Our system consists of three rooms connected by Masterlink. Room 1 has a BV7 MKIII, Beosound 3000, speakers and Apple TV. Room 2 has speakers with a B and O eye/puc mounted on the wall and an Avant that is not connected to the Masterlink System. Room 3 has a PC with Beolab 4000s and and Beoport. We also have an iTouch that we use to control both iTunes on the PC as well as the Apple TV. Is there any functionality we would gain by replacing the PC with a Mac, probably a Mini?  The PC works fine but since receiving the iTouch as a gift from my wife and purchasing the Apple TV and seeing how well Apple works, I am looking for an excuse to buy a Mac.

Also, we have a Beosound 1 in our bedroom and an unused set of Beolab 4000s. Ca I use Airport Express to connect the sytem to these and if so would it be easier with a Mac than with the current PC? 

Thanks!

Airport Express would work the same way on a mac and on a PC. So you'll have to find anothr excuse ;-)

But do you really need an excuse?

No, you are correct, I do not really need an excuse. I did think of another question. I am using Beoport and Masterlink to distribute N.Music/iTunes through the various rooms. This works but in order to use iTunes I must press N. Music then Stop on the Beo 4 and then can use the iTouch to control the iTunes.

If I switched to a Mac, am I correct I would still use the Beoport box but would need to download and install the program from Ostrund?

Also, with that program and Beoport would I still need to start N.Music and Stop it or would pressing N. Music take me directly to iTunes without activating Beoplayer?

Thanks!

N.Music will take you right there! I am using a Mac Mini with Beoport (BS 3000 as audio master).

Best regards

Ralf

For sure you need to set the programs to start at start-up.

Ralf

Sounds like you have a great set-up so I would encourage you to take the step.

I recently bought a Macbook - the first Apple "pc" in our house, and I have been experimenting on the best ways to connect and use it.

In my wintel pc days I started using Beoplayer, then bought a Beoport, and then switched to mainly using iTunes (the old Beoworld contained tales of some of those adventures) - I liked iTunes because I could create cover art for CDs for my wife's car and also because it inetgrated with Last.FM (see my signature block) something I could never get BeoPort/Player to do.

I am using the BM-link software with the BeoPort and either a Beo4 or an Apple Remote.

With both I can use Front Row (but I have not got the Beo4 to fast scroll) -- but I have found my collection is too big for ease of use with Front Row's interface (or my metadata (iTunes tags) is too mixed up).  However Front Row's cover art is nice to have going in the background when we have visitors.

As an aside I have been trialing TuneUp to see if that will improve the metadata including all my blank cover art.

I find the Beo4 manipulation of iTunes difficult and for this reason I would favour a Macmini with a wireless mouse and keyboard over an Apple TV - again this difficulty may be how my collection is (dis)organised but I did find ticking OFF the "group albums by artist" to be useful.

While my explorations are not complete these are some early findings:

1/ I suspect I will not get an AppleTV because I do value integration with Last.FM

2/ I do MISS the B&O announcer's voice in the link rooms - she disappears when using BM-link and Apple

3/ As others have stated elsewhere you also loose the ability to receive ML transmissions i.e. the BM-link software is one-way

If the Beosound 1 has an AUX.IN then you should be able to make use of an Airport Express - but I suspect it will make no difference if the iTunes source is on Apple or on a wintel.

Not sure about the Beolab 4000s - for them I suspect the B&O Wireless approach may be the best/safest approach; but I did find a very interesting article under Forums » BeoWorld around the world! » BeoWorld Skandinavien » which I could not translate at http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/p/311/14424.aspx#14424 Itunes -> Airport Express -> Beolab 4000

It seems to be about how to wise 4000s to iTunes via Airport Express ...... just what you wanted :-)

Subsequently to the first post I found instructions in the Scandinavien thread on how to do the translation so here are those two posts almost perfectly translated

I am a high school who spent a significant portion of savings in the following set-up:

MacBook with iTunes to wirelessly send music to Airport Express Station, which sends the music through the mini-jack-RCA cable for my two Beolab 4000 that hangs on the wall.

Thus, my wireless music system complete and sole control is required is on the computer. I myself think it is quite excellent.

However, there is a problem ..!

Højtalerene is extremely sensitive to the signal and I therefore have to screw down the equalizer in iTunes. That in itself is not a source of major irritation, but: The sensitivity of højtalerene do that from time to time (45min - 1.5 hour intervals), switch on and off quickly.

I know this only happens if indgangsignaleret is weak and very briefly.

My question is: How can this problem be solved? I have considered whether it is possible to buy a mini-jack-resistance, which would dampen the signal without compromising the sound.

In advance, thanks.

/Thomas

Hello Thomas

Good luck !

elephant:

3/ As others have stated elsewhere you also loose the ability to receive ML transmissions i.e. the BM-link software is one-way

 

Could you elaborate on this? I do not understand. What functionality would I lose?  Thanks!

Razlaw:

If I switched to a Mac, am I correct I would still use the Beoport box but would need to download and install the program from Ostrund?

Yes, the software controls iTunes on you mac, so you will not have to press stop, you can control iTunes from your Beo4 (like you could control Beoport on a PC). But you can also control it with the iPod.

BMLink can sometime "lock" your ML network and nothing works on the whole ML until you turn the Beolink PC2 thing off and on again. This happen sometimes when you plug/unplug the USB socket.

A good point is that the song title info that is send over ML to your Hifi is more complete than Beoport.

Razlaw:

elephant:

3/ As others have stated elsewhere you also loose the ability to receive ML transmissions i.e. the BM-link software is one-way

 

Could you elaborate on this? I do not understand. What functionality would I lose?  Thanks!

