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Configuring Twonky for iTunes usage

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steve1977
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steve1977 Posted: Sat, Mar 26 2016 3:35 AM

I am planning to use Twonky to stream my iTunes library using Beimusic app as remote. I currently do not have a NL link ready device, but want to test Twonky first before making the purchase. All my music is in iTunes, so this will be a deal breaker if I cannot get it to run.

1) After installing Twonky, I cannot get see my itunes files. I have manually added below to the twonkyserver.ini file, but also did not work
# full path to the iTunes library .xml file, empty to disable iTunes import
ituneslib=C:\Users\user\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml

2) BeoMusic app did not find the Twonky server (not possible unless I have a NL device?). If not possible, what's the best way to trial whether my library can be shared and at a proper speed?
3) Does the Twonky license only come with the Moment or also with Essence or others?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Beroli
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Beroli replied on Sun, Mar 27 2016 6:39 PM

steve1977:

I am planning to use Twonky to stream my iTunes library using Beimusic app as remote. I currently do not have a NL link ready device, but want to test Twonky first before making the purchase. All my music is in iTunes, so this will be a deal breaker if I cannot get it to run.

1) After installing Twonky, I cannot get see my itunes files. I have manually added below to the twonkyserver.ini file, but also did not work
# full path to the iTunes library .xml file, empty to disable iTunes import
ituneslib=C:\Users\user\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml

2) BeoMusic app did not find the Twonky server (not possible unless I have a NL device?). If not possible, what's the best way to trial whether my library can be shared and at a proper speed?
3) Does the Twonky license only come with the Moment or also with Essence or others?
Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi steve1977,

first, yes you can test the Twonky-Server, without having a B&O-Device. Answering your thir question - the lisence for the Server just comes with the BS-Moment - not with the Essence. Lucky you - the license costs you  after a free 30 day trial just 19,95 $ - its not robbery, when you think of buying a B&O-Device. 😉

after installing Twonky, open your web-Browser, type in the ip-address of the mac/PC and add :9000 to the address (e.g. 192.168.178.195:9000) and then 1. go to settings/setup and name your Server

2. go to setting/sharing and type in the path to your music like Users\user\Music\ and set the category to music, 

3. under devices check -  Enable sharing for new media receivers automatically

save changes

4.Go to setting/Advanced start rescan content folders

5. Wait until the scan is done, have a look under settings/status

Now you should see with any DLNA-able Device (e.g. TV, mediaplayer-App....)  your server and should be able to listen to your itunes music including your playlists

If you don't, just check other threads about the Twonky-setup in this forum

Cheers Beroli

steve1977
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steve1977 replied on Tue, Mar 29 2016 4:46 AM
any twonky user around who can comment? thanks
Beroli
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Beroli replied on Tue, Mar 29 2016 6:08 AM

steve1977:
any twonky user around who can comment? thanks

Hi steve1977,

I replied to you more than 2 days ago. got the message, that my reply is under reviewing. thinking of the time I've spent to write the manual, I'd rather wait. I know, this is not your fault, but the reviewing messages I get in this forum, just for writing manuals without anything against the forum rules, made me a really angry. This issue is there now for months.

Cheers Beroli

dreammer
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dreammer replied on Tue, Mar 29 2016 6:24 AM

Hi,

Hope my answer will be useful to you.

1) I do not use the iTunes lib file. My Twonky is running off a NAS, I just point the Twonky to the directory where the actual MP3 are stored, Twonky will scan the directory and generates it own lib file. I believe you can do the same for any laptop or PC running Twonky as well.

2) You will need an NL device. BeoMusic connects to the NL device and the NL device connects to Twonky to access the music files, This information is then send back to BeoMusic.

3) Only Moment came with free Twonky license for server. You will only need one license unless have music stored on different computers, but Moment can access one DLNA source only. I run Plex on my NAS as well, and the Essence is able to detect both Twonky and Plex, but I have never played anything from Plex on Essence so I do not know if it works.

Wee 

steve1977
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steve1977 replied on Wed, Mar 30 2016 11:40 PM

Thanks for your replies. Very clear on (2) and (3).

