NAIM HDX - REFERENCE MANUAL ISSUE 4B Reference Manual

NAIM HDX - REFERENCE MANUAL ISSUE 4B Reference Manual Manual pdf 21 page image

19Operation - Exter nal Storage7 External StorageThe HDX is not only able to replay material ripped and stored on its internal hard disk butcan also replay material stored on a variety of externally connected storage hardware.Such hardware might be relatively small capacity devices temporarily connected via oneof the HDX’s USB interface sockets, or large capacity “Network Shares” connected via ahome network. Network Shares can also be configured as HDX rip locations.7.1 USB Storage DevicesA locally connected storage device will most likely be amemory stick connected to one of the HDX’s USB sockets.Note: The amount of music stored on an external devicedetermines how long the HDX will spend scanning thedevice when it is first connected before the music isavailable to browse.Note: Locally connected devices are re-scanned everytime the HDX starts up.The tracks found by the HDX on locally connected storagewill only be held in its database while the storage isconnected and switched on.Note: Local connection is only intended for relatively smallmusic collections on temporarily connected memory sticks.Any large capacity storage should always be connectedvia a network.In order for USB stored music to be available to the HDX,for playback various conditions must be met:• Music files must be in AAC, FLAC, MP3, or WAVformats (up to 24 bit, 192kHz).• Music files must be unprotected by DRM encodingthat restricts them to specific playback hardware.7.2 Network SharesBefore material stored on shared network devices can beaccessed by the HDX, it must scan the network to identifythe address of each share and to build a database of thelocations and details of the available audio files.The HDX automatically scans the network when firstswitched on and will then periodically scan to find newnetwork shares and identify any changes to the availableaudio files. It may however take a considerable timefollowing connection of the HDX to the network forchanges to be reflected in the HDX’s database.Note: Network scanning is carried out at up to severalhundred files per minute although this figure depends onthe speed of the file storage device.The music files found by the HDX on network shares willbe incorporated into its database and remembered untilany changes are identified, irrespective of the HDX beingswitched off.In order for network shared music files to be available tothe HDX, for network or local playback various conditionsmust be met:• Folders containing audio files must be set up tobe “shared”. Refer to the folder’s host computeroperating system user manual for details on settingup shared folders.• Music files must be in AAC, FLAC, MP3, WAV, AppleLossless, Ogg, AIFF or WMA formats (up to 24 bit,192kHz).• Music files must be unprotected by DRM encodingthat restricts them to specific playback hardware.Network shares can be viewed and managed from theFront Panel interface Network Shares menu. See Section4.8.37.3 Music StoresNetwork Shares can be converted to operate as HDXMusic Stores – locations where the data from ripped CDsis stored. Promoting a Network Share to Music Store statusmay be appropriate if the internal HDX drive is becomingfull or if external rip storage provides enhanced networkconvenience or data security.Note: Enhanced data security is only likely if the networkshare is a RAID device.Just as the HDX internal hard disk does not appear asa Network Share, when a Network Share is convertedto Music Store status it will no longer appear in the HDXNetwork Shares list.Important: Network Shares converted to Music Store statusare not automatically backed-up by the HDX. They mustbe backed-up manually.Music Stores are used as rip locations by the HDX in orderof priority. CDs will be ripped automatically to the highestpriority Music Store until it is full, when the next priority MusicStore will be used.Network Shares can be converted to Music Store statusvia the Add New Store option of the Music Stores Menu.See the following section and Section 4.8.4 for moreinformation on Music Stores.Important: Files should never be added to or deleted fromMusic Stores via an alternative computer operating system.Note: This is because Music Stores contain not only theripped CD data files but also the associated databaseand meta-data files. External manipulation of a MusicStore will almost certainly result in database or meta-datacorruption.