Download music for linux

The Home Network In our CES coverage, we noted that all the major consumer electronics companies had gotten home networking religion. Some, like Panasonic, are trying to spin it with semi-proprietary network connections. Others, like Onkyo, are using common networking standards to achieve their goals.

One of the more interesting products we saw at CES was the Integra NAS-2.3. (NAS stands for Network Audio Server.) Integra is Onkyo's premium brand, targeted at the custom installer market, rather than the retail sales channel. If you think of Integra is to Onkyo as Acura is to Honda, and you won't be far off. Onkyo shipped us a NAS-2.3 and an Integra 8.3 THX Select certified receiver so we could check out their version of the home media network. Onkyo's vision of the home media network is called Net-Tune; the NAS-2.3 acts as a Net-Tune server. The Integra 8.3 receiver has a built-in 10 megabit Ethernet port, and can act as a Net-Tune client.

The NAS-2.3 was actually designed by the UK firm iMerge, under their XiVA technology licensing umbrella. XiVA provides a reference platform and customized software for their partners. Onkyo provides distribution, first-line support and marketing muscle. The XiVA platform is based on an embedded version of Linux, but a user will never see a command prompt.

The purpose of the NAS is to act as a music server. You copy your CDs onto the built-in hard drive. You can then play back your music either locally, through a direct audio connection, or through a local area network over CAT5 cable. The NAS is different from other music servers, in that it can feed up to 12 independent audio streams out to different Onkyo or Integra Net-Tune clients. In other words, it's designed for multi-room operation, unlike many similar devices.

The two Integra components were connected into a home theater setup. The speakers used for listening tests were Definitive Technologies BP2004 bipolar power towers, set about eight feet apart and toed inwards slightly.

Setup and Installation

A quick glance at the front of the NAS-2.3 reveals a clean, black front panel with a few buttons neatly laid out and a small LCD display. It looks much like any home CD player initially, until you notice the USB port in the lower left side of the front panel. Setting up the NAS-2.3 hardware is much like setting up a CD player, except that the rear panel has a few extra connectors.

When you examine the rear panel more closely, you see a few extra connectors not present on a typical CD player. Gracing the back panel are Ethernet, USB, VGA, modem, and video connectors, in addition to the usual mix of RCA analog and digital audio connectors. In addition, an IR input port, a "data" port and an RS-232 port exist, mostly for use by installers who want to integrate the deck into a multiroom A/V setup.

We set up the Integra DTR-8.3 receiver into our home theater rack, and then connected the NAS-2.3 via the standard audio connectors. We also connected the NAS to several different monitors, to test out that capability. It worked fine with a digital flat panel, through the VGA port, and to an NEC front projector through the S-Video port. We also used the Integra receiver as a video switcher, and the NAS integrated with that as well. We fired up the unit, and started the software setup process -- something that definitely doesn't exist in other home CD players.

One of the key setup screens configures the NAS for our home network. We're linked directly through a broadband router to a cable modem connection. We don't have any dial-up internet access in our Sunnyvale lab. That was a problem, because the current software for the NAS assumes you're on a dial-up line.

It took us a bit of fiddling and a couple of hints from Eric Harper, the product manager for the NAS line, before we were connected directly to the broadband network. Finally the NAS picked up an IP address from our router via DHCP, and we were off and running.

You can use your existing Internet account, whether it's dial-up or broadband. However, Onkyo/Integra doesn't assume you have an ISP. Alternatively, you can sign up with an Integra-approved ISP, but you get charged six cents per minute for connection time. Note that people who use AOL or CompuServe as ISPs are not supported, so will need to use the built-in account.

The NAS uses the Internet to download album information from Gracenote (CDDB). The internal software can also connect to XiVA's portal, though the current feature set is limited. Onkyo and XiVA do talk up future capabilities, like being able to connect to buy concert tickets, buy CDs and other music-related commerce.

Once we were connected to the network, we began the process of ripping our CD collection to the NAS-2.3. Note that this process is performed on the unit itself -- as we'll see shortly, it's really a PC on the inside. You don't need a separate computer to RIP the audio from the CD onto the NAS's internal hard drive. The unit has several different audio quality settings, including 128Kb MP3, 192Kb MP3 VBR, 320Kb MP3 and 44.1KHz/16-bit uncompressed. The default is 320Kb MP3, which allows the NAS to store approximately 524 hours of music. If you want your music uncompressed, then the NAS can store well over 100 hours of listening pleasure.

Once you've got the quality set to your preference and the network set up to your preferences, then it's time to start ripping music.

Ripping CDs onto the hard drive in the NAS is probably its weakest aspect. The NAS has a somewhat anemic processor (more on that in a bit), so ripping a typical CD, assuming you're using compression, typically takes 8-12 minutes. If you've got 100 CDs to copy to the NAS, that could take fifteen hours or more. Still, once it's done, you don't have to do it again. Note that there's no provision for backing up your music if the hard drive dies. You cannot copy the music to another NAS, nor to a PC. Since the internal optical disc drive is a CD-ROM drive, you can't burn CD's either. If the hard drive should fail and have to be replaced, you'll need to rip your music collection over again.

At this point, it's worth talking about the remote that's supplied with the NAS.

The remote has specific keys dedicated to NAS functions; pressing the key labeled "Playlist" brings up a list of your playlists. While it's possible to perform these chores by using the tiny LCD on the unit, it's far easier to use a PC monitor or TV screen for the purpose. The NAS has an excellent "10-foot" interface. You can manipulate the music in the playlist, or in individual albums, as if they were all one massive CD. The remote even has some limited support of other devices, such as receivers or TVs, provided that codes for those devices exist in the remote's memory.

Assuming the NAS is connected to the Net, it will then connect to Gracenote (aka CDDB) and download information on the CD in the drive, provided that CD has been entered in Gracenote's database. As you would with PC-based digital music software, the NAS downloads track names, track length, artist info, and cover art.

We ripped a few albums onto the NAS, then created a couple of playlists using the NAS's handy remote. As we mentioned previously, ripping CDs is a one-way trip. The internal CD drive is not a burner, so you can't burn CDs from the content you created -- at least, not from the NAS.

Then we proceeded to the next phase: listening to music.

We used the default setting of 320Kb MP3 to copy the music to the music server from CDs inserted in the CD drive. Next, we simply connected the server directly to the receiver using RCA audio cables. The NAS would play either a CD in the drive, or music that had been previously ripped from the internal CD drive. Although it was difficult to perform timely A/B tests, we did try to listen to the same source material from the original CD, and the version on the hard drive.

To our ears, the differences in the two versions were essentially indistinguishable. We recorded a variety of music, including acoustic and vocal music. It all sounded quite good. So we knew the direct connection worked well. Now it was time to put the network to the test.

We moved the DTR-8.3 receiver upstairs. As ExtremeTech readers know, we have CAT5e wiring strung throughout the house (see "Building the Home Network: Wires Rule". We attached an Ethernet cable to the receiver, and then fired it up. The DTR receiver is set to DHCP by default; using the touchscreen remote, we switched to Net-Tune mode. Within a couple of minutes, the receiver had found the NAS-2.3 and connected to it. We could specify a selected artist, album, or playlist through the receiver itself.

The one-line display on the Integra receiver presented some information, but if you have the receiver attached to a TV or projector, you can see the entire, text-based interface.