It looks like it may finally be the end of iTunes for me – that shamble of Apple bloatware – the great mangler of files and playlists.
Let me start at the beginning with our home system and the music library, read next paragraph to skip to portable music:
A few years ago iTunes messed up our home music library for the 3rd time, so we switched to Audirvana (both Mac and Windows) which works well enough and sounds great, much better than iTunes because it supports higher resolution audio file formats. We ripped (copied) our music from CD’s at CD quality and have never looked back – even fixing the album covers that iTunes endlessly lost or mangled. All new music has been purchased at higher quality levels and on a good stereo you can hear the improvement in sound quality over various compressed MP3 type file formats. At least all of our music is in one place, consistent, uncorrupted, has consistent album covers, accessible throughout the house with a IOS remote and has consistent playlists that are mostly stable (although we have had playlists bumps along the way). Audirvana supports all common music file formats, as well as high definition listless formats (FLAC, DSD, ACC, ACCL and the greatly disputed MQA which we love). A Mac Air laptop hosts the files and software (Audirvana) and it is connected via a USB cable to a NAIM DAC (digital to analog converter) which is then connected to a top of the line NAIM Amp and finally Bowers and Wilkins 802 Dimond speakers.
So that left portable music
How to avoid IOS Apple Music which yet again had a nervous breakdown and duplicated every track – playing each track twice in a row? And then theres the dyslexic teeni-bobber user interface – best suited to ‘songs’ and keep keep an album (or multi album together).
So that brings us to VOX as a good music player for IOS and it handles all of my music formats except MQA (which I simply convert to FLAC). This then brings me back to the home system – the source of the music. I transfer my Audirvana music library directly to my phone as this is comprised of directories (either by artist or album) with associated audio files in them (ok that still takes iTunes but that just a file copy) but from there it goes directly to VOX which so far has played perfectly.
VOX also runs on Apple CarPlay so it looks like this solution will work for everything – easy to use, simple clean interface and playlists that don’t self destruct.
I included a couple of links if you are interested along with an article on replacing iTunes and high definition music.
Source Article: https://www.whathifi.com/advice/how-to-play-hi-res-music-your-iphone-0
VOX: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vox-mp3-flac-music-player/id916215494?mt=8
I hope Apple gets the hint – clean up iTunes – give me something that works and maybe I will use it. Till then I am open to other software and file formats.
Image Capture lets you a pick an app (or no app) to open when a device or Memory Card is attached to your Mac.
- In Terminal enter: defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool YES
iPods sort the order of a playlist by the order it has been added.
To create a playlist in the desired order:
1) Create or sort a list of tracks as desired (perhaps by album)
2) Create a new playlist that is empty
3) Copy the Tracks from Playlist 1 to 2
4) delete 1 if no longer required
Integrating analogue with digital audio components is complex and not well explained, so I thought I would post the results of the extensive research I conducted while recuperating from an eye problem – which allowed me time to listen carfully to music. During my recovery I realized that the quality of our audio has degraded, it was better in the past using CDs.
Years ago we converted our audio CD collection to digital files hosted on a MAC mini using iTunes. This was streamed via ethernet (wired) to Apple Airport Express (Airplay), then to a Denon 4308 AV Receiver and then to 26 year old high quality speakers (B&W 802-80). This resulted in less than acceptable audiophile results. Thats the problem I am trying to address – the sound quality is poor using these components.
Interestingly, I am quite satisfied with the audio and video quality from a Blue Ray video disk or 1080p Video downloaded from iTunes store using the above equipment with HDMI cables. Where did I go wrong with audio?
This post serves two purposes:
- To explain the basics of digital audio such as codecs (FLAC, ALAC …) and provide a reference as I forget these things over time
- To document the solutions to problems so others can benefit from them and I don’t repeat the same mistakes
We have chosen to use the Apple echo-system but most of this post is generic and will work with other operating systems. Apple has provided us with the best user experience overall. Warts and all, it’s the easies way for our household to go (although we keep our options open).
