and access it from other points in the house. I have researched the situation in perspective to the hardware I ALREADY HAVE and have found some good ways to get it done.

UpNP appears to be the defacto standard for sharing Media at home. (Universal Plug and Play) and it seems built into Windows Media Services as well as Internet Radios, NAS Media Servers etc. That said I am a Win2K user most of the time. UpNP is not native or seemingly supported in Win2K by Microsoft. This means I can't use any version of WMP above 9... so that is what I am using. It took a bit, but it is working quite well now that I have done some work, which is cool. The trick, in general is getting a Server and Installing On2Share Pro for WMP and/or WinAmp (not On2WMP)... This brings UpNP to wmp9 (10 also?)

WMP 11 has built in support (they say) for UPNP. WMP 10 on my XP laptop seemed easier to control than WMP11 did, so I downgraded to there.

Maybe I was hasty, and quite possibly, I got the UPNP support for WMP10 in the deal as I don't think I could access the media servers before that (need to verify this). This really seems like it became a Windows Service, so if I could just get such a service on Win2K.

But WMP 9 works very well w/ UPNP if On2Share Pro is loaded. It basically does the same thing as the Windows WMP service in XP... maybe better. Right now, I see that WMP10 can't read the directory of songs wll, the way that WMP9 w/ On2Share. It can "invoke" the server still. I now need to figure out how to access the directory tree in WMP10...

So back to Win2K. I really like WMP 9 on this machine as well as 10 on XP... they seem identical from first view.

Probably need to upgrade to XP on more machines... but it all ads up. I have it on 2 now. That is enough. It is not the interface, but what you get done that is important.

All for a little music..

JRiver Media Center

As I noted in my last posting, I have been testing sofware based Media Servers at home. I got J-River Media Center installed, and eventually I got it to show up in WMP9. Unfortunately, soon after Twonky was not available in WMP9... likely they are running into each other.

Concurrently, JRiver, without prompting, started playing randomly as a Media Player (like WMP).... Concurrently but the client access via WMP was very difficult.

Still, on the Server, J-River has very different interface.. lots and lots of choices, fast, smooth, really cool, but all the while it was not really configurable in the first 15 miniutes.

On the Down side, the server gives much slower response on WMP, which seems to indicate the server itself is slow. It is seemingly still loading.

Definitely some issues here... (interlude)... ended up stopping the J-River server and going back to Twonky and WMP w/ On2Share... Too bad... I really like the interface and the "client" side of things.

Impression #1: J River Media Center is a very nice interface and is probably the best STAND ALONE system I have seen. Seems to integrate everything from I-Tunes, WMP, Twonky and even On2Pro, in that it is both a Server and a Client.

That said, it probably wants to work SOLO!!

As a server it did not serve very well yet.
As a Client, it took over WMP till I shut it off.

All the while, now JRiver is off.
WMP is somewhat more Active.
Twonky is somewhat unruly, but I can play the songs and I don't need to look at the Twonky interface itself very much. (It is buried in lots of NAS players I understand).

Will have to look at alternatives to On2Share as a control point... It works for now. Better pay up after my 2 days test.

Like I said, back to those other projects.

Setting up a Home Media Server

Well, I never logged into Kazaa or Napster or any of that, but now that the remodel is coming towards an end I started to think about our Music and Media systems.

It all started w/ the I-Pod that came w/ our new car last year...and now I want to get the stereo system working and I am tired of the mess of all the CD's can cassettes and all that. Unfortunately, the laptop at the stereo after all it is not the best place for making MP3 files on the fly, why not a SERVER.

Enter the realm of "what to do"... I ended up finding references to a few shareware servers, and I have been testing them out with pretty good results. J-River is about to restart this computer. TwonkyVision On2Share All eventually work with both Windows Media Player (9 and up), as well as Win Amp.. On2 Share is the Cheapest, but somewhat most valuable, as it gets Win2K WMP9 working (as well as WinAmp). Twonky has been working as a server (though it has messed somewhat w/ ITunes functioning). J-River, initially would not download, but I found out it was our Cable Modem connection,,, now it looks great.


OK, Rebooted.
JRiver Has a wonderful Interface on the Server.... I just can't find the server from any of the clients. Aargh.

One note: Get Primsleur Language CD's and load them in your media library. This will give you tremendous potential for studying in a more natural environment.... do so when no one else is around...

For now: Twonky Vision is working as a server... On2Share also seems to work as a less elegant server... but does combine Server and Client capabilies.

One irritation w/ On2Share.. It has a 14 Day trial period that has seemingly expired in 2 days... Aargh.

Now back to the client setup.. How can I find JRiver... I like the server interface. It is "ALL" about interface these days isn't it.

Other work to do really... and it won't be the client.

More to follow.