Servers are now part of the home computing environment. This is a natural development considering the number of homes that have multiple computers and a network. They tend to be oriented towards different media, including digital pictures, audio files, and video files. This article is mostly about the home music server.
A server computer is one that uses a network to provide services to one or more other computers. Early servers in the business environment allowed multiple computers to share disk space or printers attached to the server. These services may be offered by home servers, but their emphasis has been more on support for different forms of media.
The purpose of a music server, also called a manager, is to store audio files and to provide services related to them. It can gather all audio files into a single location. It can provide look up services to assist clients in finding specific files and sending them where they are wanted. Some can even create CDs containing selected audio files.
Almost any computer with a hard drive and network access can function as a music manager with appropriate software. There are computers that are specifically designed to be music servers, or generalized media servers. They are sold preloaded with media server software. Other than this, their main distinguishing characteristic is very large hard drives.
When another computer, referred to as a client, is connected to the network and given access to the manager, it will generally see the collection as stored on a network drive. Alternatively, the software may present the collection via web pages that it serves to the clients. Thus, it is very simple for it to retrieve and play any of the available audio files. There will be directory functions that make it possible to retrieve files by content name, album name, artist name, play list, and possibly other criteria.
Music players can access content by connecting to a client computer, or possibly to the manager. The presence of the manager should have minimal impact on the use of the player. It should treat files on the manager as if they are stored on the computer it is connected to.
Sound files can be played on a television, home theater, or audio system if one of the household computers is connected to it. If not, there are playback devices that can be connected and used for playback. Most of these are primarily intended for use with video, but they are capable of working with sound files as well.
A home music server is not the only way to archive and share sound files. In some households a central archive may not be the best approach. However, for most people this is a convenient way to organize things. If a song is stored in one of three places, it is harder to find than if it is known to be in one. It is also useful to have a very large hard drive for all media, not just sound.
A server computer is one that uses a network to provide services to one or more other computers. Early servers in the business environment allowed multiple computers to share disk space or printers attached to the server. These services may be offered by home servers, but their emphasis has been more on support for different forms of media.
The purpose of a music server, also called a manager, is to store audio files and to provide services related to them. It can gather all audio files into a single location. It can provide look up services to assist clients in finding specific files and sending them where they are wanted. Some can even create CDs containing selected audio files.
Almost any computer with a hard drive and network access can function as a music manager with appropriate software. There are computers that are specifically designed to be music servers, or generalized media servers. They are sold preloaded with media server software. Other than this, their main distinguishing characteristic is very large hard drives.
When another computer, referred to as a client, is connected to the network and given access to the manager, it will generally see the collection as stored on a network drive. Alternatively, the software may present the collection via web pages that it serves to the clients. Thus, it is very simple for it to retrieve and play any of the available audio files. There will be directory functions that make it possible to retrieve files by content name, album name, artist name, play list, and possibly other criteria.
Music players can access content by connecting to a client computer, or possibly to the manager. The presence of the manager should have minimal impact on the use of the player. It should treat files on the manager as if they are stored on the computer it is connected to.
Sound files can be played on a television, home theater, or audio system if one of the household computers is connected to it. If not, there are playback devices that can be connected and used for playback. Most of these are primarily intended for use with video, but they are capable of working with sound files as well.
A home music server is not the only way to archive and share sound files. In some households a central archive may not be the best approach. However, for most people this is a convenient way to organize things. If a song is stored in one of three places, it is harder to find than if it is known to be in one. It is also useful to have a very large hard drive for all media, not just sound.
About the Author:
Be sure you go to the Home Music Servers store for free information, reviews along with a excellent offering of items. Numerous very good articles or blog posts on Sonos Music System. Visit http://homemusicservers.com/ today.
No comments:
Post a Comment