MySqueezebox.com & Squeezebox Server

[Trevor_F]

I've noticed a lot of new users are asking about compatability with their NAS drives.

Officially speaking, Logitech only supports running Squeezebox Server on Netgear ReadyNas units. Specifically these models:

NV, NV+, Duo, Pro and NVX models

In terms of support for the ReadyNas, we have a few great guides.

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SqueezeCenter_on_ReadyNAS

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17012

In terms of other NAS drives, there are third party versions of Squeezebox Server you can use, but we do not offer any official troubleshooting suggestions for these versions

These versions, and their support are found on this forum:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

Please keep in mind, that a NAS drive can be used without installing Squeezebox Server. All you need to do is point the Squeezebox Server at the network share where your music resides. Our technicians will certainly help you do so if you need assistance.

[svetter]

Hi Trevor,

Your comment "...a NAS drive can be used without installing Squeezebox Server. All you need to do is point the Squeezebox Server at the network share where your music resides." does not address the fundamental issue I, and I 'm sure many other Logitech "Touch" and related unit customers have, who bought the unit expecting to be able to use it directly with an existing NAS / music server - without having to keep a computer tied up in the system.

My Western Digital NAS has a built-in music server (Twonky), and it does not seem reasonable that I should not have to keep an extra computer around to run the Squeezebox Server software.  I should be able to conect my Touch and Internet Radio units directly to the NAS / music server.

The concept for the Touch and associated devices is great - a good sounding media server at a reasonable price, with home-wide networking and  music access.  However, I cannot access the Twonky Media Server from the Touch or Internet radio box, and it does not seem reasonable to have to go out and buy a NetGear NAS when I already have a working NAS.

Sincerely,

[garymc]

A SB Player needs to see a SqueezeBox server (SbS)  (which is different from a TWONKY server). It can do this in only two ways.

1. connect to "mysqueezebox.com", which is a "cloud" SbS. But this will not allow one to access their own music files.

2. connect to a local SbS. (One does supply mysb.com credentials to your local SbS program, but you are not actually connecting to mysb.com.). With a local SbS one gets all the same stuff as mysb.com, PLUS you can access your own local music library. If the computer running SbS is on 24/7 one never needs to connect to mysb.com. If you want to turn off your computer, you'll need to switch to mysb.com to access internet radio, pandora, etc.  Or one can use a computer that has WOL capability so that the computer wakes up when the SB Player sends it a request.

In terms of running SbS on a local computer, that "computer" can be almost any sort. It could be a full blown desktop/laptop, it could be the "computer" in a NAS (although only certain NAS boxes will allow one to install SbS...ReadyNAS is one of those, but there are others, QNAP, etc.), it could be a computer like a SqueezePlug (size of a wall wart, running headless, out of sight, with no fan, etc.).  I personally like the vortexbox appliance apporach. A "Fit2pci" is also a good tiny server. Both very powerful, runs headless, on 24/7, and low power use. By the way, with a few exceptions, NAS are woefully underpowered for running server programs, particularly with a good size music library. These are Network Attached STORAGE. Many folks joke about the also standing for NOT A SERVER.

SbS is much more powerful in terms of things it does than TWONKY or a DNLA server, etc., including 3rd party plugins, etc. This is one reason we users actually like the SbS approach. You might check out the forums at the link below for lots of info on using NAS boxes or other approaches.

http://forums.slimdevices.com/index.php

I strongly recommend checking into some sort of small, low-power headless computer that you can use 24/7. Obviously, you can still have that computer talk to your NAS in terms of accessing files on the NAS.

[Trevor_F]

The purpose of this thread is mostly to address new customers looking for support for what Logitech endorses and can help with. It is 100% in your power as a Squeezebox owner to use whatever method to get your music, and we encourage you to seek out the best option for your home and your network. I am outlining what Logitech can assist with and what we promote as a solution.

