Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
What I found through total frustration especially with software upgrades was to completely reboot the system and re-insert your IP address and security details as a straight reboot is not enough. It certainly was the case for the last update. -- Waldo Pepper Waldo Pepper's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=39029 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
mlsstl;578735 Wrote:
I'll take your word for it. But one can't tell by looking at their
responses or changes in the way they do things. ;-)
Even if they don't answer I'm sure it irritates them that users have
problems which they can't solve. So mentioning it on the official forum
is a good idea even if they don't reply, calling support and complaining
is an even better idea. Even if they can't solve your problem they have
to listen to users complaining and eventually they are going to be
tired to hear this and do something about it.
The Squeezebox Touch was IMHO initially incorrectly advertised as
having a built-in server that could handle a normal library. The
hardware is able to handle it under certain conditions but for many
users these conditions aren't fulfilled. Sometimes the problem is
caused by incompatibilities with USB drives, sometimes it's caused by
large music libraries and sometimes by other things.
Complaining to Logitech is a good idea, this will make them aware that
a lot of users have problems with it. If they only think the users that
are currently posting in the official forum have the problem, they might
think that it only affects a few percentages of all Touch users.
I strongly believe that the problem is hardware related and it's not
realistic to think that Logitech is going solve it with software, they
might be able to improve it a bit with software but don't expect them
to completely solve it anytime soon using software updates. A real
solution to the problem is probably going to require completely new
hardware.
Besides keep complaining through the official channels, I think there
are two solutions if you like to get a working system and don't want to
spend time investigating and trying to solve the problems yourself:
1. Run Squeezebox Server on a separate box, could be a computer, a
SheevaPlug, a Vortexbox appliance, an Atom based small computer or
something similar.
2. Return the Touch and get some other product.
I believe that it is possible to get the built-in server on the Touch
to work under the right circumstances, but it requires you to have a
reasonable library size and a hard drive that's fully compatible and it
also requires you to lower the performance expectations a bit. I think
most users are going to be happier using a separate small computer for
Squeezebox Server.
--
erland
Erland Isaksson ('My homepage' (http://erland.isaksson.info))
(Developer of 'many plugins/applets'
(http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/User:Erland). If my answer
helped you and you like to encourage future presence on this forum
and/or third party plugin/applet development, 'donations are always
appreciated' (http://erland.isaksson.info/donate))
erland's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3124
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176
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Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
Thanks you for your recommendations Iphone. I think I am actually upset loosing more time in set-up than listening music. As initially advertised, I expected just plugging my existing powered USB drive in the touch and listen to my music with a nice touch screen, brosing my cd's like if it was an Ipod. Now, 1-2 months later, it still doesn't work and appears very expensive to me for something not working as expected. I am currently making a kind of 'last chance': cleaning my disc, formatting,... in order to try to get this working. If result is not good (and I am sincerly losing hope...), I'll probably resell it and buy something else. I think that if you need a server/computer on, the benefit of the touch is, IMO, very limited. I initally choosed the touch compared to the teac WAP as: - WAP remote control seems unstable - Touch is made by logitech, and my previous experience of this brand was excellent - touch is more audiophile If it does not work, I think I will end up wit a system composed of: - One Ipod touch as remote control - One source that may be: - Apple airport express with the music hosted on a NAS, but I have a lot of FLAC music, which appears not to be compatible - One NAS with the Mpd application, but I found very few feedback of users statint if good or not. In this case, I will connect a USB DAC and Mpod on the ipod touch - one fanless computer making all the job from music to video, all integrated, with some application working on my ipod touch. I have seen recent models from the brand Shuttle completely fanless with low power consumption - A recycled thin client with the same setup, but that would not offer the video processing as these machines have limited capabilities. The advantage is that seconhands are really cheap - A popcorn hour running Mpd, same issue as above - A DVICO from the recent models, seems