22
Dec, 2019
SONOS

SONOS & macOS Catalina

Apple has removed iTunes on macOS Catalina and replaced the music library part by a Music app. If you store your music library on a (Synology) NAS you may run into issues since Music no longer creates automatically the .xml files where your playlists are recorded. You can manually export the library and playlists and store it in the music folder on the NAS, however SONOS is unable to read the content and extract the playlists. Other applications like VLC and Logitech Media Player (LMS) are still able to read these XML files, generated by the new Music app. It looks like Apple is drifting apart and is only focusing on its Apple Music streaming service. iPhone synchronisation within the Music app is missing (unless you subscribe to Apple Music) and done with Finder. Users like me, who want to listen to their locally (NAS) stored files without any need for an Internet connection will need to think about a plan B (i.e. no Apple Music).

Plan B for me is to use the ‘Export for iTunes‘ tool. This macOS Catalina compatible programme is able to read the Music app playlists and copies all files to the Synology NAS and exports the playlists to .m3u type playlists. SONOS version 10.6 software is able to read these playlists and to find all files on the NAS. You will find the content in the SONOS controller’s Imported Playlists. Once the playlists are displayed in the Imported Playlists, you can add them to the SONOS playlists. The ‘Export for iTunes‘ (Version 1.9.73 (1.9.733)) tool has many features to rename and convert your music files and allows you to copy the files in a new folder structure by artist, by album etc.

The main settings that do the job for me are:

ASCII encoding to make sure that SONOS can read all Artist and Song names with accents.

Windows path separator.

21
Dec, 2019
SONOS

SONOS & Synology

Synology DSM 6.2.2. settings that do the job for me

File Services settings:
Minimum SMB protocol: SMB1

Login settings:
Guest account with only read permissions to the music library folder(s).

SONOS Music Library settings:
Music folder path: \\synologyNASname\SharedfolderName\MusicLibraryFolderName
SONOS will convert the path name to //synologyNASname/SharedfolderName/MusicLibraryFolderName

Synology DiskStation DS1019+

Synology DiskStation DS1019+
  • Quad Core 1.5 (base) / 2.3 (burst) GHz
  • CPU Model – Intel Celeron J3455 – 64-bit – 8 GB DDR3L
  • Hardware Encryption Engine (AES-NI)
  • Dual LAN with failover and link aggregation support
  • Five Drive Bays
  • Two USB 3.0 Ports – 1 front and 1 rear
  • One eSATA Port
  • Current version: DSM 6.2-23739

Synology DiskStation DS416

Synology DiskStation DS416

  • Dual-core CPU 1.4 GHz with hardware encryption engine
  • CPU Model – Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-212 – 32-bit – 1 GB DDR3
  • Dual LAN with failover and link aggregation support
  • Over 221.05MB/s reading, 139.51MB/s writing
  • Four Drive Bays
  • Three USB 3.0 Ports – 1 front and 2 rear
  • Current version: DSM 6.2-23739

NAS with excellent performance, security features, convenient web interface, good external USB drive support and optional application packages, easy drive mounting.

Built-in support for “Free DNS” DDNS service

DSM 6.2-23739 includes Logitech Media Server package version 7.9.1-168 which works fine with the iTunes plugin enabled and handles correctly all playlists:

Logitech Media Server Version: 7.9.1 – 1504317335 @ Mon Sep 4 22:13:00 UTC 2017
Perl Version: 5.24.0 – arm-linux
Database Version: DBD::SQLite 1.34_01 (sqlite 3.7.7.1)

iPAD users can use the SqueezePad app to remotely control the Logitec Media Server.

iPhone users can use the iPeng app to remotely control the Logitec Media Server.

VPN Clients with Synology

VPN Clients with Synology

Synology can connect to the Internet through the OpenVPN protocol.

Configure the network interface and create a VPN profile:

for VyprVPN follow the “VyprVPN OpenVPN Setup for Synology NAS instructions”

for NordVPN follow these instructions.

select the recommended server

the OpenVPN configuration files can be downloaded here: https://nordvpn.com/api/files/zip

Once the profile is created you can enable the connection.

 

 

 

Synology DiskStation DS1511+

Synology DiskStation DS1511+

  • CPU INTEL Atom D525
  • Frequency : Dual Core 1.79 GHz
  • Memory : DRAM 1024 MB
  • Internal HDD/SSD :
  • External HDD Interface : 4 x USB 2.0 – Type A, 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s
  • LAN : 2 Gigabit interface
  • Wake on LAN/WAN
  • 1 x VGA – HD-15
  • DSM 6.2.2-24922

NAS with excellent performance, security features, convenient web interface, good external USB drive support and optional application packages, supports SyncBack (backup and synchronisation windows client)

Built-in support for “Free DNS” DDNS service

iPAD users can use the SqueezePad app to remotely control the Logitec Media Server.

iPhone users can use the iPeng app to remotely control the Logitec Media Server.

