ROOMPLAYER GUIDE PLAY MUSIC FROM YOUR NAS

Transcription

1 ROOMPLAYER GUIDE PLAY MUSIC FROM YOUR NAS This guide will show you how to connect to your NAS and to sync your music with your Roomplayer. Once you ve got your Roomplayer connected and your music synchronised, you won t need to turn your PC on to play music.

2 CONNECT TO YOUR NAS AND SYNC YOUR MUSIC To play music stored on your NAS, use the Roomplayer desktop app to connect to your NAS and sync your music with your Roomplayer. This process will tell your Roomplayer where your music is located and what tracks are stored there; it does not move or copy your files. Once complete, you will be able to play this music from any Roomplayer app, through any Roomplayer, at anytime. You can connect to your NAS during the Roomplayer desktop app setup wizard, which pops up when you first install the app on your computer. You can also connect to your NAS from the system menu in the app. Here s how you do it... HOW TO SYNC MUSIC FROM YOUR NAS The following are step by step instructions, showing you how to connect to your NAS and how to sync your music with your Roomplayer. You will be given the opportunity to locate music stored on your NAS when you first install the desktop app onto a computer. A music libraries screen appears in the Roomplayer setup wizard and asks if you want to add local music (stored on your computer) and/or network music (from a NAS). You can, of course, connect to a music library stored on your NAS at anytime. Go to the system menu (shown opposite) and select music libraries from the drop-down menu. When the music libraries screen appears, you have the option to add a: local library - music stored on your computer or DAS (direct attached storage) device network library (music stored on your NAS drive). To add music from your NAS, select network library.

3 You will now be prompted to type in the network (UNC) path to your NAS. You can choose what type of UNC path you enter, the options are: Option 1 (preferred) Enter your NAS name, for example: \\Vortexbox\multimedia\music Note. If you need help finding your NAS name, go to page 5 for instructions. Option 2 Enter the IP address of your NAS, for example: \\ \multimedia\music Note. If you need help finding your IP address, go to page 9 for instructions. We recommend that you only use the IP address method (option 2) if your NAS uses a fixed IP address. Once you have entered the address correctly, you will be prompted to enter the username and password for your NAS drive. Once you have entered it, select add to continue. Note. Your username and password are case sensitive. What is a UNC path? A UNC file path is used to describe the location of a network resource. The UNC syntax is in the form: \\hostname\sharedfolder\resource The hostname can be your NAS name such as qnap (preferred) or an IP address. In this example, the sharedfolder means the share name such as public or multimedia and the resource is the actual media. So your NAS location and music might be found at: \\qnap\public\music What is an IP address? An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numeric label that uniquely identifies each device on your home network. In a home network (also called a Local Area Network or LAN) it s your router that takes responsibility for assigning an IP address to each device. Your router is not short of IP addresses, and it will give one IP address (out of a possible 254) to each connected device on your home network. So, your computer, printer, NAS drive, Roomplayer, ipad, iphone and indeed any other networked device is each given its own IP address, which will look something like this: XX.XXX.

4 On the next screen, you will see that the NAS music library has been added to the list of libraries available for synchronising with your Roomplayer. It s a good idea to change the name of your music library to something more memorable. This will help you manage your music libraries and it will help other users decide which libraries they want to see appear when they select their username in Roomplayer apps. To rename a library, just click on the name of the library in the music libraries window. Note. Changing the name of your music library in your Roomplayer app, only changes how the music is displayed in Roomplayer menus; it does not change the actual file or original folder name. You can now add more local or network libraries or click apply to start synchronising the libraries you have selected. There maybe a delay of up to 10 seconds before it starts scanning for files. As soon as you click apply a pop-up will appear advising you that playback will pause during this time. Select yes and the synchronisation will begin. You will see a count of the individual tracks appearing as it syncs. When your music has finished synchronising, select close and your music will now be available to play. When you switch off your computer, you will be able to see and play all the music stored on your NAS drive in Roomplayer apps for your ipad, iphone and ipod as well as any other computers running the desktop app. Use a user profile to show your NAS music If you have a massive music collection on your NAS there s nothing to stop you linking to individual folders on your NAS. Each folder will then be available to view as a separate music library. However, we have also found that some people like to use user profiles to exclusively view the music on their NAS. We know one man who calls his Vox. When he selects Vox from the username drop-down, only the music from his NAS is available to view. He likes it this way and you might too. :)

