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Embedded Linux In Onkyo's Home Music Server
Posted by
timothy
on Tue Jan 14, 2003 10:36 PM
from the heavy-duty dept.
from the heavy-duty dept.
IrateSurf writes "ExtremeTech has a story about a new use of embedded Linux from Onkyo, which runs a home music server. Their NAS-2.3 has a CD-player as well as an 80GB hard drive for storing music and streaming it to other players on the an Ethernet network. Also check out the web site for the NAS-2.3."
If only they would make it record radio, too ...
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Embedded Linux In Onkyo's Home Music Server
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Can it... (Score:1, Insightful)
they must be rich (Score:4, Interesting)
if each album takes 80megs about.. then the hd can hold 1000 albums... 1000 albums at 20$ an album is 20,000$ !
Who can afford to spend that much on music?
Other sources (Score:5, Insightful)
Check acidplanet.com mp3.com mp3.com.au spinwarp.com etc etc etc
Re:they must be rich (Score:4, Insightful)
Young people. 15 to 25, no mortgage or significant debt, a job, and lots of exposure via friends to help thin out the good music from the bad before buying...
I bought music from when I was 15 to about 28 yrs old, and didn't buy much compared to most of my music-fanatic friends. Since then, I've tapered off to a few cd's a year, plus a few more as gifts. I've got well over 100 tapes, 150 in vinyl, 250 cd's, and one 8-track (Abbey Road, don't ask why). And I repeat, I wasn't SERIOUSLY into music like several friends I had...
So, 1000 seems quite plausible. What's more, a lot of those I got via cheap sources: rummage & yard sales, used bins, friends, etc. Nowadays, I pick up a cd when I hear a good concert or live band in a bar. Since the night's bar tab has usually cost me a lot more than the $10-15 for the CD, I consider it a tip to a good band and a chance to reminisce later.
Round down to 15k (that's being charitable compared to your $20 per album), give me 1/5 the needed collection, and spread it over the last 30 years, and it seems laughably cheap... $100 a YEAR on average. Rich?! Shee-it, I spent more last weekend on sushi! Throw in the wife's similarly-sized music collection, not force me to waste a wall in my li'l house (not to mention portability like ipods and archos units have) and give me access to stuff that's only available on out-of-print vinyl and I'd probably start collecting old, good music like a fiend.
Why not wireless? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why not wireless? (Score:4, Insightful)
The consumer base (not more geek minded users) hasn't really started to adopt wireless in a major way, while they're getting into devices like this.
Archos Radio Recorders (Score:5, Informative)
See archos [archos.com] for devices that record raido directly into mp3. They have a hard drive and a smart media device that does that i beleive. Plus they keep the last 30 seconds of audio in memory in case the song you want has already started you can still get the begining.
-Foxxz
does it matter what OS it's running? (Score:5, Insightful)
It could run TRS-DOS for all I care as long as it gets the job done efficiently.
Article Text (Score:5, Informative)
That's pretty cool, but that's not all. Onkyo also sells a line of high-end gear targeted towards custom installations under its Integra brand. Onkyo offers products similar to the NC500 and TX-NR900, but with additional capabilities. What's most interesting, though, is the Integra NAS-2.3 Net-Tune Server.
At first blush, the NAS-2.3 seems like a CD player, but it also has an embedded 80GB hard drive. So now it appears to be like any number of digital music players on the scene. But the NAS-2.3 also has a 10/100 Ethernet port, and is capable of acting as a music server to a network of Net-Tune devices. Running on the Integra product is an embedded Linux operating system, which acts as the server software.
The NAS-2.3 can support up to 12 simultaneous streams to Net-Tune receivers or other clients. You can have different tracks playing in multiple rooms, move music to a PC, display a playlist on most types of displays (the NAS-2.3 has VGA, S-Video and composite video outputs) and can even connect up to CDDB to download track information on various CDs.
One other interesting aspect of the NAS-2.3 is the availability of an empty drive sled inside the box, allowing users or installers to add additional hard drive space. You can't use a standard, PC-formatted hard drive, according to Eric Harper, Integra's Custom Installation and Product Manager. The formatting is somewhat different, but a knowledgeable user or installer should be able to add another drive to the server.
So if you don't want the headache of building your own music server from a PC, then the NAS-2.3 can integrate into your home Ethernet network, co-existing quite well with your PC systems. It's an intriguing idea that embraces the PC network, rather than trying to remain isolated.
NNY News with a twist of lime [pajonet.com].
I'd like more TIVO like functionality (Score:3, Redundant)
Ogg (Score:3, Insightful)
RIAA Sez: (Score:2, Funny)
But recording off the radio could mean the end of the music industry as we know it!!
PCM Digital Out Though? (Score:2, Interesting)
The last unit from Integra (Made into an Onkyo brand) also offered digital out but only for MP3s. If you played PCM the digital out turned off! Anyone know if this unit does the same thing?
AFAIK iMerge UK is the only company that has given RIAA the finger and offers PCM digital out, oh, and their players are much cooler but also more expensive.
Recording Radio.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Rendezvous/zeroconf support? (Score:1)
It would be nice to see one of these new zeroconf enabled TiVo reading its music off one of these.
Input Sources (Score:4, Insightful)
Running gerbilware (Score:4, Insightful)
Yoko Ono? (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, ONKYO. Sorry...
Redundant hard drives? (Score:3, Interesting)
Until recently, audio gear manufacturers never had to worry about the storage media. When you bought the music, you bought a hard copy of that media (cd, record, tape...etc). I understand that these devices still require you to purchase the "hard copy" of the music, but do you want to re-rip 500 CDs just because your hard drive went clunk-clunk?