[Jonny-Groove]

Hi Trevor,

I know this is an old post and I'm not really a huge techy person (in fact this is my first ever forum entry). However, I currently have a Western Digital MyBook World Edition 2tb NAS drive and I'd like to know if the SB receiver now communicates directly with this drive or not. I was very close to buying an SB Duet on the Logitech website today - but at the last minute thought it was best to check out the compatability with my NAS drive first. I've seen a few Forum comments in places - where it does not and I'd like to know the definitive answer. I'm using my drive to communicate with an existing media player and I'm happy with it for that purpose - I want the SB duet kit for my hi-fi though. I currently import all my music from PC to NAS using Itunes. Do I have to have a computer running in the background to use my NAS with the SB - i've seen this comment come up several times?

I look forward to your response.

Thanks.

[bluegaspode]

If you want to stream your own music a Squeezebox needs to have a Squeezebox-Server running somewhere.

This is typically achieved by:

a) using a Squeezebox Touch with attached USB-drive or SD-Card (music needs to be on the USB-drive or SD-Card)

b) run the full Squeezebox-Server on either a laptop or install it on some type of server running all the time.

For (b) Logitech only supports the ReadyNas as a server (as every NAS is a small computer anyway), so you are out of luck if you want to have some help by Logitech with the MyBook.

As pointed out in the first post there is a third party forum, where a lot of people try to run the Squeezebox-Server on any kind of NAS.

Here are instructions for the MyBook Live: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=84735

The MyBook World is not fast enough to host a Squeezebox-Server according to this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=76127

So you'd need to think where to run the Squeezebox-Server anywhere else to access the files on your NAS.

[henkepenk]

"Please keep in mind, that a NAS drive can be used without installing Squeezebox Server. All you need to do is point the Squeezebox Server at the network share where your music resides. Our technicians will certainly help you do so if you need assistance."

Please can you tell me how to do this on a macbookpro running osx 10.6.8 and a WD MyBookWorld

Thanks.

Henk

[Lestrad]

Unless I'm missing something, we're being told that a Squeezebox can ("Please keep in mind, that a NAS drive can be used without installing Squeezebox Server") and can't ("If you want to stream your own music a Squeezebox needs to have a Squeezebox-Server running somewhere.") be used with a NAS drive without installing Sqeezebox server. Can someone please explain to me which it is? Can it or can't it?

I'm at my wits' end with a ReadyNAS NV+ running SBS version 7.6.1 and a Squeezebox Touch with a wired connection. The new SBS with SQLite was supposed to be faster. I'm now into the fourth hour of a scan - and this is a "new and changed files only" scan - and not even close to 1% of the "new files" have been scanned. And there's nothing in the log to indicate what might be wrong. If there is a way to not use SBS on the NAS I want to try it. I know that the NV+ is supposed to be a "lower-powered" NAS and can't be lightining-fast, but on the other hand it's one of the NASs listed as working with the Squeezebox. Surely it has to work better than this? With earlier versions of SBS, browsing with the Touch was terribly slow.

The Squeezebox Touch-plus-ReadyNAS combination, judging by the marketing jive, sounded like the perfect combination. As it stands it's unworkable for me.


[squeezeit]

It's both, but not worded correctly.  

SBS on NAS, self explanatory.

NAS with no SBS installed on it means SBS must be running *somewhere* on your network and has been told where your music is located, in this case your music is stored on the networked NAS.

So " NAS can be used without installing SBS server" is incomplete and should be "NAS can be used without installing SBS server ON THAT NAS"

Some where, some how, you must connect a SqueezeBox player to a server, either SBS server on your PC/Mac/NAS or MySqueezeBox.com server online (which means no access to your local music files).

[Lestrad]

I'm glad you cleared that up. Meanwhile, according to the messages from the SBS Web interface, another scan has stopped after reading a fraction of the files in the Music folder, *and* is also still running:

Scanning new files: /media/Musique   (159 of 35636)   Running  00:11:16

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

/media/Musique/Albinoni/Concerti_Hautbois/550739.cue

The server has finished scanning your music collection.
Total Time: 00:17:24

The last scan took over five hours to reach that point. By the way, I have .cue files entered under Disabled Playlist File Extensions in the Advanced settings. The log shows that the scan stopped on that file over 15 minutes ago.