FAQs

What is a DS player?

A DS player is an open, digital music player from Linn. It is a source product, like a CD player, but rather than retrieving music from a CD, it retrieves music from a standard, Ethernet network.

What makes the DS players “open”?

They have open, standard interfaces as follows: Firstly, they have a standard Ethernet input, and standard audio outputs. Secondly, they support the open UPnP AV 1.0 specification for control. Thirdly, they supports open file formats (e.g. FLAC). Fourthly, they retrieve music from a standard, Ethernet network, have no hard drives inside and so have an open system architecture.

How does music get onto a standard Ethernet network in the first place?

From a network attached hard drive. A dedicated networked attached hard drive is called a NAS, which stands for Network Attached Storage. We have tested with the Netgear ReadyNAS. This is a secure, flexible, modular and upgradeable unit that keeps your music collection safe and independent from any manufacturer or product.

How do I get my music onto a NAS?

Use Ripstation Micro DS, EAC or Max for accurately ripping CDs to your NAS (see links below). If you have a large collection of CDs, using Ripstation Micro DS may be too time consuming. An alternative method is to use a ripping service. These can be easily found via an Internet search.

When I buy a new CD, how do I rip it onto the NAS?

Using a program called Ripstation Micro DS or EAC (Exact Audio Copy). These are free for non-commercial use. Once installed on your Windows PC, you simply put the CD in the computer drive and transfer the CD to the NAS. Apple customers can use a program called Max in exactly the same way. Ripstation Micro DS is available here: http://www.ripfactory.com/rsmicrods.html EAC is available here: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ Max is available here: http://www.sbooth.org/Max/

I download music from the Internet? Will downloaded music play on the DS players?

Yes, so long as the downloads are in one of the supported open file formats, or are transcoded to one of those formats. Here are two free, open source transcoding programs: Windows: http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/ Mac OS X: http://www.sbooth.org/Max/

Can the NAS be used by my other networked products, like other music players, or used for other purposes, like storing home videos?

The NAS can be accessed by Linn and non-Linn networked products, for both music and non-music applications.

Should the NAS be backed up?

It’s a good idea. The Linn DS Ripping Service will provide a backup as part of the service, so your music collection can be recovered in the event of fire or other catastrophic failure or damage to the NAS. If you are a retailer, you can configure a customer’s Netgear ReadyNAS to back-up to a server on your premises. Rsync is a free program can be installed on the NAS and configured to automatically back-up to a second NAS or any other hard drive: http://rsync.samba.org/

Does the NAS have to be in the same room as the DS player?

No, as long as both the NAS and the DS player are connected to the same Ethernet network, the DS player will retrieve music from the NAS.

What should I do if my CD collection is too big to fit on one NAS?

You can have as many NAS as you like connected to the network. The Linn GUI will browse and select the music from multiple NAS, and the DS player will play the music from multiple NAS.

Can I create a DS player multi-room system?

Yes. You can have up to six DS players running from one NAS, with concurrent, independent access to the stored music.

Should I use wired or wireless Ethernet (Wi-Fi)?

Definitely wired. There is no guaranteed quality of service over wireless networks today. It might not matter when downloading a Word document – so long as it arrives eventually it’s OK – but when streaming music the information must arrive at the DS player in a predictable way to avoid audio drop-out.

How should I control a DS player?

Using the Linn GUI software provides the best interface. It is designed to run on a touchscreen handheld PC. We have tested with the Samsung Q1 and Sony Vaio UX. You can also use the simple infrared remote control that ships with the Klimax and Akurate DS to play, stop, pause and skip tracks.

Can other UPnP controllers operate the DS players?

Yes, so long as they conform to the UPnP AV specification, although with a reduced feature set compared to the Linn GUI software. Here are two such products that can control the DS players: Nokia n800: http://www.nseries.com/products/n800/#l=products,n800 Nokia N95: http://www.nseries.com/products/n95

Can I save playlists that I create using the Linn GUI?

Not at this time. The Linn GUI is focussed on simple browsing and selection from your music collection, and queuing up music in its own playlist. Here is a program that is suited to playlist creation and editing: Windows OS: http://www.mediamonkey.com

What audio formats do the DS players support?

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), WAV, MP3 and AIFF. All these formats support CD encoding and decoding at full quality. Linn recommends FLAC.

Why does Linn recommend FLAC?

1. FLAC is a free, open format. It is non-proprietary, which means your music collection is safeguarded for the future, can be played through any open, digital music player, and is not tied to a particular manufacturer or product. The specification is published for all to see. In contrast, SACD has failed to achieve significant success because it requires proprietary music content and disc players with proprietary hardware inside.
2. FLAC allows even better than CD quality encoding and decoding. Linn Records (http://www.LinnRecords.com) provides studio master quality downloads in FLAC, at the same quality as SACD.
3. FLAC supports metadata, or tags, so that useful information about a piece of music can be stored with the music; for example, album, artist, genre, cover art, sleeve notes, etc. User interfaces can make good use of these tags. Here are programs that support tag editing: Windows OS: mp3tag: http://www.mp3tag.de/en Mac OS X: Tag: http://sbooth.org/Tag/
4. Because it is open and free, there are an extensive set of players, tools, transcoders (to convert between other formats and FLAC), tag editors, and other programs for FLAC.

Why doesn't the DS players support other audio formats (AAC, WMA, etc.)?

We decided not to support proprietary formats such as Microsoft’s WMA and Apple’s version of AAC, because it is not clear that these companies are committed to supporting a wider adoption of their formats, beyond their own product ranges.

I already have lots of music stored on a hard drive. Do I have to transfer it to a NAS or can I use my existing PC / Mac hard drive?

You can install TwonkyMedia on your existing PC / Mac and use your existing PC / Mac hard drive if you wish. However, Linn recommends transferring all media to a NAS for: • RAID fail-safe protection and notification • Upgradeability and scale-ability of hard drives • Independent availability of music collection when PC / Mac powered off • Long-term future-proofing and system flexibility

I already have a NAS running SlimServer, which I use with Squeezeboxes around my house. Can I also run TwonkyMedia or another UPnP server on the same NAS and access my music from a DS player in one room and Squeezeboxes in the other rooms?

Yes you can. You can use the Linn GUI to browse and play your music collection on your DS player from the NAS, and use the Squeezebox remote control to browse and play your music collection on the Squeezebox from the same NAS.

How do I set up a Computer Network?

This should be done by someone with a sufficient level of I.T. training, ideally a professionally trained I.T. specialist. The people involved should be proficient in a minimum of :

• Networking e.g. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/netgeneral/

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk389/tk214/tech_digest09186a0080091a86.html

• Network devices e.g. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Ethernet-

Networking-Basics-Part1.html

• TCP/IP networking e.g. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/tcpip.html

• Firewalls, their configuration and importance

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Firewalls-101.html

• What cables to use e.g. http://www.mohawk-cdt.com/tech/instguides-utp.html ,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10BASE-T

Where can I get training on Computer Networks and Ethernet systems?

There are many training courses to suit your requirements on Ethernet. Different levels of training are available to match the complexity of the systems that you will be designing or supporting. This can be via online training courses e.g.

• http://training.mikrotik.com/course/category.php?id=2
• http://www.intelligentedu.com/newly_researched_free_training/Networking.html

It is also possible to attend training courses in person at local technical colleges and universities.