I bought the original Opus model--no number after it. I've generally been happy with the unit. I haven't noticed much difference between using the digital and analog outputs, but the rest of my audio system is likely not as high-end as that of many here (Denon 2805 receiver, Axiom M22 speakers).

I have used it to rip CDs to FLAC, but prefer to do it on a PC (using dbPowerAmp) so that I have a more secure backup and can edit the tag information more easily. I've found the PC better at getting tag information right the first time.

I am a little bothered by the lack of future software updates. There are a few areas where I think the unit could do better--better tag information, better interface for network control, and acceptance of a broader number of external USB drives. I also wonder whether when Windows 7 rolls around in a year or so whether I'll be able to access the Opus without an update. I'd prefer faster and more reliable network access (it can take my Windows Vista PC a while to recognize the Olive), but this may be a hardware issue and/or a Vista issue. I stopped using the internal WiFi and instead attached a wired-to-wireless adapter to one of the ethernet ports.

In all, I'm a pretty satisfied customer. As long as the unit lasts another five years or so, at which time I hope there will be cheaper units with the same sound quality and higher recording capacity, I'll be fine. I hope the company survives that long in case I have a hardware problem.

Regarding ripping via computer outside of the Olive 3 and 5’s because of better tagging and editing. Etc.
The Olives use the freedb database for tagging.
If not mistaken, EAC, MediaMonkey and Dbpoweramp also use freedb as their default database.
I’ve ripped over 800 cds to my 3S and it is very very rare that a cd cannot be found and tagged correctly.
Set the machine up to ‘auto import’ and you can rip 20 cds to Flac via wifi while watching a football game. A complete no brainer.
As far as any editing needed, Veronica works great.
Every external HD I've connected to the Olive has worked, no problems.

Segoodman,
Instead of Lenore/Rondo try using Veronica/VNC. This is 10X faster and 10X easier to use with the Opus. Use your arrow keys on your laptop to get around. You’ll never go back to Rondo.

All,

I thought it might be a good idea to split off a new thread that covers only the "new" Olive products (Opus 4, Opus 6, Melody 2) since the older products and newer products have virtually nothing in common. That way people won't have to sift through so much information to get at what they are looking for.

The new thread can be found here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15207680#post15207680

Thanks!

Segoodman,
Instead of Lenore/Rondo try using Veronica/VNC. This is 10X faster and 10X easier to use with the Opus. Use your arrow keys on your laptop to get around. You’ll never go back to Rondo.
Actually I do use Veronica - I got the names mixed up when I sent the post last night. It is VNC - Veronica that I can't imagine going without. Rondo is so sloooow.

I have great respect for Naim, Arcam and Mc Intosh, but be aware that Sooloos, before launching its products, established an impressive network of resellers, including many top-end audio stores in the US and abroad, so they are not a cottage business like Olive. As to servers by McIntosh and Arcam, they are basic, non-expandable units lacking an external control unit (Touch-screen); the McIntosh costs $6,000, is a re-badged Escient server and does not even have a USB port for back-ups. The Arcam is also devoid of an outboard control unit, has only 400 GB of storage and costs $6,400.

On the other hand, Sooloos offers a complete and infinitely expandable system with a killer interface, and their new products include inexpensive expansion/backup solutions in the form of hard drive shells with their own firmware in which users may install the drive(s) of their choice...

And remember that some people on this forum happily spend $2,000 for a fancy power cord or $5,000 for "miracle" speaker cables.

MG

Forgive the tone of my earlier post. I reacted to the price without having the proper time to organize my thoughts. Don't get me wrong, the Sooloos appears to be an impressive product, and they have arranged for about 50 high-end distributors to carry their products. But, until I see a thread like this about the Sooloss, we can't really be sure what the real-world ownership issues might be.

Also, I read the glowing Stereophile review. Although I don't always base buying decisions on reviews, there are often little tidbits you can glean from them. The reviewer in this case states that the Sooloos's sound from the analog outputs was slightly bettered by a Benchmark DAC. Now, I've heard the Benchmark. It's a decent DAC, bordering on acceptable audiophile - and quite a bargain used, and there are plenty around for sale - clue #1 that it isn't the miracle it was first touted to be. But, it can be easily bettered sound-wise, and even some one-box players will give it a hard time or outperform it for less than $2000 -especially if you don't mind buying used from a reputable source.

So, my point remains: For $8-10K the Sooloos should sound better than anything up to its price point, and it apparently doesn't. I'd love to hear one sometime, but I think my trusty old Olive into my DAC will suffice for a long time. It does exactly what I need, the VNC interface is more than adequate on both my PC laptop and desktop Mac. The analog outputs on my Symphony (Red Wine modified) sound absolutely dreadful, but as long as I can output it to my DAC, I'm OK with it. I would like to hear a 5 someday, so anyone who might be selling theirs can pop me an e-mail when they're ready and I might be interested.

