Author Topic: Foobar or other simular program for PC music server  (Read 4572 times)

Offline jessearias

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Foobar or other simular program for PC music server
« on: September 23, 2016, 07:23:13 AM »
I am in the process of finishing up my new PC based music server.

I have two questions:

I see a lot of members recommend Foobar as the program to do your streaming media. I have read up on it and some say it is not very user friendly. Is that true? Is there another program that is easier to use?

I am going to be burning my CD library and from what I have read on the forum, FLAC is the file format to use. Is that correct? Is there another file format that is better? I know you do not want to use a format that compresses the music files and causes sound quality loss like MP3.

Thanks,  :thumb:
Parasound A21, Parasound JC2BP, Oppo 205 BR/SACD Disc Player, Marantz ST6000 Tuner, GoldenEar Triton 2 speakers and Supersub XXL, Triode Wire Labs interconnects, power cables and speaker wire, PI Audio Uber, Mini and Digibuss, Border Patrol DAC

Offline HAL

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Re: Foobar or other simular program for PC music server
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2016, 07:54:00 AM »
Foobar2000 is not hard to use.  It is really just a file based player with a simple UI.  When you set it up correctly it sounds very good, but it does take some time to understand the settings. 

I use Exact Audio Copy for the CD ripping process as it is integrated with the meta data services.  It will also FLAC the WAV files with the meta data.  You might compare the FLAC and WAV files to see if there is any difference in sound on your system.  WAV does not get a lot of meta data like cover art, but not always a big deal unless you want something like JRiver with the graphical front end.

Good luck with the build.


djdube525

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Re: Foobar or other simular program for PC music server
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2016, 10:33:32 AM »
I know you do not want to use a format that compresses the music files and causes sound quality loss like MP3.

FWIW... there is lossy (Ex: mp3) and lossless (Ex: FLAC, AAC) compression...

Some have claimed they have gone from WAV -> FLAC -> WAV and the resulting WAV file is different, so then starts a debate of is FLAC really lossless.

<edit>I haven't tried this... my hearing / system is not at a point where any delta would be noticeable - ie... too much effort :)</edit>

Personally... when I rip, I rip to two separate directory trees... One is FLAC, the other VBR MP3s using EAC. The former I use for listening off our main system, the latter used for putting files on SD cards to listen in the car, or phones, ipads, pulling into iTunes etc.

Probably an easier, quicker way to do it, but honestly my biggest time suck is iTunes never seems to pick up the metadata correctly even if set up right in EAC, and I end up having to go back and correcting a bunch of stuff in iTunes.  :roll:

I'm probably doing something wrong... or iTunes blows... or both.  :lol:

-DD

« Last Edit: September 23, 2016, 11:32:38 AM by djdube525 »

Offline Vincent Kars

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Re: Foobar or other simular program for PC music server
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2016, 03:07:39 AM »
Foobar is popular.
Personally I couldn’t get used to its Spartan interface.
I suggest MusicBee.
It is a very elegant piece of freeware: http://www.getmusicbee.com/

A small tutorial can be found on my website:  http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MusicBee/MusicBee.htm

I do think FLAC the best choice.
•   Lossless.
•   Excellent tagging support including cover art.
•   Allows storing custom tags in the file.
•   Checksum stored in the file. This allows you to verify if the audio is corrupted.
•   Wide support.
I wouldn’t recommend to rip to FLAc and MP3 at the same time.
If you do, you have 2 libraries to maintain.
Media players often  support transcoding (conversion on the fly).
You have your library in a lossless format
You make a playlist for your portable
The media player synchronizes this playlist with the portable converting everything to e.g. MP3 on the fly.

djdube525

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Re: Foobar or other simular program for PC music server
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2016, 05:29:17 PM »
I wouldn’t recommend to rip to FLAc and MP3 at the same time.
If you do, you have 2 libraries to maintain.
Media players often  support transcoding (conversion on the fly).
You have your library in a lossless format
You make a playlist for your portable
The media player synchronizes this playlist with the portable converting everything to e.g. MP3 on the fly.

All of our non iDevices can consume FLAC... so there really is no issue perse other than "labor" with 2 libraries. I could do AAC lossless, but then I'd be extra locked in... I wanted a fall back.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others.. it's just the flow I've gotten into.