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Question on EV Linn Driver and how it handles itunes playlists


wappinghigh

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Posted

First of all let me say how really cool it is to be able to switch between Sonos<>Linn from the one Control4 interface :)

But as you all know Sonos can't handle anything above 16/48 resolution. So I have been playing all my HiRez tracks via the LinnDSi

I have all my HiRez tracks stored in my itunes library...even though they can't be played in 24/192 etc from itunes (I don't use a USB DAC with Amarra or Pure Music) ...I still store them all the same in iTunes for convenience

I have grouped all these Hirez tracks in a separate itunes playlist called HiRez (for easy access)

Prior to getting the EV driver I was accessing this playlist and streaming them to the LinnDS using Kinsky.... by following the path itunes>playlists>HiRez

When scrolling through the menus using the Linn EV Driver, I can't seem to find the itunes playlists. Even if I move By Folder>iTunes>iTunes Music>...the playlists aren't there!

Any idea what I'm doing wrong? (other than using iTunes of course :lol::lol: )

Thanks :)


Posted

The iTunes playlists are only accessible from Kinsky Desktop on the computer that is running iTunes as far as I'm aware - do they appear under a UPnP tree or separately in Kinsky? We only show what we get back from the UPnP server you're browsing - there's no way to get anything else.

Posted

^ Ok. Kinsky can navigate straight thru to the itunes library on the primary mac running Kinsky. That is where I see the playlists. Your right. I can't find them via Kinsky any other way..

So obviously Twonky has to be running. Does it also need to be logged into "My Twonky" as well.....seems so... and I'll need to sign up and renew right..?pay for the license to MyTownky??

Anyway what's weird is that via your app and running Twonky, when you navigate Linn Majik DS-I>Music>Playlist, the playlist folder comes up, but it only contains "Most played", "Last Played" and "Recently Added"

Navigating Linn Majik DS-I>Music>By Folder> doesn't have a playlist folder at all.. so things are obviously dependant on (yet another) third party. It might be the only way you can do things, but is this really such a good idea?....

I have to be honest this is all a touch too complicated for a $375 spend or whatever it was.. This driver is very clever, but is the dependancy on another third party practical for the end user?......

Is there a simpler upnp server (other than Twonky) I can use with this EV Linn driver? Elgato eyeconnect perhaps. This is very itunes friendly.

The Sonos driver is *WAY* simpler

Where is your set up manual and instructions? ;)

Posted
^ Ok. Kinsky can navigate straight thru to the itunes library on the primary mac running Kinsky. That is where I see the playlists. Your right. I can't find them via Kinsky any other way..

So obviously Twonky has to be running. Does it also need to be logged into "My Twonky" as well.....seems so... and I'll need to sign up and renew right..?pay for the license to MyTownky??

Anyway what's weird is that via your app and running Twonky, when you navigate Linn Majik DS-I>Music>Playlist, the playlist folder comes up, but it only contains "Most played", "Last Played" and "Recently Added"

Navigating Linn Majik DS-I>Music>By Folder> doesn't have a playlist folder at all.. so things are obviously dependant on (yet another) third party. It might be the only way you can do things, but is this really such a good idea?....

I have to be honest this is all a touch too complicated for a $375 spend or whatever it was.. This driver is very clever, but is the dependancy on another third party practical for the end user?......

Is there a simpler upnp server (other than Twonky) I can use with this EV Linn driver? Elgato eyeconnect perhaps. This is very itunes friendly.

The Sonos driver is *WAY* simpler

Where is your set up manual and instructions? ;)

The problem you're having is that you don't understand something about the Linn DS. It is ONLY a music player. It does not have a server OF ANY KIND on it (while Sonos keeps a database locally on each Sonos that can be browsed, which is how our driver works for Sonos). Kinsky is doing some clever things to make local content available to the DS, but this is NOT possible from any other UPnP control point. You can only browse UPnP servers from our driver; Asset is the one recommended by Linn, so we'd suggest looking at that.

On the third party dependency - as above - it's not that WE'RE dependent on a third party music server, the entire LINN system is. The folders of music you're showing above are being retrieved from the UPnP music server, not from the DS. That Playlist item is the one served by Twonky.

I'd definitely recommend Asset over Twonky, it's a better piece of software (or it was when we were developing the driver anyway, I haven't used it for a while).

Posted

^ Hey Will I have never actually liked Linn control that much because of it's dependence on a upnp server..so sure I know how it works..

...so sure, I am well aware of the drawbacks of Linn control...

Yeh I know the difference between how Sonos and Linn works... I've owned Sonos for 5 years and Linn for 2...

I just wasn't aware your Linn Driver was dependant on upnp too. I thought you'd weaved a bit of your magic and found a "majik way" to work around this for Linn control (like you usually do for other gear) :)

Cheers

  • 2 months later...
Posted

^Thought I'd post an update on this for everyone.

Like Will stated above, The Linn EV driver is dependant on a third party server to "serve up" a shared folder with all the music..Just as Kinsky is dependant on a third party piece of software to run LinnDS as the original alternative.... Twonky is one of those servers Linn recommends, and this also appears to work for the EV driver as well. But EV recommends Asset UPnP.

Now I run all my music off a MacPro. This is my dedicated music Server. I don't use a NAS for this for various reasons. A big one is it doesn't have any serious DLNA server plugins. Anyway, what I have subsequently discovered is there really is only one suitable UPnP server out there for OSX that suits all this..

And that is Twonky.

Asset has only just released an OSX version in recent days, but it is *very* beta and I haven't got it so serve up a folder yet within OSX. Seems it just wants to point to a share (like a NAS). SO I have ditched this for a while..

The trouble with Twonky is not only is there a playlist problem (see above), but there is trouble with Twonky (OSX) serving up 24bit files..even though I have put them in the very same itunes folder that Twonky points at! Even iTunes sees these files, so I know it's a problem with Twonky..

I also know the problem is with Twonky because I can get another UPnP server called eyeconnect (By Elgato) to serve up these 24bit files and my playlists just fine into the Linn EV driver (they can be seen by Navigator), but of course they won't stream to the Linn with the driver, because Linn doesn't say they support eyeconnect!!! .....Even though I have eyeconnect streaming to Kinsky right now..Go Figure...:rolleyes:

So I'm stuck :|

I have a 4K piece of gear (The LinnDS) attached to around 10K worth of Linn amps and speakers

I have bought the EV driver for $375

I have well over 10K of C4 gear

and I can't get this all happening 100% reliably..

I hope that gives you all a little bit of insight into one of the reasons which triggered the "outburst" on our forum the other day :P

Now whilst I accept this is fundamentally a Linn issue, the fact is I have all this very expensive hardware and I simply can't get Control4 to play my 24bit files (or playlists). I'm let down by third parties, because as Will explains Linn is dependant on 3rd parties..

But my spat is, we are not talking an uncommon third party here..we are talking Apple..the largest computer organisation (in fact the largest corporation) on the entire planet!

So before anybody judges me, just remember, I am no Uncle Scrooge. I have paid top dollar, I use a dealer, I don't pirate software or media files, and I definitely do no use cheap equipment.

In the meantime if the lad's at EV could see if they can get their Driver to work properly with eyeconnect, I'd appreciate it :)

When eyeconnect is the DLNA server, "What's playing" via Kinsky appears in the bottom left on the navigator screen in the EVdriver, and I can forward and back thru the queue, but I can't select a new track and get it to play straight from the Navigator screen.. I get two flashes of the volume GUI, then nothing happens..

Oh well..Cheerio punters (suckers)

Wap

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