Sunday, April 16, 2017

ITunes vs Windows Media Player & Co .: Music streaming in the network

Nowadays, it is no longer a challenge to provide your own music collection in the home network. On the one hand, more and more network-capable devices support the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and / or Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) standards. On the other hand, there are a number of interesting solutions that allow you to play your music collection on any device. The most common variants are presented in this article. Which solution you decide ultimately depends primarily on which equipment is available.


Streaming with Media Player and iTunes


To play the music collection stored on your PC over the home network, you do not necessarily have to install a server software. Because the streaming of music also works smoothly with onboard devices, as both the Windows Media Player integrated in Windows as well as the free Apple program iTunes are able to play music in the LAN / WLAN



Also interesting is


The only requirement is that the playback device supports the UPNP standard or - in the case of iTunes - Apple's AirPlay. You start the Windows Media Player, click through your media library to the desired album or song, click a song with the right mouse button, select Play on the context menu and specify on which device the music piece should be played. That works well with playlists.


Windows as a simple media server


Similarly, it works with iTunes, if your device has a device that supports Apple's AirPlay standard, such as an AirPort Express adapter connected to the stereo, or a receiver, such as the Yamaha RX-V475. Start iTunes, click Music, and then click the appropriate icon to select the speakers you want to use.


NAS as its own streaming server


Prima: If you own an iOS device, you can upgrade it to the full iTunes remote control with the free app Remote. Start the app, and then tap Add iTune Media Library. Click the code that you see in iTunes, by clicking on the iOS device on which remote is installed, enter the four-digit code and confirm with OK.


Ideal for: users who only want to stream music to the home network from time to time and who do not want to install a server on their PC.


Windows already comes with an integrated media server, which provides multi-media files stored on the PC in the network. However, this function is disabled in the basic setting. Switch to the Control Panel. Windows already has an integrated media server, which provides multi-media files stored on the PC in the network. However, this function is disabled in the basic setting. Go to the Control Panel, open the Network and Sharing Center, and click Change Advanced Sharing Settings in the left column.


In the Personal or My Computer area, under Media Streaming, click Select Media Streaming Options and confirm the following warning by clicking Enable Media Streaming. You can then specify which devices on the network are not allowed to access the shared media. To do this, click the Allowed button next to a device and select Blocked. Enter a meaningful name for the media library and exit the dialog with OK.


To stream the shared files over the network, start the playback device and click through the menu structure. Supported are, among others, smart TVs, Blu-ray players, amplifiers, multimedia hard disks, as well as the video game consoles Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. But also mobile Android, iOS and Windows Phone terminals can be complemented with the appropriate apps Streaming receivers. In practice, it is very useful that you can select the output device designated as Renderer in apps such as BubbleUPnP UPnP / DLNA (Android) and ArkMC (iOS) so that smartphones and tablets can be used as media server remote control


If a NAS system is integrated into your home network, you do not even have to turn on the PC to stream your music collection. Finally, all NAS manufacturers equip their network storage with appropriate streaming functions. Synology, for example, is the media server. After you have installed and started the application on your Synology NAS, the media server provides all of the default photo, music, and video files in the network, so that they are reproduced on all devices that support DLNA or UPnP Br>


In the configuration dialog of the media server application, you define the menu language, decide for a menu style, and specify whether Internet radio transmitters should also be received. Interestingly, the Synology media server also provides a transcoding function.


If your playback device is not able to play music formats such as FLAC, AAC or OGG, the application converts the files before playback. In the configuration dialog of the media server application you define the menu language, choose a menu style, Radiosender should be received. Interestingly, the Synology media server also provides a transcoding function. If your playback device is not able to play music formats such as FLAC, AAC or OGG, the application will convert the files to MP3 format before playback.


