MantisToboggan Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Hey folks, I just made the leap to Windows 8, and I'm determined to to avoid iTunes (for the standard performance reasons). I've had a bit of a look around and initially I was leaning towards Foobar or something similar, but I'm also after something that will airplay to my receiver. From the looks of it, AirFoil and AirParrot don't work at this point. Something to do with applications being sandboxed when they run in metro. I've still got an iPod, so syncing ability would be good, but I can use DoubleTwist or something to get around with that. Does anyone have any suggestions or experience in doing this? I'm two days old with Windows 8, so forgive the ignorance if there is an easy fix here. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoggieHowser Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I think JRiver (if you are OK with playing) is often the preferred choice for arranging PC media libraries. It also allows you to sync to iDevices. FWIW I find iTunes on the Mac OS to work very well for my purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acg Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 JRiver Media center runs rings around iTunes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantisToboggan Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 So JRiver airplays? I might give it a go. It looks like you get a pretty reasonable trial period. Thanks for the suggestion. Another approach: I'm also pretty new to the DLNA way of thinking. I know I can set my computer up as a server, and go through the GUI on the receiver to play music, but that's pretty clumsy. Is there some way to control play from my computer (like I would with iTunes and Airplay)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpearce38 Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 (edited) JRIVER - I moved to a mac and miss it soooo much, I loved theater mode where it would display pictures of the artist playing from google. Plus it would give you a little bio as well. The jremote smartphone amp was a cracker as well. Just waiting for them to release the full mac version, I have my songs on a NAS a Jriver integrated really well, Itunes is painful in this regard Edited November 19, 2013 by mpearce38 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigun74 Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 One word "spotify" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damhooligan Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Another approach: I'm also pretty new to the DLNA way of thinking. I know I can set my computer up as a server, and go through the GUI on the receiver to play music, but that's pretty clumsy. Is there some way to control play from my computer (like I would with iTunes and Airplay)? Windows 8 comes with windows media player. It also should do what you want.. Depending on what your receiver can do. Jriver is better then wmp. Just not free. It allows you to do everything you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damhooligan Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I have my songs on a NAS a Jriver integrated really well, Itunes is painful in this regard I don't have a nas yet but will get one in the future. Do you have jriver running in/on you nas? Was wondering if the set-up of nas/dac/amp would be possible /good idea. I only just played a little bit with my Andriod/jriver remote. But the interface is stil on pc.. So a bit fiddly to select songs. Is there a setting so i can select songs on phone, so that the pc wil play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpearce38 Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I had Jriver installed on a mini pc in the theater room, it was connected to the NAS via Ethernet cable but would work the same if Wireless, You just tell Jriver where you music files are stored on the NAS and it syncs to that folder. Does a search to load all your songs up and anything you rip gets put in the nas directory, just like it was a local hard drive. being ethernet the connection was super fast and rock solid. I can't say the same for iTunes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantisToboggan Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 Windows 8 comes with windows media player. It also should do what you want.. Depending on what your receiver can do. Jriver is better then wmp. Just not free. It allows you to do everything you need. Yeah, I tried with WMP, but the receiver doesn't play nicely with it. "Unexplained error" or something similar. The receiver isn't "Windows Certified." I couldn't see how to get JRiver to AirPlay. Do I have to use AirFoil as well? I hate to say it, but it looks like iTunes is going to have to do. I've heard it plays a bit more nicely with Windows 8 than it has for the last few years on Windows 7. None of the ludicrous lag time in opening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dasher Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I vote for J River and as well, well worth the asking price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damhooligan Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Yeah, I tried with WMP, but the receiver doesn't play nicely with it. "Unexplained error" or something