To be absolutely sure I performed a test and will "draw" the basic set-up:

BeoLab 3s === BeoPort === MasterLink === BeoSound 4

The BeoPort connects to either a Compaq latptop (windows) or Apple Macbook by the USB and minijack connections.

With the Windows BeoPlayer/BeoPort software you can add from the MasterLink sources that exist OUTSIDE of the PC. For this I just added A.MEM (the SD card in the BS4), Radio (BS4) and CD (BS4) to the existing Net.Radio, Net.Music, Photo, PC CD and PC sources. (8 appears to be the limit)

So with Windows BeoPlayer/BeoPort software I can with the mouse or with the Beo4 select CD and play my BS4's CD through the BeoLabs (or the BS4's Radio or its SD Card).  If I press PC CD then of course I play the CD in the DVD drive of the laptop.

If however I swap out the Compag and put in the Apple then I no longer have any BeoPlayer/BeoPort software, all I have is the BM-Link that connects iTunes to the B&O World (plus other Mac applications that emit sounds).

Note there is no real user interface anymore - nothing like the BeoPlayer - all you get is the configuration utility described on http://www.odlund.se/bmlink/documentation/pages/software.html

The interface that BM-Link provides for control of speakers (on/off, mute, and volume) is shown in the screen capture below.

Because there is no BeoPlayer/BeoPort software on the Apple I do not get the lady announcing "Connecting" in my link rooms.

Nor do I get access to the audio coming from my BeoSound 4 audio master: no CD, no Radio, no SD Card ... unless I remove the BeoLab 3s from the BeoPort and attach them to an Active box or to a B&O Wireless box.

Having posted the above message, I then connected my Apple to double check.

And yes you can not "received" audio master signals via the BeoPort+Apple ...

... except ... (drum roll please) ...

... by fortuitous accident I triggered a B&O Wireless IR-eye with my signals, and suddenly the BeoPort's BeoLabs were playing music from the BeoSound audio master 

To make this work, on the Beo4 I press N.Music which activates Itunes and the BeoPort and the BeoLabs - I then press STOP on the Beo4 which halts iTunes playing but leaves the BeoLabs active and I then press CD or Radio or A.MEM and I can access the BeoSound 4's sources

A bit of a kludge, and I now have a set-up that looks like this:

BeoLab 3s ==v

Apple === BeoPort ==||

                                    ||=  Master Link === BeoSound 4

         B&O Wireless ==||

So in explaining the issue I have found a workaround (at the cost of a B&O Wireless)

Thanks!   Now I understand. 

The answer to the original question is YES!

I switched to the Mac before 2-3 years and my experience so far:

You do the things you want with your computer and you don't spend all the time with configurating, error messages etc.

It simply works. It is so simple sometimes that you wouldn't even think of.

As all actual Macs can run Windows, too there's no excuse, there's only the question: When do you buy it?


The Operating System of the Macs is realy great to use. Connecting to a wireless network? Don't bother with WPA, WEP etc. Just switch on Airport (that's how Apple calls Wireless Lan), search for the network or enter the name of the network, enter the password and you're done.

And you got hundreds of "Widgets" - little helpers for your Desktop that you activate with a hit of one button etc.
You want to calculate currencies, you need to track a parcel, you're searching for a telephone number, you want to see how much your kids are phoning through your home telephone pbx? There's a widget for nearly everything :-)

Your comment that it simply works is why I am thinking of switching. Since acquiring an iTouch and Apple TV I have been amazed that they simply work, easy to configure and they do not lock up or freeze. I do wish however that I could keep the Beoplayer on the main pc. When using that computer I do enjoy the Beoplayer interface/controls.

Razlaw:

Your comment that it simply works is why I am thinking of switching. Since acquiring an iTouch and Apple TV I have been amazed that they simply work, easy to configure and they do not lock up or freeze. I do wish however that I could keep the Beoplayer on the main pc. When using that computer I do enjoy the Beoplayer interface/controls.

1.)
You can use Apples Bootcamp (comes with OS X 10.5 Leopard = every actual Mac) which allows you to install Windows XP on your Mac and choose which OS you can boot. So you can use the Beoplayer on Windows in a nice looking package ;-)

More information here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

2.)
You can use software like "Parallels" that runs Windows XP on a virtual machine inside Mac OS X. In this case you can use Mac OS X AND Windows applications at the same time!


More information here: http://www.parallels.com/

TWG:

You can use software like "Parallels" that runs Windows XP on a virtual machine inside Mac OS X. In this case you can use Mac OS X AND Windows applications at the same time!

You can also use virtual box. Instead of Parrallels desktops and Fusion from WMWare,  it's a free virtualisation solution from SUN and IBM and it work very well (i use it to configure my LinTronic box)

Thanks!  Another question.....all that we use our desktop for is searching the web, basic word processing, organizing and printing photos and of course, music. Is the entry level Mac Mini sufficient for this or would an upgrade be reccomended?

Thanks!

The entry level mac mini (or imac or macbook) is largely sufficient for this purpose, in fact the only drawback with all the entry level line is for gaming. The next OS (10.6 or "snow leopard" ) due this summer promises to improve speed for all the existant and futur mac with "grand central" (better use of multicore processor) and OpenCL (use of the GPU power for all application).

Thanks!

"Is a Mac mini sufficient enough?"


I used my first Mac mini (3 Years old, 1.8GHz Core solo, 512MB Ram) for producing, cutting, editing videos

So the actual Mac mini should have more than enough power for your tasks