If the functions of the Synology standard solution are not sufficient, you should take a look at Serviio, the media server, which is described in more detail in the section "Versatile Streaming Server: Serviio". Because the NAS version of Serviio can not be loaded through the Synology standard sources, you need to manually expand the list of package sources. In the configuration interface, click Package Center, select Settings, and bring the Package Sources tab forward. Click Add, type a unique name for Name, and enter the URL for Location. Close all open dialog boxes with OK, and then click Refresh in the package center. You can find the packages offered by the source you just entered under


Also the Fritzbox streamt music


Ideal for: All owners of a NAS system who want to store their music collection stored on the network storage around the clock throughout the home.


A good alternative to streaming over a NAS system is the Volksrouter Fritzbox. On the one hand, it is already operating around the clock anyway, on the other hand, Fritzboxen already offer a Mediaserver function from the factory. The only drawback of this variant is that you have to invest money in a USB storage medium, since the Fritzbox offers little memory space. The decor is very simple. Copy your music collection to a USB storage device and connect it to a USB port of the Fritzbox. Under Home and Mediaserver, enable the Mediaserver feature, and type a meaningful name for the name. Then select which media sources are to be provided on the home network.


Versatile streaming server: Serviio


Interesting extra: If you use 1 & 1 on-line storage, the Telekom Media Center or Google Play Music to store your music collection in the cloud, you can also select the online storage as sources by clicking on the relevant entries under Media sources on the Internet and the access data enter. When you are finished, click on Apply, the Fritzbox media server starts and you can access your music collection with any UPnP-enabled device.


Ideal for: owners of a Fritzbox router who want to stream their music stored on a USB storage or in the cloud on the home LAN.


If you are looking for a vendor-independent streaming solution that provides your multi-media collection within the network, you should take a look at the free version of Serviio Media Streaming Server for Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and NAS systems from Synology Have. Serviio supports music, photos and videos, is capable of transcoding files on the fly and automatically loading missing information from the web.


Streaming server for Logitech devices


After the simple installation, where the server functions are set up as a Windows service, and the network is scanned for DLNA-enabled devices, start the Serviio console from Start, All Programs, Serviio, and Serviio Console. First, activate the English-language user interface by clicking on English in the Console settings tab, selecting the American entry, confirm with Save and close the Serviio console using the icon in the systray using the Exit Serviio Console command


Then, restart the console. In the Status tab, Serviio lists all devices that can be used as a playback media. Click on Update to start a manual scan. If you want to remove devices listed in the list, such as the PC on which the Serviio server is installed, select the corresponding entry and confirm with Delete. If a common device is used as a renderer, such as a PlayStation 3 or WD TV Live, you can assign a prefabricated profile to the playback media by clicking Generic DLNA profile in the appropriate row and selecting the device name.


You specify which data is to be made available on the network in the Library tab. Very good: You can not only select locally stored content. Files stored on network shares as well as online sources can also be included in the database. Click "Add local ...", navigate to the folder where your music collection is stored, and confirm with Open.


Then, click on the note icon to tell Serviio to stream only music from these folders. Save the changes with Save to start an initial test. If everything went well, add more sources. If it is a network resource, such as a directory shared on a NAS, click Add Path ... on the Library tab and enter the exact folder name. Ideal for: Users who want to share their entire multimedias in the network and want to stream over different devices.


The Logitech Media Server is designed exclusively for Logitech devices from the Squeezebox range - which has meanwhile been hired, but still highly coveted - as well as the current UE Smart Radios, which is available for Windows, Mac OSX, Windows Home Server, Ubuntu and Netgear ReadyNAS Available. Synology and QNAP provide specific versions of the Logitech Media Server, which are installed directly through the NAS's own application administrators. The Logitech Media Server provides all the songs that have been added to the program library throughout the network. Very good: The functionality can be expanded to include plug-ins, which are partly free of charge.


The setup is not particularly complicated since you only need to specify in which folders the multimedia files that are to be made available network-wide are stored. You can then access your music collection using a Squeezebox or a UE Smart Radio. The Logitech Media Server interface can also be opened in the web browser, using the IP address of the computer on which the server is running, and the port 9000.


Ideal for: Owners of a Logitech device from the Squeezebox or UE Smart Radio series that want to play their music on the home network.

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