PS Audio new FREE Music Manager tagNplay

[mwheelerk]

I just read about PS Audio's new free music manager software tagNplay from there monthly newsletter. It sounds promising. Apparently it will be released by the end of the year and works for both PCs and Macs.

 

[Russell_L]

I got that e-mail newsletter, too. I agree that it looks very promising. One thing I can't figure out, though, is how it would integrate with one's iTunes' database (if indeed it does that) and how one would play music from it, as I didn't see any playback controls on the images displayed. I guess we'll find out next month!

 

Here are the details from the newsletter (author = Paul McGowan):

 

tagNplay Music Manager

While iTunes is a great program for managing your music collection, it doesn’t really address the needs of most high-end music lovers around the world; so we built one that does. It is called tagNplay Music Manager (TMM).

 

I am delighted to announce that our Christmas present to the world will be the release of this high-end music management program that is free, operates on both MACS and Windows PC’s and will be the only music management program you will ever need.

 

TMM will be a multi-year work in process that we will fund in service of music enjoyment within the world’s high-end community. Will "Joe Six Pack" store all his MP3’s on TMM and abandon iTunes? No, certainly not - but you might.

 

This is not a trivial undertaking and it’s really expensive and hard to build and involves a lot of programmers and engineers. So why, you might ask, are we investing all this energy and then giving it away? Quite simply, it makes the PS experience better and that, at the end of the day, is what we’re all about. Also, all the other software manufacturers aren’t making multi-platform programs that are specifically designed for people serious about music. We intend to change all of that with TMM. One of our forum posters summed it up this way:

 

"I just want to add how impressed I am that you guys are so focused on making sure every piece of the puzzle fits together cleanly and easily. Your willingness to tackle software development and the user interface stuff is awesome, no one else has even tried to handle all the parts that a streaming system needs. Every other product out there just gets the playback going, and then the user has to handle the rest, and the rest is the hard part. Great stuff."

 

For anyone serious about music, high-resolution audio, collecting and managing large libraries, proper tagging and cover art (regardless of format), accessing the library and catalog from your office (or wherever you are in the world) and streaming music without compromise anywhere in your home, then TMM is going to become the coolest piece of software on your computer, ever.

 

Many of you reading this newsletter have thousands of songs stored on your computer or network storage device and you want to properly manage those tracks as well as listen to them throughout your home. With TMM installed, you finally have an easy-to-use cornerstone that enables you to catalog, manage and listen to your music anywhere in your home with the touch of a finger.

 

Designed from the ground up by Audiophiles, for Audiophiles and music lovers, tagNplay is the only music management system you will ever need. tagNplay replaces the need for popular programs like iTunes and can manage any size library without any problems.

 

Use tagNplay as the center piece for all your digital audio needs, regardless of how you playback your tunes. Works with most players including local, USB and network audio players such as PS Audio’s PerfectWave audio products, Linn DS, XBox 360, PS3, and Naim.

 

- Designed from the ground up as a high-end audio-only UPnP server and music manager

- Use it to manage your music library for local, USB or network playback

- Supports all major formats such as WAV, AIFF, WMA, Apple Lossless, FLAC, MP3 and others

- Bit perfect network performance

- Connects to any NAS or network media storage device and serves music the way YOU want

- No limit to the library size you wish to manage

- Album art and tagging support for all formats including WAV and AIFF

- Tag editing capabilities for all formats

- Auto find feature for album art

- Free access to one of the most powerful media database available; an essential tool for large collections

- Supports high-resolution audio formats up to 32 bit 192kHz

- Cleanup function removes improper naming

- Familiar interface is easy and simple to use

- Supports all UPnP/DLNA based controllers and players

- Internet Radio support for popular stations from around the world

- Bit perfect ripping engine included

- Auto backup support built in

- Fully customizable browsing and sorting options for the controller

- Runs quietly in the background detecting new & changed tracks and updates automatically

- Available for MAC and Windows

- tagNplay is free to download and use anywhere in the world

 

As I mentioned in the first part of this announcement, TMM is a multi-year work in progress. When it launches at the end of December it will not have all of its features in place.

 

Our intent is to release it in stages so the folks who already own PerfectWave network media systems can start taking advantage of it right away. This will include the ability to manage and attach cover art to any format, including WAV and AIFF. No longer will high-resolution audio buffs have to tolerate the goofy WAV tags and lack of cover art. With TMM and a little love and affection for the program, your WAV library will look and sort the same as any other media.

 

Another immediately available feature will be the ability to customize the controller’s view and sorting options. You can choose to organize and display your media library anyway you want. From the classic sorting view of Artists, albums, genres, to genre with multi-layer sub categories (classical->opera->arias) or anything you want. Like the Burger King ad "have it your way" with TMM. You can simply drag and drop the categories and sub categories in any manner you wish.

 

If you’re running a NAS (network storage device) and are unhappy with its media management UPnP software (most are) then TMM solves the problem for you. Simply tell TMM to use your NAS for the library and then use TMM to control everything you see on the controller. It will be as if the poor software on your NAS never existed.

 

What will be missing from the first release will be ripping, backup, internet access, transcoding, internet radio management and the high-end store. This last category will make it easy for you to purchase and download music directly to the TMM library from quality vendors like HD Tracks.

