Bluesound Node 2 question


I am posting this here instead of the PC Audio forum, because that one has tumbleweeds blowing through it most of the time.

When using the Node 2, does one eliminate the need for a PC or library software? I am currently using Jriver on my PC with music stored on an external drive streaming to a Chromecast Audio into an external DAC. Is there a way to connect the 1 TB hard drive directly to the Node 2 and eliminate everything else? I know it's a streamer, but unsure exactly what it's functionality is beyond that basic thing. Or do I still need the Jriver server software on the PC as a library?

Thx in advance


128x128ozzy62

Showing 2 responses by 2psyop

Yes the Node 2, for me, was the solution to my computer problem. I did not want to use my computer (Itunes and a library of music on a HDD) with my stereo. I wanted to play all my music, Spotify streaming, my digital music files (most of which came from Itunes or ripping my CDs) with my stereo by using my Iphone as the control device. Bluesound offered me this.
Look at the Western Digital My Cloud series. There are many, many options there and the unit was kinda easy to set up. I have the 4tb version. To give you an example of how the Bluesound products use files on the drive, my files look something like this...

On your controller (Ipad or Iphone or Android phone)
Choose desktop Icon "BluOs"
Choose Icon "Library"
Choose from list of "Albums, Songs, Genres, Playlists, etc"
A picture (jpg file) of those Album covers you have in your library will come up or a list of all your stored songs, genres, playlists, etc.
Hit "Play" button"

On your HDD or NAS drive (I use a My Cloud 4 TB)
Music will be in a folder, for example...
Shared drive, WD MyCloud",
"My BS Music" (folder),
"Library" (folder),
"Acoustic Alchemy" (and many, many other folders listed by artist name in alphabetical order. My folders are listed by Albums),
"Natural Elements" (folder with album name),
"Positive Thinking" (folder with album name),
01 Drakes Drum.aif (song),
02 Natural Elements.aif (song),
03 next song.aif (song),
04 next song.aif (song),
Cover.jpg (The cover art jpg file)

It is important to note that artwork must be labeled this way for bluesound to find and display..
  • folder.jpg, cover.jpg, folder.png or cover.png in the same folder as the located music
  • A Jpeg or PNG embedded into the metadata of the music file
I have used Cover.jpg without a hitch.

Note: This is a list of music files Bluesound will recognize and play: MP3, AAC (M4A, MP4), WMA, OGG, FLAC, ALAC (M4A), WMA-L, MQA, WAV and AIFF (AIF, AIFC). I don’t think AAC files with the extension .m4p will be recognized by Bluesound.
Also, all my files have been organized (originally) by Itunes. Bluesound has not had any problem with this organization file system, except with the artwork. I had to change that format.

I hope this helps a little for anyone trying to figure out how Bluesound finds and plays music.

Also Ozzy, I have the music on the WD My Cloud connected to my wireless router via ethernet cable. The signal is found by the Node 2 on my home network. Not too hard, but I did have to contact customer service to configure it when I had setup glitches. They are really great and can help with setup by getting into your network remotely.