Servers: Are we there yet?

My experience over the last 8 years or so is for CD resolution streaming,  wifi need not be a problem as long as functioning properly and connections are strong(say >80%).   That is with good quality gear designed to stream CD res audio or higher over wifi.

It is best if disk storage is physically connected to server  (not remote on the network) and streaming occurs from wifi connected player to server only (again with a strong wifi connection).

Results will vary server by server still.    Two software  server programs I can recommend that do things well are Logitech MEdia Server ( though this is no longer undergoing active development and not a good choice for new users) and Plex Server, which I have started to phase in as a replacement for LMS.

I do not have any experience with current one box audio music server products  ( I prefer running good software on commercial computers to buying proprietary hardware from specialized vendors) but I have read mixed results over the years with many and would be cautious and only consider newer products/technology that have received large scale acceptance and positive reviews.     Sonos, Bluesound, Sony are three product lines I have seen that seem to be getting decent traction in B&M shops lately, with Sonos probably having the most users currently.

Many music and media servers use live internet connections to make extended information on what’s playing available. Things like lyrics, artwork, artist bios, reviews, related recordings, concert locations and dates, etc. Much more related info than can be had without a live internet connection. That’s a trend that will only continue to grow. You can actually learn more about what you are listening to while you listen easier than ever before. Not a requirement in some cases, but a very nice feature that I have found to greatly increase my musical IQ and level of enjoyment over time and that I would miss now that I have it.

" If ain’t broke don’t fix it."

I usually tend to agree with that.  I still drive a 1996 Toyota for example.  

But the full potential of music streaming is yet to be realized for me but things are moving forward nicely, so I want to keep up in this case.

I also still run Logitech Squeeze System which is legacyware essentially at this point.  Little or nothing new there, including fixes.   I was very nervous about upgrading my music server to Windows 10.     Ironically, Logitech server continued to run fine but my older backup software from Seagate did not so I had to change.

If you have a music server, and a large music library, BE SURE to have a reliable backup and restore capability to go along with it.

All devices die eventually including storage devices. Not if but when it happens, you need a backup to be able to restore from. I’ve failures impact me already on 2 occasions in teh lsat 7-8 years or so where a restore of music files was needed.

It goes with the turf and is a unique and critical consideration for any large and valued music file library.

My music server is PLex and Logitech Media servers running on an older Gateway laptop running Windows 10. I rip using dbpoweramp to a conventional Seagate 1.5 TB external USB drive and use another 2.0 Tb attached for backups.

I plan to add an active second backup copy sometime soon. I might consider adding another backup other than directly attached disk drive ( the fastest but not the safest) for this but am not sure yet how. I have about .7 Tb of mostly lossless compressed FLAC files in my library which would take forever to restore from cloud storage over an internet connection if needed.  NAS on my home network is the other option.

I am also still looking at different backup software solutions on Windows 10. Seagate manager worked nicely on Windows 7 but I did not care for newer Seagate Dashboard on Windows 10. I added a native Windows 10 File History backup just last week. It seems to work well but I have not tested a full restore yet and I am not sure if it can be restored easily to non-Windows platform if needed without using the restore function. I’d like to be able to just flat copy all my library files from disk to disk in order to restore if needed, but not sure that is possible.

So still working on the perfect restore solution on Windows 10 if any suggestions but sound quality wise things are the cat’s meow and have been for a few years now.