<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/22/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Russell Brown</b> <<a href="mailto:rmbzzz@gmail.com">rmbzzz@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">I think there is a choice to be made.<br><br>The squeezebox, (the intended client<br>of the slimserver) can play a number
<br>of audio formats. Visit<br><a href="http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html">http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html</a><br>for details. For formats that the client can<br>play, I think the file is just streamed, I think.
<br><br>The server also has the ability to transcode formats.<br>Thus, if your music is in a format that the client cannot<br>play, the server will transcode. You can also transcode to a<br>lower bitrate if bandwidth is a problem.
<br>I believe this can be configured in a fairly flexible<br>way, though I have not played much with this.</blockquote>
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<div>I've been using slimserver on my myth box for quite some time now. I use it simply as a server - not integrated into Myth in any way. Its used to access all the same music files that MythMusic plays so that I can listen to them elsewhere (like here at work through ssh - works quite well actually). Russell is correct about the re-encoding/transcoding. Its all configurable through a web interface. I think though that it always decodes the file to the actual sample data then re-encodes it if needed - not sure thogh. It is, however, very easy to configure. And the settings are associated per client (Mac Address). This way if you have a client that sits on the net and can handle the raw wav stream - you can send it that way, with another client that is bandwidth limited getting a stream that's re-encoded at a lower bandwidth.
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<div>I'm considering buying one of slim-devices boxes. They are a bit pricey, but I've been so happy with the stability and operation of slimserver that I'm sold.</div>
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<div>Ron</div><br> </div><br>