Thanks to all for your patience.

Also, I read the glowing Stereophile review. Although I don't always base buying decisions on reviews, there are often little tidbits you can glean from them. The reviewer in this case states that the Sooloos's sound from the analog outputs was slightly bettered by a Benchmark DAC. Now, I've heard the Benchmark. It's a decent DAC, bordering on acceptable audiophile - and quite a bargain used, and there are plenty around for sale - clue #1 that it isn't the miracle it was first touted to be. But, it can be easily bettered sound-wise, and even some one-box players will give it a hard time or outperform it for less than $2000 -especially if you don't mind buying used from a reputable source.

So, my point remains: For $8-10K the Sooloos should sound better than anything up to its price point, and it apparently doesn't. I'd love to hear one sometime, but I think my trusty old Olive into my DAC will suffice for a long time. It does exactly what I need, the VNC interface is more than adequate on both my PC laptop and desktop Mac. The analog outputs on my Symphony (Red Wine modified) sound absolutely dreadful, but as long as I can output it to my DAC, I'm OK with it. I would like to hear a 5 someday, so anyone who might be selling theirs can pop me an e-mail when they're ready and I might be interested.
.

Thanks for your carefully considered response.

About Stereophile assessments of sound quality, I have a lot of doubts. I am a subscriber to Sterophile and reader of TAS and cannot swallow their rhetoric against double-blind testing, and, worse, their increasing tendency to consider that assessing an audio product is ultimately a matter of personal taste (i.e. bias): TAS recently assimilated audio testing to wine tasting, and Stereophile, in its current issue, describes itself as a "gourmet" magazine in the audio field. They simply forget that wine or food are not trying to mimic anything, while audio equipment is supposed to reproduce a recording, itself supposed to approximate the experience of live music.

As to the sound of the Sooloos, I have not compared ti with any outboatd DAC, but on known recordings found it to be very good indeed.

I agree with you that the original Opus/Symphony was a very promising product with powerful and intelligently designed software (albeit with some bugs and a few glaring omissions), with a rather basic interface. Those things do about 98% of what they are specified to do, which is more than can be said of the Opus 4. So that's why I am so frustrated tha no further improvements seem to be forthcoming.

MG

I have found in my own case that the PC-based tagging is more accurate. In any case, it is easier to edit.

I do have to thank other people in this forum for alerting me to the existence of Veronica (VNC). I downloaded a client and, like others, found it faster than Rondo for editing information.

Just wanted to say thank you for the VNC trick. I got it running on my mac and it is night and day over the other interface. I don't know if it was mentioned but mine has the Hifidelio logo on it and I haven't loaded their update.

All,

I thought it might be a good idea to split off a new thread that covers only the "new" Olive products (Opus 4, Opus 6, Melody 2) since the older products and newer products have virtually nothing in common. That way people won't have to sift through so much information to get at what they are looking for.

The new thread can be found here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15207680#post15207680

Thanks!

Great idea!
Someone is obviously concerned about the impact on Olive's sales of the exposure of potential customers to the sour comments of people who have experienced Olive's disdain for brand loyalty and product support.

But how do you propose to prevent "leakage" into the new forum?

MG

Great idea!
Someone is obviously concerned about the impact on Olive's sales of the exposure of potential customers to the sour comments of people who have experienced Olive's disdain for brand loyalty and product support.

But how do you propose to prevent "leakage" into the new forum?

MG

???????????

Or maybe someone wants to actually talk about the product?

You have every right to feel the way you do (I'd be the same). At the same time, new #4 owners have a right to learn and discuss their new product. A new thread should of been started when someone got it anyways.

(By the way... it was my idea to start the new thread, so don't blame Z)

Just wanted to say thank you for the VNC trick. I got it running on my mac and it is night and day over the other interface. I don't know if it was mentioned but mine has the Hifidelio logo on it and I haven't loaded their update.

Mine did that even before the update. Normal behavior, I guess.
I'm glad it worked out for you!

Hi-

I own an Olive unit and am thinking of switching to a Slim Devices Duet as my main interface (the Duet will be connected to a WHS unit with a TB of storage).

Can I use the "streaming" function of the Duet and stream music to the Olive in another room (i.e. Duet = server; Olive = stream receiver). The Olive works with UPNP and with DAAP protocols.

Thanks,
Danny

Try DBpoweramp (paid version). You can rip with accurate rip or "secure" ripping so you know the rips are good.

BTW, it also uses multiple data bases for MetaData and does a much better job than applications that only use the "free" databases.


Thanks

Hi-

I own an Olive unit and am thinking of switching to a Slim Devices Duet as my main interface (the Duet will be connected to a WHS unit with a TB of storage).

Can I use the "streaming" function of the Duet and stream music to the Olive in another room (i.e. Duet = server; Olive = stream receiver). The Olive works with UPNP and with DAAP protocols.