-ted
What I'm waiting for... (Score:2)
Anyone have any home brew devices in the works? Maybe now's the time to start
Protocol Specs? (Score:1)
Ethernet is great, but not if I have to reverse engineer the protocol in order to serve music to the receiver.
There is a reason they choose Linux . . (Score:5, Insightful)
Onkyo is smart for using Linux. Nearly all the Pacific Rim (Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, ect.) manufacturers are testing it or are ready to deploy because they don't need to pay out royalties per unit, can share innovations with each other, and can share data with each other's units over 100Mb Ethernet or 802.11x or whatever. The most important thing to remember is they don't need to spend huge amounts on R&D. Linux will become the Linga Franca of consumer electronics, unless Microsoft buys one of the big players and twists everyone's arm to go along. Maybe not even then, as the long term gains are too big. And most Japanese electronics manufacturers are thinking very long term.
And yes these babies are BIG! And HEAVY! At 110 RMS per CH. Thats 660 Watts out, all discrete. No output IC's. Not to mentions pre amp and video switching. Schwweett.
Inputs:
Audio and AV Inputs - 3/6
HDTV-Ready Component Video Input/Output - 2/1
Front-Panel Video Input (with S-Video) - Yes
S-Video Compatible Jacks Input/Output - 6/3
Digital Inputs:
5 Optical (1 Front Panel), 3 Coaxial
Digital Output - 2 Optical Amp In
RS-232 Control Port
IR In/Out - 1/1
Net-Tune details? (Score:1)
I've spent a substantial amount of time getting all my cd's onto my linux server (240 gigs worth! (flacs, not mp3s)). If I could get my machine to spew out my music using the Net-Tune protocol, Onkyo just might get some of my money!
-David
Onkyo and Sansui in the 80's (Score:1)
Dennis
Please market this in the UK too! (Score:2)
At last a networked digital audio recording and storage device that actually looks like a proper piece of hifi gear for the rack in the lounge.
While there are several units along these lines on the market now, they haven't really respected the basic ergonomic and stylistic standards for hifi separates in the modern home until now. This product seems to be the closest so far --- I want one, purchaseable here with a UK warranty!
Anyone know how the disc is formatted? (Score:1)
You can't use a standard, PC-formatted hard drive, according to Eric Harper, Integra's Custom Installation and Product Manager. The formatting is somewhat different, but a knowledgeable user or installer should be able to add another drive to the server.
Anyone know which format is used? I wonder if when they say you can't use a PC standard format, that maybe they really mean you cannot use FAT/VFAT/NTFS?? I certainly hope it is something standard so that you won't have to buy a second/replacement drive from Onkyo - I would imagine that their prices for a drive with a proprietary format would be much more expensive than a standard drive.
Looks pretty cool otherwise....I can definitely attest to the fact that Onkyo makes very solid audio gear. I have an older Onkyo receiver that I have had for almost 10 years, and I'm still impressed by the sound quality.
Onkyo NET-Tune supported formats & data rates (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.net-tune.net [net-tune.net]
From the Onkyo FAQ: [onkyousa.com]
While WAV, WMA, MP3 are supported formats, there are many variations of these. Please check that the bitrates used are compatible and if certain files will not play back, check the following: * The file must not be saved in a system folder, such as C:\Windows or C:\WINNT. * WMA file contains Digital Rights Management (DRM) which prevents reproduction on other devices. * The WAV file is not in RIFFWAVE format or is corrupt. Format Bitrate Sampling Frequency WAV(PCM) ---- 32k/44.1k/48kHz MP3 All 32k/44.1k/48kHz WMA 32/36/40/44/48/64/80/96/128/160/192bps 32k/44.1k/48kHz
Further, it uses DHCP to get an IP address. And needs ports 60096,60097. But that is of course all useless information until I actually find one of these machines.
Wonderful... (Score:1)
Rendezvous? (Score:1)
I don't want to rip all of my CDs into a box in my living room. I want to rip them into my home server and then stream and download them to different devices around my house.
Screw Ethernet - should've gone with Wifi (Score:1)
You might already have this! (Score:1)
An Audiotron and your computer make more sense (Score:2)
Networks are not just for web-browsing. They're also for sharing files, like those MP3's. And if you're going to have them somewhere, you might as well have them on your PC where:
(1) You can rip with that expensive Athlon or PPC processor using LAME
(2) There exist myriad MP3 control tools like id3tool and mp3gain
(3) Your portable MP3 player hooks up
(4) You may be downloading files from mp3.com or other places
(5) [Important] You have a chance of keeping the hard drive and fan whines away from your audio equipment
Thus, you want the home audio component you buy to simply get its music off the network. Audiotron and SLiMP3 do just that, which makes them the only reasonable such devices.
Between them, I prefer the Audiotron because it has digital output, which means I can use the expensive DAC in my receiver rather than the cheap one in the unit. The SLiMP3 is impressively flexible, though!
where to buy? (Score:1)
The good question is (Score:2, Interesting)
If not, I think this kind of item would be frustrating as I am likely to end up with a dream of doing something totally different with this embedded computer...
You know, some networked remote control for it for instance... arg... must... stop... thinking!
Re:why (Score:2)
Re:why (Score:4, Interesting)
1. space for all the connections in the back
2. power amp cooling. Driving serious power to multiple large speakers takes power. That heat needs to be dissipated.
3. It looks better
Re:why (Score:2)
Re:Last Post! (Score:1)
Your script is waaay too optimistic about the 'archiving' time...