5 HOW TO FIND YOUR NAS NAME AND NETWORK PATH Finding out your NAS name and the correct network path is straightforward, albeit, the methodology varies, depending on whether you re using a Windows or Mac computer. Methods for both computer types are noted below. FINDING IT ON A PC First off, use your computer to browse for your NAS drive. It should be located under Network. In the example opposite, you can see we are looking for the path to our Vortexbox. Once you have located your NAS, navigate to the music folder that you want to add. In this case, we have clicked on Multimedia and want to add the folder called Music. Note. Do not link to a mapped network drive (such as D, E or F). Mapped network drive locations can change and if they change your music would no longer play. Instead, your NAS should be set up as network location on your PC. If it is not, go to Add Network Location and set this up. Open the folder you want to add (in this case Music) and if you now look in the explorer bar, you will see the path to this folder. This is the network (SMB) path you will need to enter into the Roomplayer desktop app, so click inside the explorer bar and copy the path. Once it s copied, you can return to the desktop app and paste the link into the Network Share field accessible from System, Music Libraries, Network Library. Go back to page 3 to continue reading about setup.

6 FINDING IT ON A MAC First off, in your Finder view, select Go and Connect to Server. In the pop up, select Browse to navigate to your NAS drive. When you find your NAS, double click on it to open it.

7 If you are connected to your NAS as a Guest (which happens by default if your username and password have not been entered previously) you will need to select Connect As to login to your NAS using your NAS credentials. In the pop up, select Connect as Registered User then enter your NAS username and password. Remember that these details are case sensitive. Don t know you NAS login details? These can often be found in your NAS user manual. Want to check that you are correctly logged in? You ll see a small eject icon next to your NAS drive. If you are correctly connected to your NAS as a user, (and not a guest) it means that your login details have been previously stored. So, you can continue to the next step, which is browsing for your music folder. Navigate to the music folder that you want to sync. In this example, we want to sync to the folder Music, so select Music. Now, right click on the folder and select Get Info.

8 In the Get Info pop up. Look for the server information (highlighted in the image to the right). This is the path that you need to use in your Roomplayer desktop app. Select the path and copy and paste it into a text document. Before you return to the Roomplayer desktop app to paste in the link you need to modify it. The path you copied, will look something like this: smb://nascfac10(smb)_tcp.local/multimedia/ Music But, you want it to follow this format: \\MyNASShare\Share\Music So we ll change our path to this: \\NASCFAC10\Multimedia\Music Note. The forward slashes have been changed to back slashes. The capitalisation on the names have been retained because they are important. One final thing... And finally, before you can connect to your NAS from your Roomplayer, you need to unmount your NAS from your Mac. For more information on why you need to do this, read the grey box below. To unmount your NAS drive from your computer, go to Finder and select Eject. That s it, you can now return to your desktop app, and paste your path into the Network Share field, which is accessible from System, Music Libraries, Network Library. Go back to page 3 to continue reading about setup. Why do I need to unmount my NAS from my Mac? A Mac computer can only mount a NAS with an IP address once. So, if your NAS is already mounted on your Mac, your Roomplayer will not be able to connect to it to sync your music. This is a Mac specific issue and does not occur with Windows computers. The solution to unmount your NAS from your Mac, enables the Roomplayer to successfully connect to your NAS. Once complete you can mount your NAS drive on your Mac again and there will be no further issues.

9 HOW TO CONNECT USING AN IP ADDRESS You can use an IP address to connect to your NAS from the Roomplayer desktop app. First you need to know what the IP address is, and second, you should only do this if your NAS is set up with a fixed IP address. Read on for tips on finding the IP address and how to setup a fixed IP address if you haven t already. IF YOU KNOW THE IP ADDRESS, ADD IT CORRECTLY To enter an IP address make sure you enter it correctly using this format: \\ \share\music In other words you are typing: \\NAS_IP_Address\Share_Name\Music_folder Make sure there are no spaces in any name because this will prevent the NAS from being found by your Roomplayer. If you don t know the IP address of your NAS, check out our tips for finding it. HOW TO FIND THE IP ADDRESS OF YOUR NAS 1. Use a third party app Use a third party app to scan all the IP addresses on your network. We use Advanced IP Scanner on Windows and LanScan on Mac computers. Another handy app we have used is inet, which is available to download on the App Store from your ipad or iphone. All these apps will show you the IP addresses of all the devices you have connected to your router. Note. The third party apps listed above are examples of tools we have used; there are many alternatives and you should check and decide for yourself which one you want to use - we cannot endorse any particular tools. 2. Check your router s admin page If you know your router s IP address, type it into your browser s address bar using the format - \\ your_routers_ip_address_here\ - and proceed. You may now be asked for a user name and password. If you have not set one before, try admin with a blank password or admin and admin. Alternatively, check the manufacturers documentation for the default login details. Once you arrive at the router s configuration page, you will be able to find a list of all the connected devices (usually under LAN or DHCP client list) and their respective IP addresses. Other ways to check for your IP address Guess it - your router s IP address is always fixed, and manufacturers often default to or Check the label on your router - it is sometimes shown Check your original documentation Contact your device manufacturer - check their web page for documentation or support. Popular routers include Linksys, Netgear, Belkin and Dlink.

