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Control4: best source for digital/streaming music (Pandora, local files, etc.)?
This thread has 11 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Saturday April 6, 2013 at 21:47
Audiophiliac
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We are trying to come up with a "go to" piece that will give us the best experience and control for accessing services like Pandora, Spotify, internet radio, etc....C4 has had Rhapsody built in for a long time and it works great. And it looks like they will also have a built in driver for Tune-In internet radio in the next release. Their built-in "My Music" driver works pretty good for accessing local music on the network. But if the client changes the location or folder name of the shares, it requires us to change it in the software to "fix" it. Not sure is Composer Media Edition allows users to redirect the C4 to new locations of stored music files or not.

I think we have 3 choices so far. We have racked up a couple of Grace Digital Tuners for a couple of projects and have been testing them in the shop. Not bad. Not good, but not bad. It supports Pandora, SiriusXM, iheartradio, and a few other things that no one will ever use. It has an FM tuner in it but EV did not put that in the driver so you cannot control it (why?). And to get it to see your local files, you have to use UPNP of some kind and when I asked them how to make it work, they told me not to use it as it is a PITA. No problem....C4 can do it on its own.

My biggest complaint with the Grace is there is no web gui for setup. You have to manually do stuff from the front panel....granted there is not much to set up, but still.

I brought in my SONOS Connect and threw it on the same system with a trial of the EV driver. So far it works as well or better than the Grace. You get more services available to you, although the driver only gives you direct access to several of them. You can call up your SONOS favorites easy enough though which can be whatever you want them to be...Pandora, MOG, Spotify, Amazon, etc.....

The local playback is stellar as you would expect. Basically it does whatever SONOS will do...but within the confines of the C4 GUI, which is less than stellar IMHO.

The plus is that you can configure the SONOS through their app which gives you all the control you need in an easy to find place...phone, tablet, computer, etc. You make changes to you services, favorites, etc...and they automatically get updated on the C4 side.

Choosing between the Grace and SONOS is a no brainer for me. SONOS does way more than the Grace. The slightly higher cost is not nearly enough to use the Grace.

The one I have not tried yet, and would love to, is the Autonomic server. I do not think it has as many service options as the SONOS. But it has multiple outputs and internal storage for local files. Those 2 things make it attractive from an installers perspective. But I do not see how it will give any better user experience than the SONOS. The C4 gui for all these devices is virtually identical. List navigation (think iPod style), and no real graphics except on the now playing screen.

Can other C4 integrators chime in? Has anyone done anything with the SONOS rumored new ability to allow a URL to call up its app and provide a return back to the control system app? Supposedly they were going to make this available, but I have no idea how it works or how one would make it work in Composer.

I use SONOS at home so maybe my view is biased, but I honestly think that there is not a better solution for streaming/local music playback out there. For sheer user experience, ease of setup, ease of use, and ease of installation, nothing beats it. And reliability and support are top notch.
"When I eat, it is the food that is scared." - Ron Swanson
Post 2 made on Saturday April 6, 2013 at 22:08
77W
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I played with everything under the sun. C4's native, Autonomic, Grace, Airplay, etc.

Use Sonos. With the EV app it works great natively within C4. You can tell your more savvy clients that they're using Sonos for their digital media and point them to the Sonos app. Name each player as a source, and then they have full access to radio, music library, and other music sources (including Songza). It's a 4 finger swipe to go back and forth as necessary.

I feel like I'll be murdered for even suggesting switching apps. You purists don't have to - you can just use Sonos within EV augmented C4 and call it a day. I think there's value in flipping to the Sonos app until C4 rewrites the iPod proxy or adds another to deal with media. Maybe it'll come in 2.4.

No storage is an easy problem. Add a NAS. 4 Sonos Connects and a 3TB mirrored/redundant NAS is cheaper than the MMS5A. Given my experience with the buffoons at Autonomic, I won't be looking to them for any solutions anytime soon. My love/hate relationship with Sonos will continue.
Post 3 made on Saturday April 6, 2013 at 22:09
jberger
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Sonos is the best solution. The new "media bridge" when it releases will be another alternative.
Post 4 made on Saturday April 6, 2013 at 22:26
Ernie Gilman
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On April 6, 2013 at 21:47, Audiophiliac said...
But if the client changes the location or folder name of the shares, it requires us to change it in the software to "fix" it.

Tell the client not to do that. Make 'em sign something if you think you need to.

What software that accesses files can "heal" itself if someone moves the files? Okay, then use that one.


Drivers have been told for years not to use the wrong fuelin their automobiles, and they seem to have gotten the message. Get this message across: if they move their files, you'll be glad to charge to come out and restore operation.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
OP | Post 5 made on Saturday April 6, 2013 at 22:56
Audiophiliac
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Ernie, I know.

I totally forgot about the C4 media bridge. Q2 is here....it is not shipping yet. It sounds nice... .but it will not compete with sonos for content options.
"When I eat, it is the food that is scared." - Ron Swanson
Post 6 made on Sunday April 7, 2013 at 08:46
jimstolz76
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FM tuner in the Grace is only controllable via IR, so an IP driver isn't going to do anything, which is why it's not in the EV driver...
Post 7 made on Monday April 8, 2013 at 11:27
flandon
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Also with 2.4 we are supposed to get

TuneIn delivers over 70,000 streaming Internet radio stations.
Flandon the mighty Dragon Fisher
Post 8 made on Monday April 8, 2013 at 11:59
77W
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On April 8, 2013 at 11:27, flandon said...
Also with 2.4 we are supposed to get

TuneIn delivers over 70,000 streaming Internet radio stations.

I'm curious how C4 is planning for us to navigate through all those radio stations.
Post 9 made on Monday April 8, 2013 at 12:15
lippavisual
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My guess would be like "add to favorites" or something.
Post 10 made on Monday April 8, 2013 at 18:46
jberger
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You navigate it just like you would on your phone or tablet.
OP | Post 11 made on Monday April 8, 2013 at 19:20
Audiophiliac
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It will likely be the "list navigation" we are used to using for everything else. Probably you can use Media edition to add favorites....at least? I an anxious to try the media bridge. I expect it to fall between the Grace and SONOS in terms of usability and features.
"When I eat, it is the food that is scared." - Ron Swanson
Post 12 made on Monday April 8, 2013 at 20:10
jimstolz76
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The TuneIn integration is nice, actually.


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