Thanks,
Danny

Two issues there:

1. Making Squeezebox work with a WHS. That is feasible, but installing Slim Server/Squeeze Centre on the NAS is a bit complicated (lots of cryptic settings choices).


2.The real obstacle: Squeezebox/Slim Server are NOT uPnP/DLNA compliant, which means that the Squeezebox may not "see" the Opus server, and that the Opus will definitely not recognize the SB/NAS as a server. If you want to find out for yourself, you can dowload and install the PC version of Slim Server. Unlike most PC-based music servers (such as Firefly), it will not show up on the Opus as a server.. However, as you WHS will likely be equipped with another, uPnP compliant piece of server software, , you will probably be able to access muisc stored on it via the Opus, but through that server software rather than through Squeeze Centre. Confusing?

MG

Two issues there:

1. Making Squeezebox work with a WHS. That is feasible, but installing Slim Server/Squeeze Centre on the NAS is a bit complicated (lots of cryptic settings choices).


2.The real obstacle: Squeezebox/Slim Server are NOT uPnP/DLNA compliant, which means that the Squeezebox may not "see" the Opus server, and that the Opus will definitely not recognize the SB/NAS as a server. If you want to find out for yourself, you can dowload and install the PC version of Slim Server. Unlike most PC-based music servers (such as Firefly), it will not show up on the Opus as a server.. However, as you WHS will likely be equipped with another, uPnP compliant piece of server software, , you will probably be able to access muisc stored on it via the Opus, but through that server software rather than through Squeeze Centre. Confusing?

MG

Thanks.

The WHS in question is preloaded with Slim Server and UPNP/DLNA software, and is designed to work with Squeezebox, so that's not a problem.

What I'm not understanding from your answer is if it will be possible to stream music from a SB server to Olive (or vice versa).

If you're interested, you can look up the server at http://www.ripnas.com/
(http://www.ripnas.com)

Thanks.

The WHS in question is preloaded with Slim Server and UPNP/DLNA software, and is designed to work with Squeezebox, so that's not a problem.

What I'm not understanding from your answer is if it will be possible to stream music from a SB server to Olive (or vice versa).

If you're interested, you can look up the server at http://www.ripnas.com/
(http://www.ripnas.com)

Sorryif my post was unclear (I told you the issue is confusing).

Good thing the RipNas has server software pre-loaded for Squeeze Box clients. I lokked at the specs and the unit looks very well designed and clever, though not cheap (starts at around $1,000).

What I was trying to say in my post about accessing Slim Server through the Opus is that it will not be possible, because Slim Server is not uPnP compliant. For it to be recognized by the Opus, the latter would need to have a Slim Server client installed.

That means that if you get a RipNas an SB device, you will not be able to access the Opus form the SB or the SB rom the Opus. However, since RipNas, in addition to Slim Server, has built-in uPnP media server software, music files stored on the RipNas will be accessible from the Opus through that uPnP server. In other words, you will have two separate ways of playing your files, but no interaction between SB and Opus.

MG

I'd like to wish everyone Happy Holidays!

If anyone is looking to part with an Olive 3 or 5 with at least a 320 Gig HD, let me know. Black preferred, but I'm open to a silver if it's just the right one.

Cheers,
Ed

Has anyone run across this? Ripped a CD (Chicago - Only The Beginning, disc 2) and had the song titles come up in Japanese script. The Artist and Album Name came up normally. Not a big issue, I'm more curious than anything. So far, I've ripped a little over 500 of my CDs to the Opus4 with the only other problem being "Information Unavailable" on 10 or 12 of them.

Thanks Ed, you have a great holiday season too. And everyone else of course....

???????????

Or maybe someone wants to actually talk about the product?

You have every right to feel the way you do (I'd be the same). At the same time, new #4 owners have a right to learn and discuss their new product. A new thread should of been started when someone got it anyways.

(By the way... it was my idea to start the new thread, so don't blame Z)

Great idea!
Someone is obviously concerned about the impact on Olive's sales of the exposure of potential customers to the sour comments of people who have experienced Olive's disdain for brand loyalty and product support.

But how do you propose to prevent "leakage" into the new forum?

MG

Thank you, both. Going there now.

Does anyone know if the Logitech Squeezebox Boom can be used with the Opus #3? I have read you have to install Squeezecenter on the Opus. Is that correct? If so, is it fairly simple to do? Thanks for any info.

It can work. Takes some fiddling and setting of Slim Server settings on Olive for it to work.

See thread (in English) German Hifidelio (same units as Olive 3) site:
http://www.hifidelio-user.de/viewtopic.php?t=3199&highlight=slim+server

It can work. Takes some fiddling and setting of Slim Server settings on Olive for it to work.

