This is because Songkong is scanning each file and matching it up with the database. I don’t often transfer music over the network, as it sends it via a much longer path, leading to potential degradation by the router, switches, etc but presumably, it would take a little longer this way as well. So what’s different? Firstly it takes a lot longer to import music, via USB. Below is a comparison chart of the different versions of both MinimServer and SongKong. The EX machines are also certified as Roon Ready, which will be a big draw for many. To be fair, I’d not appreciated that I was compromising performance by having both running on my machine prior to having my machine updated, so this could explain why the machine sounds a little cleaner and focused post update. This does improve sound quality, as there are fewer processes going on at once. You’ve still got the ability to use Twonky if you wish, but now it’s a case of either/or and the latest firmware switches one off when you select the other. Thankfully I already had a full license, so was able to enter details of that and it allowed me to unlock the features on my NA1/2 and, as they allow you to use it on a computer and your Melco, keep my existing PC software running. For SongKong it’s a one-off payment of £50 to run the full version for life, but a further £10 per year if you want to be eligible for updates. It’s £28 to upgrade to Minimserver 2, plus a further £10 per year to cover the server maintenance costs. In basic form, the EX spec machines come with a basic version of MinimServer, which is slightly more limited than the original, and Son gKong Lite. So with the EX upgrades, we now have the ability to run the fully-functioning MinimServer 2 and SongKong, combining to give us what Melco refers to as Melco Intelligent Music Library. Of course, this is now available as part of the EX package. This software is still available from J.Think and I very much recommend it –. Personally, I got around this using an excellent program called SongKong, which works by taking an acoustic ID of your files and would do a great job of finding and adding the metadata before you transferred it to the server. Worse still was if you wanted to import a library ripped or prepared on a Naim server, where the metadata was stored in a separate file which the Melco couldn’t read. Generally, the Melco range was considered by dealers as the option for the more tech-savvy user and it was always a bit of a faff if you ended up with a few albums worth of WAV file, which have limited metadata. With Minim it scans for tags, so only seems to take a couple of dozen seconds to get up and running following a restart. The one big pain with Twonky though, was it rebuilt your library every time you restarted the server, so you’d have to wait several minutes (depending on the size of the library of course) each time you restarted the machine. Now there’s always been the potential to install MinimServer, via a download and USB transfer onto any of the Melco range, which made it possible to search via artist or genre a little easier, although to be honest, I didn’t bother to use it as was pretty happy with Twonky. I gather that the average user is less anally retentive than me, so it’s easy to see how specific parts of a user’s collection might get forgotten. On the Melco you’ve always had the option of searching in the ‘CD Import’, ‘Import’ (ie where your USB or Network transfers end up), or ‘Download’(where purchased files directly sent to the Melco end up). Personally, I have a ridiculously good memory for what files I’ve got where, so it’s never been an issue for me to find a given album. It works and works well, allowing easy basic navigation of your library. This has been available for years and often found installed as the library manager on many a NAS drive. The Melco range has been around now for 6 or 7 years and initially, it came pre-installed with the Twonky Server.
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