Saturday, March 03, 2007

Visioning music heaven

After one week with the Sonos, I've learned a thing or two about music management. I'll skip all the details, and cut straight to the vision that's forming in my mind:

The Sonos cannot play from a UPnP server (as of firmware version 2.1). I got this confirmed by customer support, who also had it noted as a feature request. In parallel, I've searched the internet and eventually installed a trial version of the UPnP server TwonkyMedia on my DNS-323 NAS. Of course, the Sonos couldn't see it so I had to install Cidero UPnP A/V Controller on my PC to confirm that it worked - and it turned out I could control playback on the Sonos from Cidero! Nice, yet not quite what I expected...

I also came across another nice music management tool, namely MusicIP Mixer. This program is capable of creating playlists of songs that sounds the same - after an extensive analysis of the tracks (currently running on my PC...). So, with all my songs indexed, I guess I can play in shuffle mode, and ask for "similar songs" when I hear a song that I like. In other words, my own personal DJ! The only problem is that this only runs on my PC...

So here is my vision for music heaven: an upgrade that enables Sonos to play music from a UPnP server, and a UPnP server capable of serving "similar songs" on my NAS... *twirling eyes* :-)

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