I think its important that everyone in the household be able to buy and listen to music, including ease of use like turning the system on/off. I therefore have attempted to reduce the complexity of operating the entire system.
A few brief definitions for those new to digital audio:
DAC – Digital to Audio Converter – converting the digital streams of numbers to analogue sound
16/44 – a digital short hand for defining two key aspects of encoding sound. Refer to the sound wave diagram below:
– the first number (16) is used to define the number of bits for loudness (dynamic range from soft to loud). The greater the bit rate, the greater the difference between soft and loud and the larger the file.
– the second number (44) used to define the number of samples taken per second(in thousands). The more samples the better the fidelity to the original sound and the larger the file.
– Digital files are stored either Lostless (no loss of sound quality) or Lossy (sounds removed to save space with a potential audible loss in quality).
– The encoding of sound is arranged using standards called codecs. Most codecs don’t support tags such as Album Art and Track Names therefore the tags are placed into Files along with the codecs (the encoded music). The files are standardized and a few common file formats are .mp3 (which is lossy so its poorer quality) or ALAC which is lostless (high quality).
DSD is an entirely new encoding scheme, has little music available and requires a specialized DAC. I have decided not to go that route.
Overall User Requirements:
Playing music involves more than just using technology; its about ease of purchase, operating convenience, reliability and above all enjoyment. With that in mind I developed an overall set of requirements that balances those basic needs. I encourage everyone to consider their overall requirements, not just a few technical pieces:
- Purchase: how will you obtain the music, in what quality level and how will you place it into your music library
- Player: (Software such as JRivers or iTunes – I actually settled on Audirvana V2 and dropped the iTunes Library entirely)
- Remote: to select the music and turn on/off hardware and change the volume
- Quality: what bit depth and sample rate (24/192 – described in the tables at the end of this post)
- File Formats – ALAC, FLAC, AAC – (described in the tables at the end of this post)
- Connections between components to support the desired quality levels (example Toslilnk has limits)
- Streaming music from internet or hand held device (iPad …)
- Locations: where will the hardware reside, how will you connect to it (network and remote) and will it make too much noise, is there good clean power?
- Maintenance – do I know how to maintain the OS and Applications?
- Upgradability: I kept the components as separate devices (exception: integrated receiver) so that they could be separately upgraded as required
- Portability: Support iPods, iPhone music with down sample of audio files suitable for these devices
- Hardware to support all of the above
- Network Connections to support the above
- Overall Cost of Ownership: Recycle old Macs, use free software and put money where it counts: speakers, amp and keep other costs lower (cables and DAC)
Basic Technical Requirements:
- Player: iTunes – it’s the devil we know so the rest of the system has to work with it. (JRiver media centre would be a consideration – that will be another post some day).
- Purchase: The iTunes store does not have great quality levels, alternative stores will need to be sourced. Moving the music from the store to the “digital music library” needs to be document
- Remote: Use iOS devices as the “Remote app” to select music and replace all “other remotes” for power on and volume control etc. One remote to rule them all. On iOS I also installed Rommie which translates all other remotes from IR (infra red) to WIFI and back to IR for each component. I can therefore change the music, volume or power from any room in the house
- Quality: Support a stream rate of 24/192 (24 bit depth, 192 khz sample rate which is better defined at the end of the blog) when connected to a digital library hosted on a Mac computer. It is arguable that 24/192 is overkill for audio but at least this requirement should provide “state of the art” for a good while (maybe 5 years or so). Do you need DSD, if so then you will have limited choices for a DAC.
- Streaming: Support Airplay at its maximum throughput (which actually seems low at 16/44) to support some ad-hoc streaming from iOS
- File Format: I have decided to use ALAC codec (Apple Lostless) using the .m4a file format (non DRM apple file format). All of this is explained below as well
- Connections: For the majority of audio transfer use USB from the computer to the DAC since it supports the best quality audio with least distorition
- Location: Maintain a Music Library on a Mac in the listening area (Living Room) using a quiet older Mac Book Pro (2011) and quiet small external hard disk (1 – 2 TB), keyboard and screen. Since audio streaming is not CPU intensive any relatively modern PC will do. I will stick with a Mac since I already maintain several.
