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Music Player
Use with Windows, Apple Mac, Linux, USB memory
The Music Player allows you to play audio
fi
les which are stored on a computer
on your network or on a USB memory device plugged into the radio.
In order to play
fi
les from a computer on your network, your sound system must
connect to a
fi
le server program on your computer which uses the Universal
Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol (often known as DLNA). If your computer uses
Windows 7 or Windows 8 then your computer already has a UPnP server
program available. This is Windows Media Player (version 12), and it can
share your audio
fi
les with your sound system. It allows you to select
fi
les by
Album, Artist, and so on using your radio's controls. Throughout this section,
where Windows 8 is mentioned, this also includes Windows 8.1.
Windows Media Player can serve MP3, WMA, AAC and WAV
fi
les to your radio.
If you are an Apple Mac or Linux user, or if you have your audio
fi
les stored in
other formats, such as FLAC or ALAC, there are other UPnP server programs
which you may use with your sound system. Note that Apple computers do
not support UPnP streaming natively and that Apple does not license their
own equivalent streaming protocol (DAAP) to third parties.
The Music Player on the sound system can playback audio
fi
les in MP3, WMA,
AAC, FLAC, ALAC and WAV formats. WMA Lossless
fi
les can also be played
when using Windows Media Player as the UPnP server. Note that the playback
of
fi
les encoded using WMA Voice, WMA 10 Professional, and of
fi
les which
have DRM protection is not supported by the sound system.
When using a UPnP server, the search and selection criteria are determined by
the server software, not by the sound system, but typically include searching
by Artist, Album and Genre. Many server applications also allow you to access
your
fi
les according to the folders within which they are stored as well as other
criteria. Windows Media Player is less
fl
exible than some other UPnP servers
in this regard, but is generally easier to set up.
Many UPnP server applications are also capable of sharing pictures and
video
fi
les to other network connected devices. If this is the case (as
it is with Windows Media Player) you may see the option of choosing
between 'Music', 'Video' and 'Pictures' on the Music Player's menu.
Clearly you should only select the 'Music' option. Content offered via
the alternative options will not be playable on your sound system.
Some third party server applications allow customisation of the search
criteria and indexing methods. This can be useful if you have a very
large collection of stored music
fi
les.
Here is a short selection of alternative UPnP server programs, although
many others are available:
AssetUPnP (Windows) * **
Mezzmo (Windows) *
MediaTomb (Linux, Mac OS X) *
Serviio (Windows, Linux, Max OS X) *
TVersity (Windows) *
Twonky Media Server (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) *
* = free of charge or trial versions with limited functionality are
available at the time of writing. ** = other platforms in development.
Please refer to the documentation for your chosen server program
for full details of its con
fi
guration and usage. Some Network Attached
Storage (NAS) devices and some routers include UPnP/DLNA server
software.