iTunes Alternatives

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 10:53 pm

J River is a bit crash happy on my Mac.
Sometimes dragging a track into the playlist window at the bottom of the left hand column causes a hang, then it either crashes of its own accord or needs to be force quit. It's repeatable 60% of the time.
I think it may be because I don't really have enough memory.
The Mac Mini is two years old and only came with 2GB.
High time I maxed out the RAM, especially as OSX Mavericks is due out soon.

Despite this, I continue to enjoy the sound quality of JRiver.
Now I have warmed it up a bit, the sound is a useful improvement over iTunes.

ed · Post by ed » Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:40 pm

is there something to do with killing all the flies in the state of tennesse?

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:00 am

ed wrote:is there something to do with killing all the flies in the state of tennesse?

You got it!

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:09 am

I can also reliably crash JRiver by selecting "audio" from the sidebar after launching the program.
Never fails to produce a hang.
The workaround seems to be to select "playing now" to bring up whatever was playing before you quit the program, start play, then you can load the main library by selecting "audio" whilst the track is playing, and take it from there.

Not quite ready for prime time yet, which is a shame as it shows a lot of promise.
I have the 30 day trial, so we'll see what they do with the build during that period.

Ray P · Post by **Ray P** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:49 pm

Steve, did you download the 'work in progress' version; maybe worth trying a previous version?

Ray

Ray P · Post by **Ray P** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:03 pm

Nick wrote:Yep, but if you are controlling the volume in the digital domain, the final signal will have to go to your dac. So the numbers that go to you dac will for example (assuming 16 bit), at 0dB attenuation range from +32768 to -32769, thats full scale, If you want 6dB attenuation, then the numbers will range from +16384 to -16385, 12dB attenuation, +8192 to -8193, each 6dB final attenuation will loose you a bit from your dac. The fact that jRiver does its internal work in 64 bit doesn't affect that.

Fair enough, set jRivver to 0dB then adjust your amp so its the loudest it will ever need to be, then you will loose less using jRivver as a attenuator, but if you start with 20dB or so attenuation to match the DAC and amp, thats turned a 24 bit dac with 110dB S/N ratio into a 21bit one with 90dB S/N

Thanks Nick. Yes, I understand the numbers wrt attenuation, I just imagined that processing in 64bit meant you could keep the resolution through manipulation of the samples (DSP). You've just reminded me of when one of my school friends told me there wasn't a Father Christmas.

I suspect the reason I've been happy with it is because I rarely touch the volume knob when I'm listening properly and have set JRiver's volume internal settings to have 0dB attenuation at that level? I'll have a poke around in that area and see what I can hear.

BTW, as I'm using a Juli@ soundcard, configured with ASIO, the output bit depth should be at the maximum the card can cope with and JRiver tells me that is 32bit, but, assuming digital volume control, that will be the truncated samples padded with zeros?

Ray

Post by **Nick** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:16 pm

JRiver tells me that is 32bit

Just because it accepts 32 bit data doesn't mean it can reproduce a -130dB signal.

Ray P · Post by **Ray P** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:33 pm

Nick wrote:
JRiver tells me that is 32bit
Just because it accepts 32 bit data doesn't mean it can reproduce a -130dB signal.

Yes, agreed. My RAKK DAC can only process up to 24bit 192KHz.

Ray

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 3:01 pm

Ray P wrote:Steve, did you download the 'work in progress' version; maybe worth trying a previous version?

Ray

Ray,

I managed to sort it with a bit of digging around the settings so that the audio
list had priority on startup. No further problems.
Also when making playlists, I have to make sure the buffer is empty by hitting ctrl-S, which stops the last track you were playing and clears everything out of said buffer. I wouldn't be surprised if the hang problem when making playlists with the buffer full of cued up tracks is a RAM issue, so I can't be too hard on JRiver for that.

It is now a pretty seamless experience.

Ray P · Post by **Ray P** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 6:21 pm

TBH Steve, I don't really bother with playlists as I tend to play albums or browse the library as I go, nor do I use the application interface very often. I use the Gizmo app on a tablet or smartphone to choose what to play and simply tap tracks I want to hear. I think Gizmo is only available on Android though and on Apple devices you have to use the web control interface.

Ray

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 7:16 pm

Ray P wrote:I use the Gizmo app on a tablet or smartphone to choose what to play and simply tap tracks I want to hear. I think Gizmo is only available on Android though and on Apple devices you have to use the web control interface.

Ray

There is an app for iPad and iPhone called jRemote, that allows full remote control of MC on an iOS device. It won't work on the trial version of MC until you actually commit to buying it as it needs your license key to set it up.
http://www.jremote.net

If I buy the MC I will buy the remote app. It makes the Apple remote app look pretty crappy.

I'm getting quite fond of MC and it is looking likely that I will be purchasing it once the 30 day trial period ends.

Glad you reminded me about it.

Ray P · Post by **Ray P** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:04 pm

That looks good Steve; as I have Android devices I've never had to look for something like it but it looks slick from the info on the link.

If it's anything like Gizmo it isn't your license key it asks for but an access code that is generated by JRMC - on my Windows version it is 'Access Key', found under Tools, Options, Media Network. Not sure if that works on trial versions though.

Ray

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 10:48 pm

Thanks for the tip on access keys Ray.
I bought the JRemote app off the app store and after configuring the OSX firewall to accept incoming connections on port ***** the app was a doddle to set up. After setting the server going in the tools>options menu it generated an access key and after typing the key into the setup screen dialogue box, we were away.
J Remote is fast, slick and stable. It makes the current Apple remote app look frankly amateur. JMRC on the Mac is really rather good; better than iTunes in every way. the devs have done an amazing job porting it to OSX.
There are still a few windows centric references in some of the drop down menus and the overall look is not quite there yet, but operationally after sorting out a couple of workarounds to prevent crashes, it rocks.

The sound is excellent
Gapless playback works properly.
Automatic sample rate switching is present and correct.

A nice piece of work and at last, on the Mac, there is a credible alternative to iTunes.

Ray P · Post by **Ray P** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:10 pm

Have you had a look at this feature yet Steve?

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Path

It's kind of reassuring...

Ray

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:53 pm

Ray P wrote:Have you had a look at this feature yet Steve?

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Path

It's kind of reassuring...

Ray

Aye... that was one of the first things I stumbled across.

audio-talk

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