- Maintenance – I don’t want to learn how to maintain and operate many systems, I will stick with Mac and iTunes (although iTunes is still unreliable and not user friendly)
- Upgradability: Keep the DAC as a separate unit so that it may be upgraded over time. The remaining audio components are already high end and won’t evolve over time
- Software: Mac OS X, iTunes, iOS Remote, Roomie, XLD
- Limitations: What I will not pursue now: DSD file format – not enough music available at a reasonable cost and keep costs reasonable for the DAC since they are still evolving
(more…)
On March 3, 2015 I finally got my Mac Pro late 2013 to sleep/wake reliably – more than 1.25 years after Apple released it.
The latest version of the Apple Thunderbolt firmware is required, Yosemite 10.10.2, and Areca 8050 Firmware & Boot Rom V1.52 2014-12-26.
As well I need the latest version of Promise Pegasus R4 Firmware: 5.04.0000.36 otherwise it reported that the disk was not ejected when waking up.
Here is a screen shot of my current Energy Saver settings:
Problem
I need to be able test software changes before applying them to my production machine. I also don’t want to duplicate my current hardware environment or make the job too labour intensive.
I could just clone all my software to another disk and reboot. But to move back a forth between the clone and my production environment was a process I found too tedious – requiring a reboot each time I needed to check things.
Solution
I have decided to use CCClone to clone my software environment and VM Fusion to simulate my hardware – running this cloned environment as a Virtual Machine on the same hardware as my production environment. I basically see a copy of my machine as a window on my production hardware.
When changes are verified on the clone, I apply those changes again to my production machine.
One Time Setup
These instructions are a bit out of date but I am keeping them as reference since I no longer need the one time setup.
- Create a Virtual Machine (VM) to receive a copy of the host machine.
- Created a new OS X VM from scratch called “Middle Man”. “Middle Man” is a vanilla machine which contains two bootable hard disks. One is the Middle Man Boot Disk. The other second drive is the “Clone of Host”.
- At this point you would think you could boot from Middle Man on the Host, but it has the same uuid and mac address as your Host. When I attempted to boot Middle Man on the Host, I just got a grey screen at boot time. To get around this problem (and as as a one time activity) I had to copy the .vmwarevm file to another machine running Fusion where I was prompted for “did you move or copy the VM”. Reply “copy” and Fusion will change the uuid and mac address within the VM (and what ever else is required to run it). Then copy the .vmwarevm file back to the Host where it will now be bootable from now on.
- Use CC Cloner to transfer a cloned image of the Host Boot Disk to the “Clone of Host Hard Disk”.
- This will require authenticating from the CC Cloner Application on the Host to “Middle Man” VM across the network.
- Using the Settings icon in Fusion (the wrench), click the “Startup Disk” icon and change “Clone of Host” to the “startup disk” – typically Fusion refers to this drive as “Hard Disk 2”.Re-boot the VM by hitting the Restart button.
- A clone of your host configuration will now come up as a VM running on the Host.
- Perform any changes/testing within the “Clone of Host”. When ready, re-apply the same changes to the Host.
Creating / Refreshing the “Clone of Host”
There are two approaches to cloning the current Host (Production System) to the Test System:
One – If the difference between the Host and the Test system are not too great: Clone the live system over the network to the running test system. This requires the Test system to have two hard disks, one that is operational and another to receive the the new clone.
- When in CCClone select Destination > Remote Macintosh …
- Ensure that the VM can connect to the Internet. In my case my MacPro has two Ethernet ports.
