Just out of curiosity...

Currently (and probably forever), emplode only transfers mp3s TO the empeg (and not from it). I think everyone here understands that the reason for this is to keep the RIAA from jumping over empeg (and thus halting the project and pissing the rest of us off ).

My question is...

What would empeg do if one of the third party garage-type developers out there developed a way to be able to access the mp3s off of the ethernet in the way they are displayed on the empeg itself (not all garbled n' stuff).

For instance, I could connect to the empeg through ethernet using Windows Networking and access all the songs on it, and copy them off if I wanted to, but in their original format instead of the garbled names.

The reason I ask this is, for my interest anyway, is that it would be really nice to consolidate all my mp3s to one place (the empeg), and then use it as an ethernet harddrive so that my wife and I can play mp3s on our computer without having to copy the mp3s all over the place (basically, play the mp3s using our computers but from the empeg's storage).

I had considered researching and developing something like this when I get an empeg, and I would be happy to share it with others, but only if it didn't disrupt anything with empeg. (I have several ideas on the brain, but nothing I want to comment on if it's gonna get barred up by empeg).

Maybe what I'm asking is... is it okay to do this?

Kureg

Well, since the Empeg runs Linux, there's nothing to stop anyone from doing this. In fact, I've seen it done. Not as a Windows Networking client, but as a device driver which translates all of the hexadecimal-named music files into the actual song names and makes those visible over FTP. (Don't ask me where to get it, I only saw a screen shot and now I don't remember where it was from.)

At that point, you're replacing the Empeg's software with your own, and I don't think that Empeg can (or would even want to) get upset about it if you've done it. It's your right to run whatever software on that hard drive you want.

Now, whether or not the RIAA has a problem with this is another story altogether. But at that point, their beef is with you, not with Empeg.

Although, Kureg, if you write this as a Windows Networking client, I would love it. Please allow it to serve up regular files in addition to music files so that I can use the Empeg as a multimegabyte taxi disk. It'd save me having to burn multisession CD-R's to take between home and work.

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Tony Fabris

Well, Samba seems to be open source (correct me if I'm wrong). I was considering scaling Samba down so that it wasn't so piggy, but still was able to serve out files for this purpose. Can't say for sure what I intended, only that I was fairly certain I could do it.

In fact, any Linux guru probably could. Want my real question is would empeg have a problem if I shared it with everyone else. If I did take that effort, I would attempt to make it more empeg friendly to set up than the Samba distribution, so that empeg people can benefit it with little to no setup hassles (and little to no Linux knowledge, etc).

Well, I have Samba running on my Mk2 and it shows up in the Network Neighbourhood as other machines in the network. You can transfer files to/from empeg at around 650KB/sec (that is kilobytes per second) and life is fun.

But it doesn't miraculously appear to the Network Neighbourhood by just saying a magic word to empeg while it's playing MP3's. So, at the moment it requires some Linux hackery before it works and is likely to stay like that as it works fine for me and I don't have too much time to start tuning it more user friendly. But if and when someone's working on that, feel free to consult me if I can help in any way.

Kim

You speak my longings !

okay, like you discussed, 1. step would be to establish file transfer using samba, and then there is a script out there ( and here ) that creates a directory, where all mp3's are symbolic links with nice filenames ( artist-album-title.mp3 ).

So thats it !

When i got time ( in a year or two :-) ) i hope to get samba running on the empeg, of course it would be "oh so nice" if we get a kind of toolkit from the empeg guys, that some people already asked for -> httpd, samba, ...

The guy that created the script runs a httpd on his emeg, so he browses his mp3 archive with the Internet Explorer :-)

Nice, ey ?


Nils

How about letting the player put out the decoded data to a device (like in "/dev") and then use icecast to cast whatever runs on the empeg via ethernet ?

Then the "radio" will be the "station" ....

btw:
I would love to see it the other way round, too.

anti

Yeah... well this was supposed to be phase one. The technology isn't overly secretive... I'd just not tip off empeg if they were gonna do something about it. I'd rather reap my own harvest and keep it private.

You're free to run whatever software you choose on your empeg - we have no involvement.

We'll probably come up with some software sooner or later which will allow you to serve your music collection from the car player to a PC, or to one of the cool new home network players that various companies have announced

There's no ETA on that, though - so I'd get on and work something out yourself if you're in a hurry for it.

Rob