 

Updates will happen several times a month and TMM will grow and flourish as a wonderful asset for the high-end music community. It is our gift.

 

I believe tagNplay will become the industry leading software engine for high-end audio use. Right now, it’s all I use. If you care about the quality of your music and how it is managed and cared for, then tagNplay will soon become the indispensable program of choice. We’ll give full details in December’s Newsletter.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I really hope PS can pull this off. It sounds like a great thing.

 

My questions relate to auto sample rate changes on Mac and use of output modes like ASIO, WASAPI, and Kernel Streaming on Windows.

 

Will it integrate with apps like Amarra?

 

[cfmsp]

"Will it integrate with apps like Amarra?"

 

How would it? Why would it (as a competitive product)?

 

It's a cross-platform UPnP player combined with an iTunes-like music library management function, as near as I can tell.

 

 

EDIT: I read this again. One could interpret the words below to mean that TMM could be used with other players.

 

"Use tagNplay as the center piece for all your digital audio needs, regardless of how you playback your tunes. Works with most players including local, USB and network audio players such as PS Audio’s PerfectWave audio products, Linn DS, XBox 360, PS3, and Naim."

 

 

 

clay

 

 

 

 

[mwheelerk]

Reading the newsletter again I believe this is a data base management system and player that would replace iTunes.

 

I would have the same question as another poster regarding the Audio Midi Set Up on a Mac and the ability to auto switch the sample and bit rates. If it does that I will be an early adapter and I am a fan of iTunes.

 

[psaudio]

Hey guys, thanks for posting the info on the new tagNplay Music Manager. We're actually trying to find a new name for it as we also have tagNplay Controller and people are getting confused.

 

In any case, to answer one of the questions asked, if you want to use the iTunes database it's really easy. I have attached a screenshot of how it looks. It's a simple directory that you point towards one or many media library locations and these are all integrated into a master library list.

 

It is a music management database, takes the place of iTunes, handles huge libraries (iTunes craps out at about 20,000 tracks), has a UPnP server built in that is completely configurable through drag and drop categories and sub categories.

 

One of the posters here mentioned it doesn't have a player. true. But it will. We are launching without many of the features it will eventually have, like transcoding, ripping, playing, backup, sharing (can I say that?), etc.

 

What the first release does come with is a complete management system for all your music, editing tags and metadata, adding cover art and metadata directly to WAV or any other file types (a real first I think), the server and access to our growing cover art database which has now grown to close to 30 million covers, titles and artist's bio.

 

One advantage our program has is it was created by and for Audiophiles and music lovers so our classical tagging system and our cover art libraries are tuned to the needs of people interested in the same types of media as we are. Much of iTunes is targeted to mass market MP3 and ours is a true high end solution.

 

With help and support from your group and others, we can turn this into a monster program that really benefits the entire community. As the program installs and grows in numbers and usage, the database it relies on for tagging and art grows with it.

 

We will be asking for a group of about 20 people who will volunteer to be on our council of experts for this program. What that means is we want to engage a number of people who can help guide the program's development in both music and features and functions. We are prepared to continue paying the development costs for at least another year (it ain't cheap) on an aggressive basis, and then in a less aggressive basis after 2011.

 

Thanks for the support and let me know if I or anyone else on my staff can help you.

 

[mwheelerk]

Count me in Paul. I will give you all the time and feedback you need.

Mike

 

[bwv872]

Paul

 

It is my understanding (and please correct me if I am mistaken) that currently the PerfectWave DAC Bridge is unable to play songs from a music server in a gapless fashion. Will the first version of the ‘tagNplay Music Manager’ allow one to configure the PerfectWave DAC Bridge for gapless playback? Thanks.

 

Scott

 

 

[psaudio]

Indeed you're correct Scott, the PerfectWave Bridge/DAC combo does not currently support gapless play. That isn't making people too happy but I can assure you and everyone else it will and we will.

 

One of the things that really makes me smile about the system is its ability to be upgraded over the net. This is the first audio product line we've ever built that can be updated with the touch of the front panel - so we can grow the feature set without return to the factory. That's probably not a big deal to you guys because you're so in tune with computers, but to a dedicated high-end hardware manufacturer, this is a really big deal. As soon as we figure out gapless play all the PW's in the world will be able to handle it.

 

We are currently trying to figure out how to implement it. We're not sure how the other guys handle it - it seems like there's a variety of ways and if any of you have a clue how Sonos, Linn, etc. handle gapless, I would be grateful for insights.

 

One thing we understand is that a lot of it depends on how the media was ripped and whether the ripping program supports gapless or not - and if it does, how does it handle the tagging info. If, for example, you ripped in a WAV file (which does not have a meta data wrapper) how would any rendering device understand it was supposed to play without gaps?

 

So, TMM will have a check box in its tag editor that will allow you to tag anything in your library as gapless and then the rendering device can handle it properly. One of the cool things about TMM is we have obviated the need for tag wrappers on the data - which means formats all work now for tagging and cover art (including WAV) and gapless or whatever we want to include with each track.

 

But to handle gapless properly, it will be a combo of TMM to make sure pieces already ripped without tagging work properly and then figuring out how to tell if anything in your library was done correctly and what to do about it in the PerfectWave so you're not required to do anything if gapless already works for you.

 

 

 

[bwv872]

Paul

 

Thanks for the explanation.

 

Scott