rather plug play, include a system of webremote on the Ipod touch - A DAC, depending on the quality of the source, V-DAC from musical fidelity seems a good option All these combinations have their pro cons, and as I already purchase the touch, I'll try to make this work first. Then, well, we'll see what I find! But at the end of the day, I think this type of technology is still young and few good plug play exists. Maybe the sonos, but also seems quite expensive for what it is. iPhone;578712 Wrote: Expectations for the Price you paid, what is that crap?! The Touch costs the exact same amount the SB3 (Classic) did when it came out. And the Touch is the replacement for the SB3. The Touch is a NMP (Network Media Player). It is not a Server. It does include a feature of a Tiny stripped down version of SBS that can play songs off of USB media (mainly designed for USB Sticks friends might bring over). Is it meant to replace a PC or Server running SBS, it was not designed for that as again its only a feature not full blown SBS. With some careful planning, proper USB drive, and some understanding that TinySC is slower and can't be over taxed, it can be used for the Touch and a second Squeezebox reliably. I use the Touch daily with TinySC in the harsh environment of my vehicle and on the weekends at the cabin. Yes I was part of the Touch Beta so I have well over a year's time with TinySC. I can tell everybody its come a long way since the days when TinySC could only be launched using SSH and having to use CLI to mount the media, lines of code to do a scan, then tell it to start TinySC. One wrong command or keystroke and it was time to start over. So if one is going to use it as a full time server in a home environment where one could just as easily use an Atom DIY Music Server ($25 a year in electricity), then one needs to except that TinySC has limitations, can't use plugins, and is much slower or could crash where SBS wouldn't. It would also go a long way to follow suggestions from Touch Users that have been using TinySC successfully for some time. It is best to buy a compliant USB Standard Certified drive. If using a USB powered USB Drive, I strongly suggest buying a Toshiba USB drive. 1) Use an external powered drive or hub (some hubs do cause problems though) 2) Make sure the USB drive is a single drive (not a 1 or 2 TB using multiple drives in an enclosure) 3) Music only, make sure no other files are stored on the drive and keep the directory structure simple 4) Make sure to use less then 80% of the Formated size of the drive 5) Make sure the drive doesn't act as a CD drive when plugged into a PC 6) Make sure the drive doesn't spin down or sleep or use energy saving tools 7) Make sure album art doesn't exceed 600 by 600 or 300K file size (the smaller the better) 8) Don't use FLAC above -5 compression This is a good start to reduce problems -- studkiram studkiram's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=40502 View this
[SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
After about 2 months of trying to get my Touch to keep it's connection to my (powered) usb harddrive I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the Touch is a total joke. It'll lose connection at the drop of a hat, sometimes half way through playing a track. It'll then refuse to reconnect for hours at a time, even if I eject the harddrive, reboot and reconnect. I've not got that much music (4000ish tracks, some FLAC, some mp3) but the Touch seems to drop a wobbler at even the simplest tasks. I've tried deleting the database and this seems to work for a while but after a total rescan and a couple of days of ok use it'll start to play up again and drop connection. The Squeezebox server will throw a fit when trying to connect to the harddrive and if I try and play music whilst it (seemingly randomly) scans for new files it'll slow to a crawl and then crash. Oh, and it's ability to find newly uploaded music seems completely random - sometimes it'll find an album straight away, sometimes it'll take a day or too to register. I'm using the latest 7.5.1 software. I've tried using the beta drivers to no avail. I don't mind tinkering with kit to get it to work, but this device just seems to defy logic when it should work fine out of the box. The hardware seems to slow to a crawl as soon as you ask it to do more than one thing at once (for example palying a flac whilst searching the music database). That the Touch just won't play music seemless, straight from a usb harddrive is totally mindblowing. Basically, I'm pretty fed up with banging my head against the wall trying to get this thing working with any semblance of consistency. Please, someone convince me to stick with the Touch rather than send it back!! Tell me the developers are working on getting the bloody thing working with an external usb harddrive in a stable fashion! -- Trixster Trixster's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=40631 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