See thread (in English) German Hifidelio (same units as Olive 3) site:
http://www.hifidelio-user.de/viewtopic.php?t=3199&highlight=slim+server

Thanks for the quick response. I just read the instructions on how to install the slimserver on the Opus and it sounds like it may test my technical capabilities (which are not strong). The very first instruction is to install Linux on your PC. Do you know why this is necessary? I have an Apple and would strongly prefer not to install Linux. I'm not sure if it is even possible on an Apple

Thanks for any info.

Hi-

The instructions don't say to load Linux on your computer. They say to download the files to your computer, transfer them to the Olive import folder, and then use telnet from your computer to issue commands to the Olive to install, etc. Linux is mentioned b/c you need the Linux versions of the files for the Olive since the Olive OS is Linux.

It sounds like this is a bit over your head. A friend with a bit of tech knowledge could do it without much trouble.

Hi-

The instructions don't say to load Linux on your computer. They say to download the files to your computer, transfer them to the Olive import folder, and then use telnet from your computer to issue commands to the Olive to install, etc. Linux is mentioned b/c you need the Linux versions of the files for the Olive since the Olive OS is Linux.

It sounds like this is a bit over your head. A friend with a bit of tech knowledge could do it without much trouble.

Thanks for the clarification on Linux. You are probably right about this being over my head but I decided to give it a go. I ran into one problem fairly early in the process; when I download the first file SlimServer_6.3.1.tar.gz, my computer (a Macbook) renames the file SlimServer_6.3.1.tar., dropping the .gz. I renamed the file back to the original .gz but when I try to execute the first command "tar zxf SlimServer_6.3.1.tar.gz" I receive the error "invalid gz magic"

Do you have any suggestions? I have absolutely no experience with Linux.

I'd try the original thread on the hifidelio forum. They are usually quick to help there. And don't worry about the German, they're okay with English.

I was looking at doing this when I thought I was getting a 3 rather than a 4. Here are a few links I found helpful.

http://rootcellarnews.com/AEOliveMultiRoom.html

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=21727

Thanks for the clarification on Linux. You are probably right about this being over my head but I decided to give it a go. I ran into one problem fairly early in the process; when I download the first file SlimServer_6.3.1.tar.gz, my computer (a Macbook) renames the file SlimServer_6.3.1.tar., dropping the .gz. I renamed the file back to the original .gz but when I try to execute the first command "tar zxf SlimServer_6.3.1.tar.gz" I receive the error "invalid gz magic"

Do you have any suggestions? I have absolutely no experience with Linux.

Thanks. I've read these posts and haven't found a good answer for the "invalid magic" error. I am also concerned that the Squeezebox Boom requires the Squeezecenter software (version 7 or greater) while all these posts discuss instlling an older (6.3) version of Slimserver. Now I am thinking of trying to map the Opus to SqueezeCenter by editing the Samba settings on the Opus so that the Music folder is visible. Perhaps if Squeezecenter can see this folder, it would be able to access the Opus.

Thanks. I've read these posts and haven't found a good answer for the "invalid magic" error. ... (6.3) version of Slimserver. Now I am thinking of trying to map the Opus to SqueezeCenter by editing the Samba settings on the Opus so that the Music folder is visible. Perhaps if Squeezecenter can see this folder, it would be able to access the Opus.

HI-

I was trying to suggest you actually ask your question about the error on the hifidelio forum. Some of the users there were among the designers/programmers of the original Hifidelio/Opus. Some are also very knowledgeable about MACS, as Hermstedt used to make devices for use with Apple computers.

As far as Squeezecenter, my understanding is that it is proprietary software and won't recognize either an Olive or UPnP devices on it's own.

I have spent this Friday trying to get a hold of Olive to discuss purchasing one of their Olive 5 units that they are selling on eBay. First I get the "our people are busy helping others, please stay on the line" message, then a "wait a moment" message, and after a while I get the automated answering machine "please leave a message" message. Three recorded announcements, no real person answering the phone. I'm asking the people who have tried to contact Olive, Is this a normal phone reaction from them? Are they possibly closed today? If so, shouldn't they leave a message stating that? I have also tried to e-mail them about this unit, with no reply. Has anyone gotten through to Olive in the past without the hassle of leaving a message? Too bad, I was kinda ready to buy......

I've gotten email responses from them in the past. Even from the CEO. His email is tim.bussiek@olive.us; I suggest you write him directly and repeat your complaint.

Thanks. I gave that a try. We'll see what happens.

I'm really an old-fashioned guy who thinks that a business should at least answer the phone when a customer calls, and be ready to help them in whatever way possible when you do. :-)

Now I am thinking of trying to map the Opus to SqueezeCenter by editing the Samba settings on the Opus so that the Music folder is visible. Perhaps if Squeezecenter can see this folder, it would be able to access the Opus.


Enable UPnP on the Olive
In Squezecenter there is an option to enable UPnP to.
This enables SC to 'see' the content on UPnP-servers and (never tried) allow Squeezeboxes to play the content on UPnP servers.