10 SET UP A FIXED IP ADDRESS When you connect a NAS to your home network, it s a good idea to give it a fixed IP address. Many NAS instruction manuals recommend this too. You see, most products (like an iphone) are, by default, allocated a dynamic IP address by your router; dynamic IP addresses change all the time. Your NAS drive is different, it needs to be found by other devices on your network, like your computer or Roomplayer. Give your NAS a fixed IP address and other devices will always know where to find it and you will avoid problems like your NAS and your music unexpectedly disappearing. To give your NAS drive a fixed IP address you may need to make changes to your router and to your NAS drive. If you have no network experience, we recommend that you do not attempt to do this yourself. If you have some network experience, the following steps noted below are a guide only. All routers and networks vary, even the terminology can be slightly different depending on the products you own. You may want to refer to your NAS setup instructions for more information on fixed IP addresses. If you are in any doubt at all, contact a network specialist. Here is a quick summary of the key steps required to create a fixed IP address: Step One: On your router Open your router admin panel and make sure your router has a dynamic (DHCP) range set. If not, set a dynamic IP address range. To apply any new settings, reboot your router. Any IP addresses outwith the DHCP range can be used as fixed IP addresses. Step Two: On your NAS drive Open your NAS admin panel and change the settings from the default obtain IP address settings automatically via DHCP to use static IP address (or similar). You will likely need to enter the following information: New Fixed IP Address: X.X Subnet Mask: Default Gateway: X.X Dynamic and Fixed (Static) IP addresses Your wireless router can assign an IP address to your NAS in two ways: Dynamic IP addresses - these are allocated on request from a device and change all the time Fixed (or static) IP addresses: - a series of reserved addresses; once a device is given a fixed IP address, it will never get re-assigned to another device By default, your NAS will get a dynamic IP address the first time it s connected. This dynamic IP address may change when other devices get added to your network, or if you reboot your router, or if the power is interrupted. If you assign a static IP address, it will ensure that your Roomplayer can always find your NAS at the same address. Note. Other IP address ranges are possible, for example 10.0.X.X - the format we have used X.X is a generic example. Once complete, save your settings and restart your NAS to apply the settings. Note. There are alternative ways to set up fixed IP addresses on your router. The above is an overview of one tried and tested method.

11 CONTACTS AND USEFUL RESOURCES We hope you enjoy using Simple Audio Roomplayers. If you re looking for additional information or you need advice, please feel free to get in touch with your Simple Audio representative. Below, you ll find links to some of our other resources, including set up videos, quick start guides and online faqs. Simple Audio Support Team Simple Audio Website simpleaudio.com Social Channels Facebook: facebook.com/simpleaudio You Tube: youtube.com/simpleaud Roomplayer Setup Video Watch Roomplayer setup video and to find out how to set up your first Roomplayer. Roomplayer Desktop App Installation Guide Find out how to install the Roomplayer desktop app and how to use it to complete the setup of your Roomplayer. Roomplayer Quick Start Guide If you would like a more comprehensive look at how to set up Roomplayers, try the Roomplayer Quick Start Guide. Frequently Asked Questions Visit our support centre to find out the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. About Simple Audio Simple Audio released its first music streaming products in 2012 and this Roomplayer system quickly gained a reputation for superior audio performance. Since then the Roomplayer has gone from strength to strength and in April 2014 a new generation Roomplayer+ was released. Simple Audio is also creating a complete range of audio products for people of all ages and in multiple listening environments all designed to help everyone get the best out of the music they love at home or on the go. For more information, visit simpleaudio.com