it's simply underpowered, forget it run the server on something else and be happy. As a player it is actually very nice imho, but i doubt the server can be made to run with only 128mB ram and a tiny cpu . Btw rants on this fora, where logitech officially reads stuff. http://forums.logitech.com Read here's why: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=80919 Here is more peer to peer and sometimes fanboy stuff You seems to suffer from the usual hard-drive incompatibility problems, it seems very pesky about which hard-drives it's works with :( Many external drives are to smart all kinds of spindown setting that you manipulate with software on a PC ? -- Mnyb Main hifi: Touch + CIA PS +MeridianG68J MeridianHD621 and assorted amps SiriuS, Classe' Primare and Dynadio speakers, Contour 4 Contour Center, and Contour 1.3SE for the rear ch. Rel Stadium 3 sub. Bedroom/Office: Boom Kitchen: SB3 + powered Fostex PM0.4 Miscellaneous use: Radio (with battery) I use a Controller various ir-remotes and a Eee-PC with squeezeplay to control this Mnyb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4143 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
Hi Trixster, Mnyb is absolutely right about the underpowered CPU in the Touch. You should first search out this forum for the compatibility issues mentioned and about how your music is stored on the external hdd before giving up. There are issues with album art and extraneous files (ie non audio files) that could be slowing or crashing the Touch. Most of all stay with it and you wont be disappointed. Try an external SBS on a PC in the meantime while you figure out whats crashing your setup. Believe me it works, not flawlessly, but it works. -- carib carib's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=34240 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
Trixster;578469 Wrote: Please, someone convince me to stick with the Touch rather than send it back!! Tell me the developers are working on getting the bloody thing working with an external usb harddrive in a stable fashion! Most people will tell you to use a real server, and they are probably right. I am personally happy using the Touch with an external USB drive, the trouble is that the Touch is extremely picky about many things, and so you need to be very disciplined and rigorous to make it work. I wrote a little howto on how to do it. http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82070highlight=mastering+TinySB From your symptom, I would suspect a flaky network connection. Please check in the diagnostic menu what's the status of your connection to mysqueezebox.com... If you don't have an absolutely rock solid network connection to the Internet, in my experience it will behave that way. So, first try the different wireless channel, and either invest in a better wireless router, an 802.11-Ethernet bridge or CAT6 cables. Your external hard drive could also be rubbish. Only a few hard drives can work powered by the USB bus. You should verify if other people report success or failure with the specific hard drive model you have. Jean -- jean2 jean2's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=33946 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
Chaps, thanks for the replys, it's much appreciated. I'm using a 1TB Western Digital mybook which has it's own power supply. Like I said I don't mind messing with stuff but I bought the Touch for the purpose of not having to have a pc and server running all day. I want to be able to access all my music without having a pc running all day long. My point is I cannot understand why it's so rubbish at doing such a simple thing as connecting to a usb harddrive without issue. I shouldn't have to faff around with file structures, external servers, hd incompatabilities - for the £250 I paid for it it should be fit for purpose and sadly it's not. Regarding the network - I'm using ethernet and it's connected to a new Netgear router which has no history of internet connectivitity problems. -- Trixster Trixster's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=40631 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
Couldn't agree more Trixster. Squeezeboxes have revolutionised my listening over the last few years and I was a real fanboy with several devices around the house. I bought the Touch for the same reason as you, I didn;t want my PC on. After months of persevering, nothing but absolute hassle and constant frustration with this new device. When it works it sounds great though. -- atchi123 atchi123's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11333 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
Re: [SlimDevices: Touch] Squeezebox Touch + USB harddrive = complete rubbish
x2. I gave up trying to use a USB after two unpleasant days, in which it was very much a hit and miss thing; the USB powered drive worked with one Touch PS I had but not with the other, and sound quality was good but edgy; then I returned to the wireless server I already had for my Classic and now the machine is reliable, a pleasure to use and a good step up in sound quality compared to the Classic. A a Classic replacement it is great, as a stand alone machine not nearly reliable enough for a consumer product. But I wouldn't want to miss it. -- Dura Dura's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=39937 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82176 ___ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
