Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions SqueezePad for iPad

I'm curious to know if anybody is using this and how well is it working out for you?

I've been happy enough wit iPeng that I have not felt the need to try this one. It looks a bit more refined though. Probably worth taking a look. I noticed this one also allows streaming your music via the iPad as well. Not a feature I expect I would use much but some may.

iPeng is my most used app on my iPod Touch and my wife's iPad. I highly recommend that anyone with a Squeezebox gets one of these apps. If you have an old one like me (no display on the remote) then it is practically a necessity so you don't have to be in line of sight to the player all the time. Awesome for when people are over as you can adjust volume on the fly from anywhere or for relaxing on the deck and staying in control.

Murph with iPeng, do you know if there there is a way to delete songs on the playlist for the random song mix mode?

I did download the iPeng app on my iPad and really dig it, it's just like having our Squeezebox Touch transportable with a big nice screen and also synchronizing the Touch with the Classic is a breeze.

I don't think you can delete from the total [Random] mode inherently, but then again I've never tried. I'll look closer tonight but I'm guessing you have already done so.

However, if you use a Squeezebox add on called "Multi-Library," you could do this. I use it to separate my classical from, well, everything else.

How is this different than just creating your own playlist? Well, with Multi-Library you don't have to keep adding songs to a playlist every time you add a new CD. It creates libraries based on including or excluding genres or any other possible tag you can think of. The libraries automatically update themselves every time your main Squeezebox library updates. No more remembering to add a new CD to multiple play lists or limiting your listening to a single genre at a time.

In your case,
You could therefore create a library that included all genres but excludes songs with the lowest "Rating" then simply demote songs you don't want. Again, much like a playlist, except you don't ever have to remember to add new songs to it when you rip them. They will automatically be there. This library could, of course, then be played randomly.

Multi-Library takes a bit of pondering over some detailed instructions to install but it's been managing my music seamlessly without any further effort since I first installed it. I have the following music libraries now that I never have to manually add tracks to, as long as I am consistent with my genres when I rip them.

Classical
Modern (essentially, this is a mix of absolutely every genre but excludes classical & Christmas)
Maritime (Maritime, Celtic, and local folk music)
Christmas (begrudgingly maintained for my wife.)

Anything else I actually enjoy being mixed in randomly.

All of the selections above use a lowest rating flag to automatically exclude a track I simply never want to hear. If I really need to hear it, I can still find it through the main Squeezebox library. I can't bring myself to delete music. I'm a music pack rat.

Actually I was talking about just deleting certain songs from the playlist that the Squeezebox generates in the random song mix playlist from my CD collection, it's easy to do on the Squeezebox but I didn't see how to do it with iPeng but about two minutes after I typed the question I found the answer from iPeng.

I'll look in to the Multi-Library, looks interesting. I looked in the Squeezebox settings and 'Plugins' section but didn't see it there so I'll do a Google search later whenever I get some time.

I did download the SqueezePad app onto my iPad and so far I like it a little better than the iPeng due to the fact that it functions and looks almost like the Squeezebox Touch, one thing I didn't like about the iPeng was that whenever I would adjust the slide volume level I would accidently hit the Squeezebox menu bar that is immediately below it and it would open ... almost every time.

I now have both the iPeng and the SqueezePad apps so I'll play around with both and have better idea which I prefer after some experience.

[Homer tries to call the nuclear power plant]
Woman on Phone: The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now.

Sorry, but your remark instantly brought this to mind.

Murph, Rick, (and anybody else in a position to help) I need you guys.

I'm seriously considering getting a Squeezebox Touch (I've never had a SB product before, but played around with slimserver and softsqueeze a few years back).

I can get a good deal (~$150) through Logitech. But only through Tuesday.

I'm interested because my current music client just isn't working out. I tried - fairly unsuccessfully - to change our listening habits to using an Ubuntu device running Banshee or XBMC. Well, neither me nor the wife really ever warmed up to either interface.

But we do love our iPads.

Mrs. Tuttle uses iTunes at her desktop. I'm okay with that. I use Winamp at the office. Neither one of us is very good about creating playlists.

I'm trying desperately to boil down a question here...

How do you feel about the quality of the D/A conversion in the Squeezebox Touch?

Is that The One to get? Or is there something from a previous generation I should be looking at on Fleabay instead?

How do you and your spouses like using the iPad interface to control the Squeezebox stream?

What tools to you find effective for assembling playlists?

