Embedded Linux In Onkyo's Home Music Server

IrateSurf writes "ExtremeTech has a story about a new use of embedded Linux from Onkyo, which runs a home music server. Their NAS-2.3 has a CD-player as well as an 80GB hard drive for storing music and streaming it to other players on the an Ethernet network. Also check out the web site for the NAS-2.3." If only they would make it record radio, too ...

Comments

they must be rich

[Stanley Feinbaum]

They must be rich if they can afford to have 80gigs worth of legal copies of their music...

if each album takes 80megs about.. then the hd can hold 1000 albums... 1000 albums at 20$ an album is 20,000$ !

Who can afford to spend that much on music?

Re:they must be rich

[ediron2]

Spread the cost out, man... ask 'Who can afford a few grand a year?!'

Young people. 15 to 25, no mortgage or significant debt, a job, and lots of exposure via friends to help thin out the good music from the bad before buying...

I bought music from when I was 15 to about 28 yrs old, and didn't buy much compared to most of my music-fanatic friends. Since then, I've tapered off to a few cd's a year, plus a few more as gifts. I've got well over 100 tapes, 150 in vinyl, 250 cd's, and one 8-track (Abbey Road, don't ask why). And I repeat, I wasn't SERIOUSLY into music like several friends I had...

So, 1000 seems quite plausible. What's more, a lot of those I got via cheap sources: rummage & yard sales, used bins, friends, etc. Nowadays, I pick up a cd when I hear a good concert or live band in a bar. Since the night's bar tab has usually cost me a lot more than the $10-15 for the CD, I consider it a tip to a good band and a chance to reminisce later.

Round down to 15k (that's being charitable compared to your $20 per album), give me 1/5 the needed collection, and spread it over the last 30 years, and it seems laughably cheap... $100 a YEAR on average. Rich?! Shee-it, I spent more last weekend on sushi! Throw in the wife's similarly-sized music collection, not force me to waste a wall in my li'l house (not to mention portability like ipods and archos units have) and give me access to stuff that's only available on out-of-print vinyl and I'd probably start collecting old, good music like a fiend.

Why not wireless?

[Metalhead01]

There are a lot of these little guys popping up on the market, yet all of them use a physical connection. Is there some inherent technical problem with using an 802.11b device to stream the music?

Re:Why not wireless?

[Drakin]

Price, simple as that. They're trying to keep the price as low as possible, and adding wireless supporty would likely as $50 to $100 to the price, for functionality not everyone would use.

The consumer base (not more geek minded users) hasn't really started to adopt wireless in a major way, while they're getting into devices like this.

Archos Radio Recorders

[Foxxz]

"If only they would make it record radio, too ..."

See archos for devices that record raido directly into mp3. They have a hard drive and a smart media device that does that i beleive. Plus they keep the last 30 seconds of audio in memory in case the song you want has already started you can still get the begining.

-Foxxz

does it matter what OS it's running?

[rtphokie]

mod this flamebait if you must but I gotta ask, what does it really matter what OS it's running?

It could run TRS-DOS for all I care as long as it gets the job done efficiently.

Other sources

[pompomtom]

Legal mp3's don't have to come off a $20 CD.

Check acidplanet.com mp3.com mp3.com.au spinwarp.com etc etc etc

Article Text

[Anonymous Coward]

Onkyo (www.onkyousa.com) is one of the better-known Japanese manufacturers of home theater gear. Recently, the company has begun building audio and home theater equipment with built-in Ethernet ports, rather than some proprietary connectivity scheme. PC Magazine wrote about one of Onkyo's product, the NC500 Net-Tune Receiver. However, the Net-Tune receiver is perhaps the least interesting of the products, offering the now-familiar paradigm -- the digital receiver that can route music from your PC to your home audio system. The NC500 does have a stereo amplifier, but is otherwise similar to products from Turtle Beach, Sonic Blue and others. However, Onkyo is bringing Ethernet capability to a full-fledged, Dolby Digital/DTS 7.1 receiver in it's TX-NR900, THX-Select certified home theater receiver. The TX-NR900 offers 110 watts RMS into 7 channels, supports all the major surround sound standards and can act as a Net-Tune client, allowing you to pipe the digital music from your PC directly to your home theater rack. In addition to the usual array of input and output ports is a standard, 10 megabit Ethernet port.