Thanks. I gave that a try. We'll see what happens.

I'm really an old-fashioned guy who thinks that a business should at least answer the phone when a customer calls, and be ready to help them in whatever way possible when you do. :-)
If their schedule is like last year, they are on holiday and probably will not hear from them until after CES. Did you try contacting them through ebay?

If their schedule is like last year, they are on holiday and probably will not hear from them until after CES. Did you try contacting them through ebay?

Thanks for the info. Yes, I did try through eBay.

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but it seems to me that a company that can't answer its phone due to lack of staffing, or a shutdown for the CES, should leave a message to that effect.

I did notice that there are at least two different phone numbers to contact Olive, one on the eBay page, and a different one on their contact page. I'll try the other one on Monday if my e-mail isn't answered.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I did try through eBay.

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but it seems to me that a company that can't answer its phone due to lack of staffing, or a shutdown for the CES, should leave a message to that effect.

I did notice that there are at least two different phone numbers to contact Olive, one on the eBay page, and a different one on their contact page. I'll try the other one on Monday if my e-mail isn't answered.
with ebay you can escalate it with them to get a reply.

They haven't learned from last years mess with AMEX and maybe never will. If you want a great unit that has no support other than the warranty and this forum this could be it. Or you can look at their newer units that others have stated don't use the same DAC.

OK, this is getting REALLY strange now. Per firedog's suggestion, I e-mailed the company CEO, Tim Bussiek, about the eBay Number 5 units that are being auctioned. Here's the reply I received:

"Dear Ed,

indeed Friday we were closed, apologies! Usual business hours we always have live people answering. We're not selling the Opus No.5 right now, it was a limited series and the unit on eBay would be a private or other party. We are selling the Opus No.4 which has a number of improvements along with a client for different rooms called the Melody, I've copied sales so they can let you know how much such a unit will be and what the earliest delivery would be."

Has he SEEN the eBay auction for the "refurbished" Number 5 units? That is plural, since it also states Black and Silver are available? Apparently there are things going on within his company of which he is not aware. I called the phone number listed in the auction, and it was Olive that answered - well, voicemail anyway - so I don't think it's a hijacked eBay auction. I have informed him of this, and am eagerly awaiting his reply. :-)

I'll keep you posted.
Ed

OK. A quick update on my ongoing saga. It turns out that Tim Bussiek is NOT the CEO of Olive, but its VP of Products, and works mostly with the software team - so he really shouldn't know about the eBay sales. Sorry, Tim, I was misinformed.

I have been contacted by Harrison Roberts of the sales team by e-mail, and have talked to Matt Mooney (also on the sales team) on the phone. Both have been very helpful, friendly, and are obviously the people to talk to about buying an Olive. :-)

Now that I have the proper contacts, I'll pursue my 5, and will let you know how it sounds when I have it up & running.

egoss, I purchased the Opus 5 from Olive through their ebay listing. Very impressive piece of equipment, sounds great. However, be warned about a few things. Unlike the Opus 3 (and its predecessor, the Musica, which I have), you cannot control volume or make other adjustments to the sound of the music (the synthesizer doesn't work), even though the software has many controls to do that. Olive says this is a function of the DACs in the system. This hasn't been a problem for me, but at first I thought I had a defective unit. Also, Olive does not have any remotes for the Opus 5, so you will need to get a remote if you want to control it by an infrared remote. This also has not been a problem for me because I control the until by computer or a Nokia tablet using Lenore or Veronica. The Unit runs a little hot, even when it is in "sleep" mode (unlike the Musica, which does not emit any noticeable heat in sleep mode). I don't know what that means for the long term life of the unit. Olive is warranting these units for 1 year.

egoss, I purchased the Opus 5 from Olive through their ebay listing. Very impressive piece of equipment, sounds great. However, be warned about a few things. Unlike the Opus 3 (and its predecessor, the Musica, which I have), you cannot control volume or make other adjustments to the sound of the music (the synthesizer doesn't work), even though the software has many controls to do that. Olive says this is a function of the DACs in the system. This hasn't been a problem for me, but at first I thought I had a defective unit. Also, Olive does not have any remotes for the Opus 5, so you will need to get a remote if you want to control it by an infrared remote. This also has not been a problem for me because I control the until by computer or a Nokia tablet using Lenore or Veronica. The Unit runs a little hot, even when it is in "sleep" mode (unlike the Musica, which does not emit any noticeable heat in sleep mode). I don't know what that means for the long term life of the unit. Olive is warranting these units for 1 year.

Thanks very much for the info. Like you, I don't require the Volume/Synth functions at all. I'm buying it because I want it to sound good, and not to fiddle with the sound like it was iTunes.
Also like you, I don't need a remote. I control my Symphony with my VNC client on either my desktop or laptop. Actually, my Symphony would change volume every once in a while when I used the remote for my preamp, so I had to cover up the remote sensor lens. :-)
And I guess I'll have to make sure that it's situated in a nice cool spot! I find my Symphony runs a bit warm, but not too bad compared to some other equipment I have.