DSM 6.1.4-15217 includes an updated Logitech Media Server stable version.

Logitech Media Server notes (prior to DSM 6.1.4):

DSM 6.0.2-8451 includes Logitech Media Server version 7.7.6-113 which works fine with iTunes plugin enabled and handles correctly all playlists:
Logitech Media Server Version: 7.7.6 – 1452060463 @ Thu Jan 21 02:17:04 UTC 2016
Perl Version: 5.24.0-0066 – x86_64-linux
Database Version: DBD::SQLite 1.34_01 (sqlite 3.7.7.1)

Logitech Media Server (LMS) notes (prior to DSM 6.0-7321):

The configuration below worked fine with the iTunes plugin enabled and handles correctly all playlists:

  • Logitech Media Server Version: 7.9.0 – 1437640078 @ Thu Jul 23 09:08:35 UTC 2015
    this LMS version is the LMS Repack based on the latest Synology package of Logitech Media Server, and updated to LMS 7.9.0. Read first the instructions on the Synology-Forum.nl (in Dutch).
  • Operating system: Synology DiskStation (DSM 5.2-5592 Update 2) – EN – utf8
  • Perl Version: 5.18.4 – i686-linux
  • Audio::Scan: 0.95
  • Database Version: DBD::SQLite 1.34_01 (sqlite 3.7.7.1)

The iTunes library was generated by a Windows7 iTunes 64-bit version 12.2.1.16. Internet stream library entries and podcasts can cause a misbehaviour of the playlists and were removed. Apple’s Protected AAC Audio will not play and were converted (check my post how to convert).

iTunes plugin settings:

  • iTunes Music Library.xml Location: /volume1/music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library.xml
  • iTunes Media Folder: /volume1/music/iTunes/iTunes Media

LMS Basic settings:

  • Media Folders: /volume1/music/iTunes/iTunes Media
  • Playlists Folder: /volume1/music/iTunes/iTunes Media

Synology DiskStation DS213+

Synology 312+Synology DiskStation DS213+

  • CPU Freescale MPC8544E
  • Frequency : Dual Core 1.067 GHz
  • Memory : DDR3 512 MB
  • Internal HDD/SSD : 2 x Seagate Barracuda st2000dm001 2 TB – SATA 3, 64 MB cache, 7200 rpm
  • External HDD Interface : USB 3.0 Port X 2, USB 2.0 Port X 1, eSATA Port X 1, SD Card Port X 1
  • LAN : 1 Gigabit interface
  • Wake on LAN/WAN

currently installed version: Synology DSM 5.2-5644 Update 3

 NAS with excellent performance, security features, convenient web interface, good external USB drive support and optional application packages, supports SyncBack (backup and synchronisation windows client)

 FAN can be quieter, eSATA Port does not support the LaCie Big Disk Quadra 2Tb

Currently installed packages: Logitech Media Server (7.7.3-042), iTunes Server (1.1-2270), Perl (5.8.6-003).

This Network Attached Storage (NAS) device provides an optional package for media streaming to the Logitech Squeezeboxes like the Classic and Radio. The Logitech Media Server supports iTunes playlist integration. The Audio, Video and Photo Station packages provide browsing from Adroid and iOS smartphones. The Synology Media Server provides media streaming to dlna/UPnP compatible players.

iTunes Server notes:

– the music and video shared folders are both scanned by the iTunes server

– if you do not want your videos scanned and included in iTunes, then create a new shared folder and move all files from video to this new shared folder

LmsRepack

Logitech Media Server (LMS) notes:

The configuration below still struggles with the iTunes plugin enabled to handle correctly playlists:

  • Logitech Media Server Version: 7.9.0 – 062.1018 @ Fri Jan 22 13:50:09 UTC 2016
    this LMS version is the LMS Update based on the latest Synology package of Logitech Media Server, and updated to LMS 7.9.0. Read first the instructions on the Synology-Forum.nl (in Dutch).
  • Operating system: Synology DiskStation (DSM 5.2-5644 Update 3) – EN – utf8
  • Perl Version: 5.18.4 – powerpc-linux
  • Audio::Scan: 0.95
  • Database Version: DBD::SQLite 1.34_01 (sqlite 3.7.7.1)

The iTunes library was generated by a MacOS X iTunes 64-bit version 12.3.2.35. Internet stream library entries and podcasts can cause a misbehaviour of the playlists and were removed. Apple’s Protected AAC Audio will not play and were converted (check my post how to convert).

– since the introduction of iTunes 12.x the iTunes library and playlist integration no longer works flawlessly

slimdevices reported several bugs: iTunes importer bug and iTunes playlist bug

– you can stream music to your pc by using the  softsqueezeclient.