Jump to content
IGNORED

Auralic Aries Mini


Recommended Posts

This is an EXTREMELY newbie question but...

 

I'm considering buying an Aries Mini on the used market. I understand the Lightning DS app is available to control the Aires Mini via iphone/ipad. But can you control it also via a laptop? Can you connect to the server kind of like you do with a Squeezebox Touch, and control your playlist via laptop?

Link to comment
1 hour ago, mfin said:

 

I don't know. I would have thought they will make it available for all the Aries series, they still have to support them all.

 

It would make sense I think as going forward it will be easier for them to continually develop a web based interface than having to push new features and tweaks to the apps through Apple's app store.

 

Awesome if true. Look forward to it.

 

But After doing a little more research it seems what I was asking for is already available via minimserver - am I right about that? Maybe this isn’t a favored solution as it wasn’t mentioned by others?

Link to comment
25 minutes ago, pl_svn said:

a web interface, still limited to device settings only, is already there and working under firmware 5.x (beta for Aries and Aries mini)

 

So this limited web interface still offers no control over searching music library, creating playlists, etc?

Link to comment
7 hours ago, Luvdac said:

So is it true that the aries mini is discontinued? I was thinking of getting a 2nd one. Anyone knows if a MK2 is in the offing or is it going the way of the sqeezebox?

 

Luvdac- I've  been searching online for an answer about this for a couple months...it seems like most are saying it has been discontinued. It's been out of stock at most places I've checked. A handful have come for sale on the used audio sites.

 

3 hours ago, alandbush said:

 

Minimserver is a music server similar to the Lightning server.  They are not control points on any platform so you are mistaken.

 

However, I presume Aries mini is similar to the Aries and can operate in Open Home mode, in which case, you can use the web based music controllers from Linn, either Kinsky or the later Kazoo.  Both, I believe, run on Windows or Mac.

 

Thank you for the clarification alandbush. I'm still trying to get all this stuff straight.

So I'm guessing JRiver is another of these web based controllers, like Kinsky and Kazoo that you already mentioned? Are there any clear favorites among these or just personal preference?

Will these all work with Lightning DS as the server, and do you need to download any thing else to get one of these controllers to work from your laptop of computer?

 

If Auralic is really coming out with their own web-based controller that will work with the mini, maybe I would prefer to go that route anyway.

Link to comment

Got my Aries Mini this past weekend. After a few hiccups getting Lightning DS to read the music library, it's up and running. It seems like when I was first scanning for the new music library, it was getting bogged down on certain folders/files - seemed to continually get stuck on those same folders, so after I deleted a few of those, it seems scanning through properly.

 

Now that I have a little limited experience using Lightning DS, I'm curious how do other people deal with certain issues:

First off, is there any good way to look through your most recently added files? I can see that there is a way to view the music using file upload date, but since I am uploading over 10,000 files all at once, they are all showing up all at once. I realize there may not be any good solution to this, but has anyone figured out some way to work around this?

Link to comment

Hi pl_svn. The 'last modify date' search is interesting. It does seem to do as you say...but I still have an issue with that as well - with this search view I have seemingly several hundred or so folders all in a list named by the date, each folder  is spaced a few days or a week apart, and each holding just a few albums each. Looking at this list of dates (as folders) doesnt present things much better than the other views I've looked at. It would be nice if you could collapse all or a bunch of these folders in the 'modify date' view and just see a list of the albums chronologically. This way you're looking at your most recent adds at the top, etc.

 

Any thoughts about getting something like that done?

Link to comment
5 hours ago, pl_svn said:

 

no idea why but... at some point Auralic changed the way sorting works (and I immediately reported, and complained, about it) >:(

 

up to Lightning DS 3.x changing sort criteria did just rearrange albums (all of them) accordingly

then (in v4.x, I believe) all these damn' folders came out 9_9

 

Thanks again. But I think I may have answered my own question late yesterday, while playing around more in this 'modify date' view...

 

Like I said, in this view you typically just see a list of folder-after-folder-after-folder all named as a date. But at the very top of the list of folders is one folder named 'View All Dates', and when you click on that one, you can finally see a view of the album covers by chronological order (I believe you can see this view as either a list or a grid). This is pretty much what I was looking for, with recent albums at the top and then they get older as you go down (this is different from 'Album View' since in that case you are seeing them in alphabetical order.