I chose the 5 for the sound, and also the fact that I can Random by Genre, an option which is not available on the 4, and one of the joys of me owning a music server - I set up 6 different Genres, and can choose one depending on my mood, and listen to hours of my favorite tracks without repetition.

Happy New Year To All!
Ed

Here is a program with potential for streaming the opus to any computer, itouch and iphone anywhere in the world. Let's let them know we are very interested.

http://www.simplifymedia.com/

Well, the saga continues. I ordered an Opus 5 from Olive on Tuesday, Dec. 30th. I was promised that it would be shipped the next day, Dec 31st. Didn't happen. Apparently, my credit card company's fraud division interrupted the transaction because I don't normally spend that much money at a time 2,500 miles away. Both Olive and my credit card company left me messages on Monday last, and I approved the deal and called Olive to charge my card. I was told Monday evening that it would be shipped on Tuesday, and asked that I be e-mailed the FedEx tracking number - and was told that they would do that. Since I didn't hear from them by this evening (Wed, Jan 7th) I called again and was informed that the unit had not yet been shipped. Seems they were "busy" and had the unit "all set to go" and will ship it tomorrow. Now, all of this is a pain in the butt, but certainly not the end of the world. I don't want all of you to think I'm a real whiner - I'm only mentioning it so that anyone who expects any kind of real service out of Olive will have a heads-up that it ain't gonna happen, McGee. Be ready to stay on top of them to make sure that they perform as promised, and even then it probably won't happen. If I could have found a 5 anywhere else........

Ed, patience is a virtue, especially when dealing with Olive. I think I got a tracking number from them about the time the Unit showed up. Shipping was about a week after they promised. I even paid extra for overnight shipping, because once I decided to jump for the Unit, I wanted it NOW. The antenna was smashed, I called them and they promised to send me a new one. Haven't seen it yet. I will probably call them again at some time when I run out of patience. Life is much easier with them if you take a Zen approach (I may even try that sometime) - it will happen, eventually.

I appreciate your comments and support. But my saga has taken an even more evil twist. I did receive my Opus 5, in its sturdy-looking wooden box. And the antenna survived the trip very well. Unfortunately, the Opus 5 would not boot up. No power light, no reaction to the power or on-off switch, Nada, Nothing. I was disappointed to say the least. I was sadly reminded of the Monty Python sketch where the clerk tries to assure the buyer of the dead parrot that it was only sleeping. My opus 5 is deceased, met-its-maker, bought the farm, passed on, all of the phrases they used in the sketch. Only it's nowhere near as funny to me as that sketch.

Of course, I tried everything I could. I plugged it into a different wall socket, checked the fuse, and tried a different power cord. Nothing worked. I had to call Olive and request an RMA form to return the unit to them. They were naturally astounded that anything could be wrong, assuring me that my unit had been bench-tested for three days before shipping. Maybe I should have waited one more day....

It is fair to say that I am not a happy camper. Up to this point Olive has done absolutely nothing to instill confidence in either their products or service. I purchased their top-of-the-line product, only to have it DOA.

If I may explain my previous posts a bit, and then I won't bother you fine folks again:
Listening to music has been an important part of my life for over 40 years. Along with listening to the music, I have also been involved with the "audiophile" end of the spectrum - trying new and better equipment to enhance my listening experience. It's fun. But, it's not end-of-the-world important stuff. I do sense a bit of excitement when I have researched a particular piece of equipment and made the decision to spend my hard-earned money on it. Anticipation of the arrival of my new purchase, setting it up and enjoying it are part of equation. When a company, or an employee of that company, sucks the fun out of a purchase, it bothers me - probably more than it should. But I am a perfectionist, and don't like mediocrity - in myself or others. It seems to me that if you say you will do something, and don't, that's lying. If you promise something and don't deliver, that's stealing. It may seem harsh of me, but that's the way I am. And I in no way mean that Olive is guilty of all of this, but they have disappointed me, and I hope the Opus 5 is good enough to make me forget all of the hassle I've had buying it. If not, you'll see a 5 for sale faster than you can say "Sayonara Olive."

If you've read this far, I apologize for wasting your time. But thanks. :-)

Greetings all.
Not too much discussion going on here.
Anyway, this is way off topic, but I stumbled upon the below link and thought everbody needs a laugh. Very funny stuff !!
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000I1X6PM/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Between the 4 & 5, which is the better sounding unit?
Any other Olives have the "Random by Genre" option?
Are these units REALLY quite enough too be in a "listening" environment?
BIG thanks!

Between the 4 & 5, which is the better sounding unit?
Any other Olives have the "Random by Genre" option?
Are these units REALLY quite enough too be in a "listening" environment?
BIG thanks!

