Comments on: Windows Home Server Now Serving Remote Tunes

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:22:34 +0000

I’ve been using SqueezeCenter (free from logitech) and it works quite well, transcodes for streaming on the fly.
you point music player to your-domain:9000/stream.mp3 – the software creates a blank playlist for your device, then you use any web browser to control your music.

I use this to stream to my & the choice of using the cell browser or another to control the music is nice.

By: SEF

SEF — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:53:12 +0000

So, when are you going to add Windows Sharepoint Services (WSS)?

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:16:38 +0000

JungleDisk is what I’m trying to avoid. There are scores of pay-as-you-go cloud backup services, but who wants pay their rates? My web dev company sells a hosting plan with 2500 GB of storage for $19.99/month (simple1hosting.net) For that space on JungleDisk would cost $375/month. Granted that’s an somewhat extreme example but most people are looking for at least 1 TB of backup these days ($150/month on JD).

I’m talking about a software solution for an off site transfer that is smart enough to schedule reasonable transfer chunks to a web server or your friends home server (swapping space so you each have off site backup) without consuming your entire connection.

Most packages I’ve tried weren’t even smart enough to pickup where they left off over ftp and often couldn’t tell when files had been updated or changed to re-queue them.

Maybe this is a pipe dream but I think it would be a useful app. Cheap web servers are not rock solid but would offer some added protection over the NAS backup in your closet – say if your house burned down or someone stole everything in your office. At least you’d have most of your data off site.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:35:54 +0000

I didn’t say that accessing the music via a browser was a requirement — it was simply a solution I looked at to see if it met my needs. It will on a full computer, but not on my iPhone or Palm Pre. In my limited research time, I haven’t found a way to play media files from the WHS in the native music player on either device.

I haven’t seen any performance issues in the method used so far. It helps to have a 20Mbps upload speed…

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:32:46 +0000

Good questions Scott. I’ve set up the WHS to backup my netbook and will add more PCs as I use them. WHS can back them up automatically, without any additional add-in needed.

I don’t have a Tivo box, so I can’t help you with that.

Live Mesh might be a nice complement to the WHS box to give you that “personal Dropbox” solution. Definitely worth a look when I get time.

FTP to cloud: I wonder if JungleDisk might be a possible solution for an offsite backup of the WHS data?

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:29:51 +0000

Probably doable Phil, but I don’t think I’ll go that route. I’m not trying to stream tunes throughout the house, I’m trying to stream them from wherever I am when I leave the house. ;)

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:28:30 +0000

Yup, I’ve used both of these in the past and will have to determine which would the best for my needs. Thx!

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:27:14 +0000

That could work, but won’t help me on the Palm Pre at the moment. I’m trying not to get locked into a platform specific solution if I can help it. Keyword = trying. ;)

By: CSMR

CSMR — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:52:33 +0000

Why would you want to access the music via a browser? Compared to using your favourite music player, and just using the files as if they were local? If you’re accessing over the internet is there a difference in performance? Can’t imagine why there would be.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:42:46 +0000

Kevin I have a few WHS Qs:

Backup? How’s the built-in back options or is there an must have add-in for this?

Tivo compatibility? I’d love to have a way to stream my NAS’s non-Tivo videos to my Tivos and bypass the HTPC go-between.

My Own Dropbox? I love Dropbox but I wouldn’t mind having the equivalent setup through a NAS so I didn’t have to pay over the 2Gig limit.

FTP to Cloud? With the proliferation of cheap web hosting, I’ve considered using it as an additional off site backup. But I have yet to find smart FTP backup service. Any WHS options to backup your backup to the cloud/web server/friend’s ftp server?

That’s all I can think of for now. Thanks!

By: Phil Lee

Phil Lee — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:06:11 +0000

Out of interest, is it possible to install iTunes on WHS then, if you have an Airport Express, stream to that and control iTunes using the Remote app on the iPhone/Touch?

By: Guy Adams

Guy Adams — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:13:20 +0000

Just read the points on the website for their WHS product;

WebGuide for Windows Home Server

WebGuide for Windows Home Server enables you to remotely access, listen, watch and stream your music, photos and videos stored on your home server while away from home.

Integrates with Windows Home Server remote website via homepage link and single-signon.
Access your photos with thumbnails, “zoom” and exif-data.
Browse your music library and listen to it via the web.
Stream your videos/movies at multiple resolutions and bitrates.
Mobile access to your music and videos from Windows Mobile devices.

If Windows Mobile works then I’m fairly sure your Pre and iphone will.

By: Guy Adams

Guy Adams — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:11:27 +0000

I would highly recommend WebGuide as a streaming option although I’m not sure if it works with mobile devices. I will check back later with that.

http://asciiexpress.com/webguide/default.aspx

Its designed for WHS and has plenty of nice options, also works with video or TV tuners if you have any installed.

By: VP

VP — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:32:25 +0000

You can install Simplify Media or Orb onto your WHS and set them up as a service. Then you can access Simplify via your iPhone for music or Orb for any media you want on most smartphones.

By: Griffon

Griffon — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:59:16 +0000

I have firefly running on my whs too, it seems like (and some comments in the forum suggest) that it can stream video too but I’ll be dammed if I can figure out how to make it pick up those files.

By: HG

HG — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:19:00 +0000

For the mean time you could use the LogMeIn app for iPhone and install it on the WHS and access your media files on the iPhone. But I know this defeats the purpose of the WHS setup. I setup all my iTunes music on a external drive on my network setup, but it’s not as good as a WHS setup.