That's pretty cool, but that's not all. Onkyo also sells a line of high-end gear targeted towards custom installations under its Integra brand. Onkyo offers products similar to the NC500 and TX-NR900, but with additional capabilities. What's most interesting, though, is the Integra NAS-2.3 Net-Tune Server.

At first blush, the NAS-2.3 seems like a CD player, but it also has an embedded 80GB hard drive. So now it appears to be like any number of digital music players on the scene. But the NAS-2.3 also has a 10/100 Ethernet port, and is capable of acting as a music server to a network of Net-Tune devices. Running on the Integra product is an embedded Linux operating system, which acts as the server software.

The NAS-2.3 can support up to 12 simultaneous streams to Net-Tune receivers or other clients. You can have different tracks playing in multiple rooms, move music to a PC, display a playlist on most types of displays (the NAS-2.3 has VGA, S-Video and composite video outputs) and can even connect up to CDDB to download track information on various CDs.

One other interesting aspect of the NAS-2.3 is the availability of an empty drive sled inside the box, allowing users or installers to add additional hard drive space. You can't use a standard, PC-formatted hard drive, according to Eric Harper, Integra's Custom Installation and Product Manager. The formatting is somewhat different, but a knowledgeable user or installer should be able to add another drive to the server.

So if you don't want the headache of building your own music server from a PC, then the NAS-2.3 can integrate into your home Ethernet network, co-existing quite well with your PC systems. It's an intriguing idea that embraces the PC network, rather than trying to remain isolated.

NNY News with a twist of lime.

Re:why

[YrWrstNtmr]

why do they have to make these so big??

1. space for all the connections in the back

2. power amp cooling. Driving serious power to multiple large speakers takes power. That heat needs to be dissipated.

3. It looks better

Input Sources

[Dark Warrior]

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see ethernet as one of the input sources. I have that 1400 legal MP3s ripped from my CDs--I'm not sure I want to go thru that again.

Running gerbilware

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry for the subject line, but that's what I think whenever I see one of these embedded Linux stories--"For all I care it's powered by gerbils running in exercise wheels." Am I happy to see Linux get a little positive press? Sure, but let's not read more into this than it deserves. The rest of the world won't know this thing has "Linux Inside", nor will they care. The Linux crowd should be focused on the real battleground, the desktop, and derailing MS's monopoly.

There is a reason they choose Linux . .

[MrLinuxHead]

Onkyo is smart for using Linux. Nearly all the Pacific Rim (Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, ect.) manufacturers are testing it or are ready to deploy because they don't need to pay out royalties per unit, can share innovations with each other, and can share data with each other's units over 100Mb Ethernet or 802.11x or whatever. The most important thing to remember is they don't need to spend huge amounts on R&D. Linux will become the Linga Franca of consumer electronics, unless Microsoft buys one of the big players and twists everyone's arm to go along. Maybe not even then, as the long term gains are too big. And most Japanese electronics manufacturers are thinking very long term.

And yes these babies are BIG! And HEAVY! At 110 RMS per CH. Thats 660 Watts out, all discrete. No output IC's. Not to mentions pre amp and video switching. Schwweett.

Inputs:

Audio and AV Inputs - 3/6

HDTV-Ready Component Video Input/Output - 2/1

Front-Panel Video Input (with S-Video) - Yes

S-Video Compatible Jacks Input/Output - 6/3

Digital Inputs:

5 Optical (1 Front Panel), 3 Coaxial

Digital Output - 2 Optical Amp In

RS-232 Control Port

IR In/Out - 1/1