First off, if you have a processor that has a DAC then you can run digital out of either the 4 ro 5 and so it probably doesn't matter which one you use from the point of view of sound quality.

If you have a stereo receiver/amp that doesn't have internal DACs then the 5 probably has the better DACs and you will, therefore, probably have better SQ.

The problem for you might be that Olive no longer sells the 5s so, unless you can find a used one, you do not have a choice. It is rumored that Olive will release a 6 which is like the 4 but with DACs like the 5.

I think that all the Olives can do random by genre but I'm not entirely sure since I've never used that option.

I can't speak to how quiet the Olives are since I always placed mine in a closed cabinet away from the listening area.

Thanks, Jack!
For the quick reply too a fairly old thread.
Wonder when the 6 shows up?
(^^^thinking outloud; no need too reply)

Between the 4 & 5, which is the better sounding unit?
Any other Olives have the "Random by Genre" option?
Are these units REALLY quite enough too be in a "listening" environment?
BIG thanks!

You should probably check over at the Olive 4, 6 & Melody 2 Forum, but I don't think the 4 can random by genre. That's why I still have a Musica and a Symphony in two different systems. The lack of that feature will keep me away from the 4 until it's fixed, if ever.

As for the sound, I suspect the 5 sounds better, since it has the better specs, but neither of them will win any awards compared to a good DAC. Most of the folks on this & the other forum use external DACs. As for their practicality, I can't imagine not having an Olive. I use mine like this: I have over 8500 songs ripped in FLAC and loaded on my Musica. Weekend mornings I fire up the Hi-Fi, boot the Olive, choose "Library" and set it to Random, and hit "Play." I then can listen all day to music I have chosen, without any repetition, through a great sounding system. It's the best form of commercial-free radio I know!

Here's the link to the other forum for the current Olive products. If you have any questions about the older Olives, feel free to PM me.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1091695

Cheers, Ed

This Forum has certainly been quiet lately. Could it be that everyone's upgraded to a 4? Probably not, so here's an update on my Musica.

Filling up my stock 250GB hard drive went very quickly, so I considered upgrading the drive to a 500GB. After reading the instructions a number of times, I figured that even I could do it. I purchased a 500GB Hitachi DeskStar P7K500 ATA/6 7200RPM 8.5ms 8MB Buffer, part #HDP725050GLAT80, from Other World Computing. I had a complete backup of all my music files on my Mac, so I simply removed the old drive, figuring that if the upgrade didn't work I could just put it back in. Formatted the new drive FAT32, popped it in, ran the HDreset program, then the restore DVD, then upgraded to the latest software version, 2.3.18. Booted it up, and amazing simple, without any problems at all, I had a 500GB drive in my Olive! I imported all of my music - that took many, many hours of importing, checking along the way to make sure everything was OK. I've been running it for a week now with no issues, just a slight increase in running temperature that I solved by sliding the top back a couple of inches to allow more air (heat) to escape. I now have 11,500 songs loaded in FLAC format, and am adding more almost daily. Very, very pleasing experience... so far. :-)

Anyone considering this upgrade should be careful of the heat issue form what I read. I would not go any further than doubling your hard drive capacity. I'm sure that slapping a 500GB drive in a 80GB Olive would overtax the power supply, more than likely killing it. I carefully chose the hard drive I used based on power requirements compared to the stock drive, and they were so similar, with the larger drive actually having better start-up specs than the original (also a Hitachi 7200 rpm drive, but an older HDT722525DLAAT80)

If anyone has any questions or comments, post to the forum so others with the same question can see the reply. Thanks.

This Forum has certainly been quiet lately. Could it be that everyone's upgraded to a 4? Probably not, so here's an update on my Musica.

Filling up my stock 250GB hard drive went very quickly, so I considered upgrading the drive to a 500GB. After reading the instructions a number of times, I figured that even I could do it. I purchased a 500GB Hitachi DeskStar P7K500 ATA/6 7200RPM 8.5ms 8MB Buffer, part #HDP725050GLAT80, from Other World Computing. I had a complete backup of all my music files on my Mac, so I simply removed the old drive, figuring that if the upgrade didn't work I could just put it back in. Formatted the new drive FAT32, popped it in, ran the HDreset program, then the restore DVD, then upgraded to the latest software version, 2.3.18. Booted it up, and amazing simple, without any problems at all, I had a 500GB drive in my Olive! I imported all of my music - that took many, many hours of importing, checking along the way to make sure everything was OK. I've been running it for a week now with no issues, just a slight increase in running temperature that I solved by sliding the top back a couple of inches to allow more air (heat) to escape. I now have 11,500 songs loaded in FLAC format, and am adding more almost daily. Very, very pleasing experience... so far. :-)

Anyone considering this upgrade should be careful of the heat issue form what I read. I would not go any further than doubling your hard drive capacity. I'm sure that slapping a 500GB drive in a 80GB Olive would overtax the power supply, more than likely killing it. I carefully chose the hard drive I used based on power requirements compared to the stock drive, and they were so similar, with the larger drive actually having better start-up specs than the original (also a Hitachi 7200 rpm drive, but an older HDT722525DLAAT80)

If anyone has any questions or comments, post to the forum so others with the same question can see the reply. Thanks.
That's great! i don't know if I'll ever increase the memory but now I know it's possible to replace the hard drive on my own. Thanks

After reading the instructions a number of times, I figured that even I could do it.