Do you have FLAC and MP3 files coexisting on the slimserver? If so, how have you architected your file structure?

Help?

Thanks, gentlemen.

Heya Bud,
I use the old model with an dot matrix LCD screen. Not the Touch. However, I'm very happy with the sound quality. I feed mine into a receiver so I like that it stays digital all the way through my network and then the last item, the receiver, does the conversion to analog. I tried the analog outs just to try out it's DAC and to be honest, I couldn't tell the difference.

Is it the one to get? I used to stare at the buy screen to upgrade to a Squeezebox Touch but since I now mostly use my iPod touch and Sharon's iPad to control it, I no longer feel that urge to upgrade.

I use iPeng and the iPengHD version on the iPAD. I love it. Rick mentioned another choice here that I have been meaning to try out but have not done so yet. Either way, swiping through your music collection while sitting out in the sun with a beer is simply AWESOME.

I never create playlists. I listen to albums or shuffle an artist or shuffle the entire genre I feel like listening to. Sorry, I'm just too chaotic in that way to provide advice on playlists.

Most of my music library is in FLAC but the MP3 folder is growing. I convert all my CDs to FLAC but also make an MP3 copy to load to my iPod. Therefore what I do is this.

d:\media\music\flac
d:\media\music\mp3

The above music folder is automatically synced up nightly into the Squeezebox library (or manually, if I add stuff). It also syncs into my TVersity library for streaming through my PS3. I also use Winamp Remote to listen to my library when I travel from anything with an internet connection.

Then I have
d:\media\mp3 duplicates
This is where I put the MP3s that also exist in FLAC format.

My iTunes library is a combination of
d:\media\music\mp3 and
d:\media\mp3 duplicates
because iTunes will not accept FLAC.

Hope this helps

Thanks, Murph. That does help me some. When I get to the point of excruciating demonstration of the depths of my ignorance, I may ask you more questions offline.

I've been pondering this and trying to define the problem a little more.

I often forget about the Apple TV (because I'm a default PC guy). And I don't really need the TV part. But it's only $99 all day every day.

But what drives this for me is the UI. I want to control the music from an iPad. That's sacrosanct. So, maybe using the Apple TV gives me a certain synchronicity that is helpful? Or maybe iPeng is so groovy that I don't need to worry about it?

Plus, I'm just really kind of a retard relative to networking. I know (and accomplish) JUST enough to get close enough or done. Maybe all I need is a Airport?

But I really want highest fidelity possible, so I either need to leverage my 200G worth of FLAC files or (ugh, oh gawd, no...) convert them to something else to appease The Apple.

Those files are currently stored on a computer somewhere else in the house. My existing file structure is like yours, more or less, as I've also made a duplicate MP3 copy of everything already out of deference to iTunes. But I purposely left those at 128-196 bitrate to best accommodate our collection of portable devices.

I will continue to need an analog connection since we have a frequently-used zone 2 (kitchen and patio); I can certainly continue to use BOTH a digital signal for the main zone (decode in the Onkyo) and an analog signal for zone 2 (decode in AppleTV or Squeezebox). But I have to have an external D/A conversion somewhere for the zone 2.

Does Sharon use her iPeng/iPad to control the music?

I'm going to need some help with "Squeezebox Library" management.

Thanks again, Andy. Really appreciate your patient guidance.

Anytime Tom. Ask away if you have more questions.

I'm pretty sure none of the Apple products handle FLAC. I am sure you will be very satisfied with the sound quality of a Squeezebox (unless they really messed up the new units.) I attribute most of the jaw drops I see to my M60s but guests are constantly amazed when I get the music going with the SB as the source. Detail, sound-stage, everything, nothing seems lost. As I mentioned in another post, this stereo setup is my preferred spot for music listening over my full HT room in the basement.

For the record, I'm not saying Squeezebox is the best product out there, just that it has served me well for years and I highly recommend it. There are so many more choices now but I feel no need to change since the remote apps have appeared. It's just the one I have experience with.

Yes, Sharon does indeed use her iPad to control the music and she is not technically minded. In fact, she never used the squeezebox much at all until I loaded the app on her iPad. Prior to that, she only knew how to make it play CBC Internet Radio in the morning. Bit of a curse now though as she likes to change the music I'm playing to something she likes, just to have fun with me. Luckily, I like more variety than she does so I always win the remote wars.

Thought:
I never tried my unit to see if both the analog and the fiber link work at the same time. I bet they do as there is no setting to switch from one to the other.