- Start the Clone which will transfer the Macintosh HD of the Host to the Test drive
- Re-boot the Test system – using the new clone as the boot disk
Two – after a major upgrade of the OS, the differences between the Host and the Test system are great, running a clone over the network has been slow and not reliable. Therefore its better to use a USB HD as an intermediate storage location for the clone of the Host. Then using CCC clone the USB HD to the Test system, using either of the Test systems two hard disks. Then boot of the updated TEST HD.
Some Issues to watch for: VMWARE can’t access TB only drives. It will be necessary to use USB. Also VMWARE for some reason defaults to USB 2 – its necessary to manually change the USB virtual drivers to USB 3.
To prepare for my new Mac Pro 2013 I decided to prepare a new Areca 8050 from OWC with 21 TB of storage.
OWC did a good job of shipping the equipment and I had reviewed some other posts knowing that the configuration may be problematic, so I downloaded the User Guide in advance.
Here are my recommendations for anyone like myself new to the installation:
a) Use Firefox not Safari
b) Upgrade the firmware
For the record here are the steps I performed:
1) I installed the 8 drives (8 * 3 TB). Got off on the wrong foot by using round headed screws that were provided, but then noticed that there were flat screws so I changed all 32 installed and then the drives slide easily into the drive bays.
2) Used the web configuration tool on ethernet.
3) Ran the Quick configure as Raid 5 – no spare drives – unit hung even though the lights flashed – progress on the front panel stuck at at 2.8% after 10 hours. Had to unplug the power cord to restart it.
4) Plugged back in, it started the initialization again and got to 4.3% in 3 hours. Hung some where early in the process I assume.
4.1) Powered off by unplugging but no further progress with initialization. Couldn’t get any response from web interface from unit.
4.2) Pulled the plug again and this time pulled all the drives. Got the web interface to respond since there were no drives to initialize.
5) Downloaded new firmware – this is where I discovered Safari not working. Used Firefox and eventually and got all the files installed except BIOS file which it said was invalid.
5.1) Switched to Firefox and had no web problems however the unit keeps coming up with address 192.168.1.100 rather than 192.169.1.100 (contrary to the quick guide).
6) Restarted the Raid initialization from scratch.
7) Raid 5 Initialization: at 11:58 its at 9.3%, 10.8% at 12:03 so lets call about 1.5% in 5 minutes (18% per hour) or 5.5 hours for the 21TB.
8) 13:20 unit appears to have restarted, 28.8%
9) 15:48 – 51.8%
10) 17:50 84%
11) It finished and I configured the volumes and ran Blackmajic Disk Test: 560 MB/s Read, 635 write.
12) After 10 days – no issues so far. Speed using Mac Pro 2013 600mB/s Read, 660 MBs Write.
13) Feb 2 – I have now confirmed that this drive it prevents the Mac from sleeping. See http://jeffgardner.ca/Blog/?p=751
To force spotlight to index a removable media:
Preferences>Spotlight>Privacy
Add the remote drive – this specifies that the drive should NOT be indexed.m Close and reopen this screen.
Then remove the removable drive from the Privacy screen. Check spotlight (Command+Space) and it should be indexing the drive.
If you sense that your hard disk should have more free space, and you have emptied the trash and cleared out obvious problems to no avail, then follow these steps:
- Open Finder.
- Press Command+F
- Left of the word Search > select the drive
- A drop down below the word Search should be changed to “File Size.” Other criteria are: “is greater than” and the size in MB – say 500 or 1000
- Finder will then display all files exceeding the size you selected
- You can select fields to display such as “size” by right click in the white heading of the finder window
- you can sort on size by “arrange” in the toolbar – descending
- you now should be viewing the largest files on the hard disk. If you know you don’t need it, delete it and empty the trash again.
- you can save this search for next time
Mail >Preferences > Fonts & Colors: Set Fixed-width font: to something you can see such as Helvetica 18
Select Use fixed-width font for plain text messages
In Composing: Message Format: Plain Text
Now every email you compose will default to Plain Text Helvetica 18 which my old tired eyes can see. The recipient of the email will see it in their default plain text font not in the mega size you see.