 

I'm liking this Aries Mini more and more as I learn more about what I can do with Lightning DS. I came from several years of experience using Logitech Squeezebox and the Logitech Media software software. There are a few things I like better with each set of software at this point. But I want to learn more about Lightning DS to make sure I am using it optimally. So I may have a few more questions coming up...

Link to comment

 

Hi pvanosta. Sounds like we pretty much like to use the search/view in the same way! It would have been nice to know how functional this view is. It's sort of 'hidden' within this other view. Took me a while to figure out, and I could imagine never clicking on that top folder and seeing what it does. And yes, I am worried about a future date when I might have to rescan/rebuild the library and what this wil do to this search view.

 

One thing I still like better about the Squeezebox software is how you can move tracks around the playlist by dragging them up and down the list with your mouse (there were some flaws about how Logitech implemented this imo, but I wont go into it now). I wish you could do something similar in Lightning DS, but it doesnt appear to be the case. I will say that one thing that Lightning DS does better than Squeezebox software is the ability to delete entire albums from your playlist all at once. With Squeezebox, you had to delete items from your playlist once track at a time.

 

It would be nice if Lightning DS allowed you to move around tracks, or even better, move around whole albums, up and down your play list. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Link to comment
1 hour ago, Cebolla said:

 

 

Assuming you can still set the Aries devices to standard UPnP mode (and that the standard UPnP mode works bug free), you should be able to get the Aries Mini to behave as if it were a Squeezebox and control it with the Logitech Media Server.

 

Requires the UPnPBridge LMS plugin, see:

Squeezebox Community Forums, 3rd Party Software - Announce: UPnPBridge = integrate UPnP/DLNA players with LMS (squeeze2upnp)

 

Thanks Cebolla. I had read somewhere else that it was possible to use the Aries Mini with the Squeezebox Logitech Media Server software, but havent spent much time trying to figure out how to do it. I dont have much experience changing or configuring these systems, so I have hesitated looking into this. I just went to the thread you linked, for instance...it is about 160 pages long! It would probably be a frustrating exercise for me to try to work through it. I also searched the thread for mentions of 'aries', and found only a few posts with no real resolution to the question of how to set it up using the Aries Mini.

 

I think i would need someone to provide a tutorial or step-by-step set of instructions about setting up the Aries Mini to work with Squeezebox LMS. I would love to see this at some point. For now, I felt it was better to just use the Aries with Lightning DS for a while to see what the pros/cons are vs LMS. I was happy to see at least one thing that works better in Lightning DS (deleting an entire album at once, rather than one track at a time). But so far, I still think there are more pros to LMS.

 

For instances, searching in LMS seems 'smarter'. With LMS you can start to see the search results show up as you type (i.e. you dont have to type the entire search term and click 'search' to see the results).

 

Another thing that's better with LMS imo, is that you dont need to hit 'rescan' after you've put something new into your library. LMS just seems to see the new item immediately if you are just browsing through your library folder using the software.

 

 

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Thanks for everyone's help so far.

 

I have a very general and basic question about editing tag info on music files - like correcting errors in artist or title fields? adding artwork etc?

 

I found that some very basic stuff can be done easily in itunes. But what about my flac files? I have some of those needing editing. Does anyone recommend a free program online that can do just very basic stuff? Using a mac. I dont need or want anything complicated - all I will probably do with this is edit a handful of files that may have some errors.

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...
  • 5 months later...

Hi I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to setup a network shared folder for my Aries Mini...

 

I have been using the Aries Mini with an external drive connected via USB to the back of the Mini for several months now without too much issue. But now, I'd like to try to use it with a network shared folder. Eventually I'd like to have an external drive connected to my MacBook Air to use as my network shared folder. But to simply things for now, I cant even get any folder on my macbook air to work as a network shared folder.

 

I'm following the instructions here: https://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206855007-Create-network-shared-folder-on-Mac-OS-X

I've gone over them a few times and it seems I am doing everything right. Created a new user for 'aries' on the laptop, set up a little 'music-test' folder containing a few music files and tried putting it in multiple locations on the computer. Each time, I made sure to turn file sharing on for the folder, added the new user 'aries' to the folder with Read & Write access. I set up the network path like smb://'IP Address'/music-test (or wherever it's located). Each time I save the path it comes back and says the IP address for the path is incorrect.

 

Am I having any issue because the external USB drive is still connected as well? Can a USB drive and a network drive both be connected? I cant understand what else might be wrong. Thanks

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...