similar. The receiver isn't "Windows Certified." I couldn't see how to get JRiver to AirPlay. Do I have to use AirFoil as well? I hate to say it, but it looks like iTunes is going to have to do. I've heard it plays a bit more nicely with Windows 8 than it has for the last few years on Windows 7. None of the ludicrous lag time in opening what receiver do you have? Mayby there is something in the settings somewhere of either receiver or wmp or jriver that needs be adjusted for it to work . I wouldn't give up just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damhooligan Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Yeah, I tried with WMP, but the receiver doesn't play nicely with it. "Unexplained error" or something similar. The receiver isn't "Windows Certified." I couldn't see how to get JRiver to AirPlay. Do I have to use AirFoil as well? I hate to say it, but it looks like iTunes is going to have to do. I've heard it plays a bit more nicely with Windows 8 than it has for the last few years on Windows 7. None of the ludicrous lag time in opening Just read your signature, and your RX-A2020 is windows compatible. (might be restricted to windows 7, and may not be guaranteed to work) But it is compatible with wmp. Also it's guaranteed dlna compatible. Jriver has also this dlna feature, more info here.http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DLNA might be a bit tricky to get it set-up. But it should all be doable/possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaywhar Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 +1 for JRiver. It has some nice synching features (at least to my android phone) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantisToboggan Posted November 21, 2013 Author Share Posted November 21, 2013 (edited) Just read your signature, and your RX-A2020 is windows compatible. (might be restricted to windows 7, and may not be guaranteed to work) But it is compatible with wmp. Also it's guaranteed dlna compatible. Jriver has also this dlna feature, more info here.http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DLNA might be a bit tricky to get it set-up. But it should all be doable/possible. Right, I think I finally cracked it. I couldn't figure out how to push to the receiver. It was to do with a setting on the receiver (Airplay automatically flicks the receiver on, DLNA doesn't). I'll give it a go for the 30 days, and see how it goes. I'm ready to burn iTunes to the ground*, so hopefully this is the solution. *On that note, does anyone have a suggestion for a music organiser? iTunes seem to have messed up many, many of the tags. RinseMyMusic gives 50 tracks before purchase. Something similar (preferably free/cheap) would be good. Thanks for your help so far folks! Edited November 21, 2013 by MantisToboggan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigC Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I use JRiver on a surface with windows 8.1. I tried the built in Media player and VL media player. JR is the most feature rich by a long shot. It's free to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damhooligan Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Right, I think I finally cracked it. I couldn't figure out how to push to the receiver. It was to do with a setting on the receiver (Airplay automatically flicks the receiver on, DLNA doesn't). I'll give it a go for the 30 days, and see how it goes. I'm ready to burn iTunes to the ground*, so hopefully this is the solution. *On that note, does anyone have a suggestion for a music organiser? iTunes seem to have messed up many, many of the tags. RinseMyMusic gives 50 tracks before purchase. Something similar (preferably free/cheap) would be good. Thanks for your help so far folks! Glad to hear you cracked it. I'm happy to help anyone who is willing to 'burn I-tunes' I think jriver can help with organising. It has a good tagging system (based on reviews of others) http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/File_Properties_(tags) I hope it works for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest touchstone Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Right, I think I finally cracked it. I couldn't figure out how to push to the receiver. It was to do with a setting on the receiver (Airplay automatically flicks the receiver on, DLNA doesn't). I'll give it a go for the 30 days, and see how it goes. I'm ready to burn iTunes to the ground*, so hopefully this is the solution. *On that note, does anyone have a suggestion for a music organiser? iTunes seem to have messed up many, many of the tags. RinseMyMusic gives 50 tracks before purchase. Something similar (preferably free/cheap) would be good. Thanks for your help so far folks! Be really careful with this. I bought TuneUp (for Mac) and ended up with a bigger mess than I had beforehand because of all sorts of discrepancies in tags. Agree with your sentiments on iTunes, though. I tried the JRiver Mac version and it's not bad. I found it a bit clunky compared to iTunes, but nowhere near as authoritarian (unfortunately I'm stuck with iTunes for the moment, having shelled out for Amarra, which is really nice … when it's working). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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