Touch w/ USB HD questions

[sawdin]

Another pre-purchase newbie question. What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a HDD drive connected to a Touch via USB as opposed to using a HDD drive connected to my pc? (My pc will be in a different room than the touch and my main audio system)? I assume that in either case, the HDD will be part of my home wireless network. Is that a correct assumption? Is the only difference one of speed in terms of access time, or are there other additional differences in terms of software used and ease of use?

Thanks, I really do appreciate the thoughtful replies I have received on this forum.
Dino

PS... I have not yet purchased the Touch and thus do not have any experience with SB 'server' software (or any server software, for that matter).
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Senn HD 650, Perreaux Sihoutte SXH1 amp
Dell XPS 8100 Realtek HD Audio SC w/ Tru Studio PC software (Creative/THX), Swann D1080 Mk II speakers
Denon AVR 3806, Denon DVD 1920, Revel Concerta F12 speakers
Monster HTS 3500 Mk II and various cables.

[toby10]

Just using Touch + USB:
- no format transcoding (Touch will only play native music formats, though it's quite an extensive list of supported formats)
- no web UI
- no Plugins
- Touch will have to switch to MySB for necessary Music Services (but it's pretty seamless)

[snarlydwarf]

Another pre-purchase newbie question. What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a HDD drive connected to a Touch via USB as opposed to using a HDD drive connected to my pc? (My pc will be in a different room than the touch and my main audio system)? I assume that in either case, the HDD will be part of my home wireless network. Is that a correct assumption? Is the only difference one of speed in terms of access time, or are there other additional differences in terms of software used and ease of use?

The software is mostly the same: the version of SBS for the touch has a bunch of things disabled for performance, however (like the Web interface, since it tends to make some complex SQL queries to render long lists as well as plugins, support for very very old Squeezeboxes, and transcoding).

Most people won't miss much except the webui and the plugins.

PS... I have not yet purchased the Touch and thus do not have any experience with SB 'server' software (or any server software, for that matter).

I always recommend people grab a copy of SBS and install it and set it up and get used to it. There are even software clients that, while not giving you the exact feel of the hardware do a reasonable job of faking it. (Squeezeplay, for example, is the same basic code that runs on the 'new' products like SBC, Radio and Touch... but your PC most likely doesn't have knobs or a touch screen that Squeezeplay can use, so it won't be an exact copy... but it should be close enough to get a feel for things if you squint right. Just keep in mind it's not a real player and some things like Pandora may not work.)

That way when you get your first SB product, you're all set and can just plug it in...

[aubuti]

Another pre-purchase newbie question. What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a HDD drive connected to a Touch via USB as opposed to using a HDD drive connected to my pc? (My pc will be in a different room than the touch and my main audio system)? I assume that in either case, the HDD will be part of my home wireless network. Is that a correct assumption? Is the only difference one of speed in terms of access time, or are there other additional differences in terms of software used and ease of use?

Perhaps this is too obvious to mention, but if you use a USB drive on the SB Touch you can turn off the pc and still listen to your music.

[usch]

If your music library is attached to your PC, you must install the SB server software because the server on the Touch cannot use remote drives. If your music library is attached to the Touch, you can install the SB server software, or use the Touch's built-in server, or use both alternately (use the full server when your PC is on, and the tiny server when your PC is off).

Scanning and browsing your library will of course be fastest if everything is on your PC.

[sawdin]

This is what I think you mean: If my library resides on a HDD that is not connected to the Touch via USB (e.g., the internal HDD of my desktop pc or an external HDD that is part of my wireless home network) I have to install the SB server software on my desktop pc. If my library is on an external HDD that is directly connected to the Touch via a USB cable, I do not have to install the SB server software, but I can if I want to be able to control the Touch from my desktop. Is that correct?

If I have an external HDD connected to the Touch via USB, how would I incorporate that HDD into my home wireless network so that when I use my desktop pc to rip CD's, download music files, create playlists, etc., I can use my wireless network to copy those files to the HDD connected to the Touch? Can I do this by virtue of the Touch being connected to the HDD via USB cable? If that is the case, does that mean I can use any HDD that has a USB cable connection? If not, how do copy files to that drive?

Thanks so much for the help, it is greatly appreciated!

[sawdin]

Just using Touch + USB:
- no format transcoding (Touch will only play native music formats, though it's quite an extensive list of supported formats)
- no web UI
- no Plugins
- Touch will have to switch to MySB for necessary Music Services (but it's pretty seamless)

1) I'm not sure what you mean by transcoding.

2) What is 'MySB'?

3) By 'Music Services' do you mean services like Rhapsody, Napster, Pandora, etc?

Thanks for the help!

[aubuti]

This is what I think you mean: If my library resides on a HDD that is not connected to the Touch via USB (e.g., the internal HDD of my desktop pc or an external HDD that is part of my wireless home network) I have to install the SB server software on my desktop pc. If my library is on an external HDD that is directly connected to the Touch via a USB cable, I do not have to install the SB server software, but I can if I want to be able to control the Touch from my desktop. Is that correct?

If I have an external HDD connected to the Touch via USB, how would I incorporate that HDD into my home wireless network so that when I use my desktop pc to rip CD's, download music files, create playlists, etc., I can use my wireless network to copy those files to the HDD connected to the Touch? Can I do this by virtue of the Touch being connected to the HDD via USB cable? If that is the case, does that mean I can use any HDD that has a USB cable connection? If not, how do copy files to that drive?

Thanks so much for the help, it is greatly appreciated!

1) yes
2) The SB Touch runs a common file sharing server (Samba) that makes media connected to the Touch (both USB and SD card) available as network drives. So after you rip on your pc you can simply copy files to the USB drive over the network.

[sawdin]

What is the advantage, if any, of having an external HDD connected to the Touch via USB cable? You still need a 'computer' to rip CD's, download files, etc., and then transfer those files to the HDD connected to the Touch. Is that correct?

In an earlier reply, USCH wrote:

Scanning and browsing your library will of course be fastest if everything is on your PC

I take that to mean either the internal HDD of the pc or any external HDD that is directly connected to the pc via cable. Is that correct? If that is correct, and it is slower to have the library on a HDD connected to the Touch via USB, why use a HDD connected to the USB?

[snarlydwarf]

What is the advantage, if any, of having an external HDD connected to the Touch via USB cable? You still need a 'computer' to rip CD's, download files, etc., and then transfer those files to the HDD connected to the Touch. Is that correct?

yes, and then that PC can be turned off if you have the HDD connected to the touch.