I would like to test the itunes integration as itunes playlists are a critical component and main reason for me to use twonky / NL. WIl the post eventually be approved or any more thoughts how (1) can be achieved?

dreammer
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dreammer replied on Thu, Mar 31 2016 7:03 AM

For playlist from iTunes, what I did was export using iTunes, the playlist to .m3u file. Keep this file in the same directory where you keep all the music files or any directory that you have pointed Twonky to. The Twonky would pick up and make the playlist available to moment or essence. There are some feedback on the forum about sequence of songs being wrong, but I dun really care about it since I like to shuffle my play most of the time.

Wee

steve1977
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steve1977 replied on Thu, Mar 31 2016 8:26 AM

Thanks. I'd very much prefer not to take this approach as I'd like to keep them in sync and don't want to keep on exporting. Anyone tried to link to the library file. It is supposed to work, but somehow I fail to get it working, Anyone succeeded?

Beroli
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Beroli replied on Thu, Mar 31 2016 1:02 PM

steve1977:

Thanks. I'd very much prefer not to take this approach as I'd like to keep them in sync and don't want to keep on exporting. Anyone tried to link to the library file. It is supposed to work, but somehow I fail to get it working, Anyone succeeded?

Hi steve1977,

no you can not point to the library file, just to the music folder which contains the itunes folder (and therefore your library as well). Twonky is clever enough to present your playlists created in iTunes as well. But when you buy a BS Moment the Moment will show the playlists like this Blues (iTunes). i hated that, thats why I used the same way like dreamer. If you export the playlists and put them in the folders, you will have 2 similar playlist ( Blues and Blues (iTunes) ) Therefore you have to make a decision, either itunes playlists or the export solution. In my case I prefer the exported solution, because the BS Moment is not as fast as we wish, when it comes to refreshing/recognizing  changes in iTunes.  

Cheer Beroli

Steve_torque
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Hi, I use Plex with my iMac / Essence mkII. No problems at all, worked first time and every time since. Never used Twonky sorry.

steve1977
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Beroli:

steve1977:

Thanks. I'd very much prefer not to take this approach as I'd like to keep them in sync and don't want to keep on exporting. Anyone tried to link to the library file. It is supposed to work, but somehow I fail to get it working, Anyone succeeded?

Hi steve1977,

no you can not point to the library file, just to the music folder which contains the itunes folder (and therefore your library as well). Twonky is clever enough to present your playlists created in iTunes as well. But when you buy a BS Moment the Moment will show the playlists like this Blues (iTunes). i hated that, thats why I used the same way like dreamer. If you export the playlists and put them in the folders, you will have 2 similar playlist ( Blues and Blues (iTunes) ) Therefore you have to make a decision, either itunes playlists or the export solution. In my case I prefer the exported solution, because the BS Moment is not as fast as we wish, when it comes to refreshing/recognizing  changes in iTunes.  

Cheer Beroli

Thanks, sounds great. While not ideal, I don't mind too much that playlists will be shown as "xxx (itunes)". However, I have not figured out yet how I can link it to the itunes folder to have the playlists appear. Can you share with me what folder exactly you are linking to and whether you made some manual amendments to the .ini file?

Thanks in advance!

steve1977
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I am one step forward, but still have not succeeded to get it to work.

The issue appears to be that my itunes library is on a network drive. See below how it is set-up:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Twonky
C:\Users\user\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl
C:\Users\user\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml

F:\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\
F:\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\2Pac
(...)

F:\ is actually a mapped network drive (over network). Twonky is installed on the same Win10 computer that also holds the itunes installation and library (but not the actual music files).

I have now succeeded to have Twonky see the playlist names, but they are al empty as the music files cannot be read. I have not found a way to map the network music files in Twonky yet.

Any ideas?

Beroli
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Beroli replied on Sat, Apr 2 2016 5:15 PM

Hi,

it seems that the reading rights to your network-drive are the issue. Twonky is usually able to read folders on Network-drives.

