Going digital

[Siduhe]

And I thought Squeezebox was effectively dead now?

Well, Logitech has certainly done its best. And yes, I wouldn't recommend it as a long term solution now, but you can pick up Classic/Radios pretty cheaply, a Vortexbox is a plug and play server solution, so it would be a fairly easy way to start with a more full featured digital system than just an NAS/streaming amp solution.

There's still a fairly active long term developer [and beta test community, including me & ruffers] and Squeezeserver is open source, so it probably won't disappear completely - just get less accessible. Shame, as it was a great product line.

[edited for sense/stray tag]

[rodneybewes]

If you have a bit of dough then you can't really beat the Sonos/Synology Nas/Google Music route. Expensive though...

[tommyk2000]

I happened to write about this for something else recently. My take...

I recently had a complete digital overhaul and as part of it, I stopped using physical and stored digital media to listen to music, entirely. I also drastically minimised my home listening set-up. To preface this, it should be known that I am an amateur musician and the son of a sound engineer. I am deeply into music and have an acute ear for sound quality. This process required a rethink of the things I actually value, music-wise. These being:

- New music, which I can hear for free on the radio, soundcloud, youtube, podcasts etc.

- Live music, which I can also sometimes hear for free or pay for tickets from money saved by not buying CDs/downloads (I do not illegally download).

- A minimal set of possessions: CDs and elaborate HiFi do not fit in with this.

- Digital ?neatness?.

- Cost: I am a mature student and not made of money. At the time I was spending ?200 a year on iTunes etc., and also sitting on expensive audio equipment and dusty CDs.

- Last but not least, sound quality.

The first thing I did was to sign up to Spotify premium, which works out at ?120 a year for all the music I?ll ever need, and allows me to stream or save 320kbps tracks on whatever device I choose (mostly iPhone for me). I systematically worked through my music library and CDs, adding my favourite albums to Spotify. This was tedious but often enjoyable listening. I got rid of a lot of dross this way. Anything I couldn't find was uploaded to a cloud storage service. This was very little music in the end and mostly obscure stuff that wasn't in my regular listening. I also made a playlist of all this material and exported a PDF track list which I can glance at as an aide memoir. I also kept about 10 irreplaceable and emotionally precious CDs.

Equipment wise, I was mostly sitting at a desktop PC using active monitors, because I thought that was the proper way to listen to music, and fancied myself as an audio buff. I was also tied to the computer with my iTunes library on it. There was an expensive (ish) and neglected HiFi in the living room, and a load of CDs that never got played. There was also a posh little DAB radio and a cheap but loud, old HiFi in the kitchen.

Thinking into how I actually wanted to listen music I realised that this was totally incompatible with my ideals. I didn't like being a hermit in front of my computer with the monitors, they sounded amazing but were very revealing of any bad recordings, low bitrates etc. I also never found the time to sit back in the lounge and listen to the HiFi, also because it involved using CDs or syncing new music to my phone and plugging in. The HiFi in the kitchen was too big and loud for the counter. In fact all three systems were too powerful for reasonable home use, and I've grown out of really cranking it at home anyway. I was also finding myself tempted to play music too loud, just to reveal the performance of my various speakers. I found myself suffering 'musical fatigue' and not really appreciating the added impact of live music.

What I really wanted was to be able to listen to music from something sweet-sounding, normally at a low to moderate volume. This honestly makes up 90% of my listening, and I'm sure this goes for most people. I also wanted it to be portable, so as not to require speakers everywhere and duplication of systems in order to move music between rooms. So, I flogged my HiFi, CDs, monitors, DAB and PC and pocketed a good wedge of cash. Using a little of this wedge, I bought a tiny Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth speaker, total: ?170. I also got a very basic ?Chromebook? laptop, which I do not use for music. My phone is now my music player.

How's it working out? I couldn't be happier. I am free from my desk, In-fact I downsized to a tiny bureau thingy. The little speaker sounds amazing and fulfils all my home listening needs. I don't get tired of listening to it because, although it?s clear-as-you-like, it's not harshly revealing. Neither does it need to be driven hard to sound good. It doesn't shake the house if turned up a bit (a good thing) but is surprisingly loud and bassy. I have more space, very few wires, no clutter, and I can move about the house without changing systems. I use my iPhone for all music, I like having a single device for everything playback related and I'm less distracted without a music app open on the laptop. I have more money for gigs, and I am discovering new music all the time because I'm less reliant on listening to an archive. New music = cheap gigs. I also really like the added excitement of seeing music live, at full volume; it sounds LOUD again :)

The following other apps really help me out:

- TuneIn Radio: The best radio app, unbelieveable amount of stations and content.

- Podcasts

- Soundcloud

- Shazam: music recognition app.

- WhoSampled: database of sampled tracks

- BBC iPlayer

- Mixcloud

- Box (cloud storage)

- Not an app, but a personal playlist in YouTube for random tracks not on Spotify (recently found out YouTube will do 512kbps!)

Any drawbacks? Not really! Occasionally I want to listen obnoxiously loud, but I also have some good headphones which don't wind the neighbours up. I put the cheap old kitchen HiFi in the basement to use for house parties, although we've had several gatherings using just the little Bose and it's been fine.

Looking back at how I used to listen, I realise now that it was more about what I was told I needed, rather than what I really wanted. I was told that I needed CDs, floor-standers and a big amp. I was told that I needed monitors to really hear what's going on. I was told I needed 200GBs of MP3s. None of this really added to my enjoyment of music, although it was all the 'pro' way to do it at the time. Granted, some of the technology and services I?m using in this new arrangement are very recent innovations.

It's interesting that I have arrived at a very minimal and 'consumer' set-up, but that I am enjoying music more than ever. Well perhaps except for when I got my first tinny little radio as a kid, and that says it all really. The idea of physically 'owning' music is really quite strange when you think about it, even more so the idea of trying to replicate the excitement of live music in one's home. I am fickle and a bit of a geek, but I am certain that this lightweight set-up is a step in the right direction.