To do that you should make sure, that the drive is mounted BEFORE the Twonky-Server is starting. If the Twonky-Server fails to "see" the network-drive, the scanning will be aborted, only available drives will be processed. Therefore you see the playlists and the content is missing. I switched from Vista/Windows7 to MacOSX - so I don't remember the procedure, how to set a order for services. Maybe some Windows-guys can provide a deeper insight.

In general it is not a good idea to use a computer, which drives are not permanently online. After every restart, the Twonky-server is rescanning/rebuilding the database. For the BS-Moment it is mandatory, that all files from the DLNA-Server (Twonky) are available at any time. If the database in the BS-Moment varies to the Twonky-Database, you will never enjoy your BS-Moment. With your setup, you should aim for the Essence or you should invest in a NAS.

Cheers Beroli

 

steve1977
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Thanks, let me give it another try with disabling twonky to run at start-up.

Beroli:
In general it is not a good idea to use a computer, which drives are not permanently online. After every restart, the Twonky-server is rescanning/rebuilding the database. For the BS-Moment it is mandatory, that all files from the DLNA-Server (Twonky) are available at any time. If the database in the BS-Moment varies to the Twonky-Database, you will never enjoy your BS-Moment. With your setup, you should aim for the Essence or you should invest in a NAS.

The drives are actually permanently online. I actually have a NAS and the described Win10 computer actually runs in a Virtual Machine on the NAS. So, the network drive I am describing is physically in the same computer, but by Win10 considered a network drive as the NAS has a different IP from the virtual machine on the NAS.

As you see from this thread, playlists are very important to me and have not seen any good implementation of an itunes server that provides me with playlists when running on the NAS directly. So, the main purpose of the VM is to have proper playlists and that's why I also need wonky to run on the VM and not directly on the NAS.

Beroli
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Beroli replied on Sun, Apr 3 2016 4:24 PM

Hi Steve1977,

We are alike. Playlist are important to a lot of guys in this forum. If you have a look on the thread "One Month with the Moment", maybe you will find more tips to manage your playlists. I own a synology-NAS and since the communication between the NAS and the Moment weren' that good at the product-lauch, I decided to buy a MacMini just for the purpose to be a server for the BS-Moment. Now the NAS implementation is much better, big time - but recently I had no time test it. therefore I still stuck with this solution, which, by the way, works flawless. 

Maybe your VM-solution with different IP's is to much for the Twonky-Server. I just wanted to give you an idea, why you stuck halfway. Have you tried different Twonky-Versions? Some NAS-Brands like qnap provide a Twonky-Server-App as a very reliable solution. Maybe your NAS offers this too.

Please check your Twonky-settings - is the other virtual device (ip-adress) in the device-list.

Cheers Beroli

steve1977
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thanks. what do you mean by "device list"? where is this list?
Sal
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Sal replied on Thu, Feb 9 2017 1:03 AM

steve1977:
I have now succeeded to have Twonky see the playlist names

Anyone have ideas as to how BeoMusic can see iTunes Playlists (static). I know Smart Playlists are not possible, I recall Beomusic being able to see them at one point using Twonky, but now for some reason the only ones in there are the standard Twonky ones (i.e. Most Recent, etc). And I'd hate to have to manually export m3u files.

I don't see any settings  which would allow Twonky to specifically see iTunes playlists but as mentioned above, I vaguely recall Twonky being able to show them at one point.

Sal
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Sal replied on Thu, Feb 9 2017 1:41 AM

steve1977:
thanks. what do you mean by "device list"? where is this list?

 

The Device List is in Twonky Settings, under "Devices" on the left sidebar

 

Sal
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Sal replied on Thu, Feb 9 2017 2:33 AM

I have confirmed that at one point Twonky did indeed see and display iTunes Static Playlists. (I found an old photo of my living room on which my BV11 was showing the playlists screen in HOME MEDIA, served up by Twonky). This photo was taken about a year ago. Maybe a new version of Twonky or a new version of iTunes has changed the way playlists are handled? Hope someone can help get to the bottom of it. Thanks!

news444
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news444 replied on Thu, Feb 9 2017 6:29 AM

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Sal
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Sal replied on Thu, Feb 9 2017 8:13 PM

IF anyone has any ideas, what folder have you pointed Twonky Server to as well in order for the static playlists to appear?

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