Thanks for the report. Where did you find instructions for swapping hard drives on the Olive?

I still have my Musica (160GB), but am in the process of moving to a NAS/Squeezebox Duet system. I've got the Duet up and running, but have not pulled the Musica from my system yet. Mainly I'm looking for better flexibility, and compatibility with my new iPod. So, a very nice silver Musica will be appearing soon on audiogon...

Thanks for the report. Where did you find instructions for swapping hard drives on the Olive?

Jack - Here's where I started:

http://musicahacks.informe.com/replacing-the-internal-hard-disk-dt3.html

Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Good Luck, Ed

Also, here's the 500GB hard drive that worked for me:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0A35397/

There is a 400GB Opus N. 5 posted for sale in the classifieds forum in case anyone is interested.

I researched my options and decided to order the Opus 4 and plan to rip my CD collection before moving to Switzerland in about a month. Could I beg some help from some kind souls?

Are there specific workarounds or better ideas for using the Opus than what the manufacturer recommends? I'm looking for some collective wisdom here. For example, I've seen some reference to better options for obtaining metadata than Opus provides. Stuff like that.

Thanks in advance.

Hi - I think your question would be better posted to the Forum dedicated to the Opus 4. Lots of knowledgeable chaps there!
Here's the link for the latest postings:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1091695&page=11

Good Luck!
Ed

I researched my options and decided to order the Opus 4 and plan to rip my CD collection before moving to Switzerland in about a month. Could I beg some help from some kind souls?

Are there specific workarounds or better ideas for using the Opus than what the manufacturer recommends? I'm looking for some collective wisdom here. For example, I've seen some reference to better options for obtaining metadata than Opus provides. Stuff like that.

Thanks in advance.

Ever since this thread was split up between the original Olive machines (Symphony, Musica and Opus 5) and the newer model Opus 4’s, postings have gone down considerably.
I have two of the older machines, a 160gig Symphony with the 2.5” HD and a 160gig Musica with the 3.5” drive.
Most of us have now had these machines two years or longer.
I’m sure there are many users of the older Olives that can shed some light on these machines to others:
How do you use them in your system?
What problems, if any, have you experienced with software or hardware?
Have you done any mods to the product?
Egoss posted some great information on changing out the HD of his Musica and I’m sure there is a lot more information to be had from many of users.
Maybe it’s time to open things up again and share some hints and issues about these great machines.

The link for the hdreset iso contained in post
http://musicahacks.informe.com/repla...-disk-dt3.html

doesn't work on all Olive units. If your Olive won't read the resulting disc, try:

http://www.lilithi.com/hifidelio/hdreset.iso.zip

In any case, I've found that there are a few different iso's of hdreset, and they don't all work on every Olive.

For those of you that have used the Olive for digitizing vinyl and other analog media....
What are your thoughts on ease of use and sound quality?

I like it a lot. It does a good job, even with the automatic level settings. I find my vinyl still has an "analogue" sound to it, even on the resulting digital tracks.

The track marker also works well on pop music or other music where there are silences between selections (i.e., not classical music).

I would even go so far as to say that it is an entry level "audiophile" solution for recording. (I don't think it is at the "audiophile" level for playback without an external DAC). As far as I know, there aren't many/any other units out there with the convenience and versatility of the Musica in recording analogue, especially when you consider it can record any analogue source.

I'm sure there are better sounding solutions, but I haven't seen any with this level of convenience - "all in one" solutions - and especially not at this price. In other words, a "free" feature on the Olive, an expensive addition in other situations: special software, soundcards, connectors, etc.

In fact, I recently converted to a Windows Home Server/Squeezebox setup. One of the main reasons I didn't buy the Olive 4 was the removal of the analogue recording feature from the newer models. So I'm keeping my Musica as a backup for my digital music and as an analogue recording device.

BTW, I do think music playback using the analogue output of the Squeezebox Duet system is superior to the sound of the analogue output of the Musica.

Anybody update their systems to Hifidelio's latest software 2.3.23 dated 02.2009? It mentions an update to the internet radio section.

I can't comment on the analog recording since I have one of the last OPUS 5 made and they removed that feature from the system.

I do enjoy the fact that I have all of my music on my Opus and can play it anywhere in the house. I have it hooked up to my main system and networked to all of my macs using iTunes.

The biggest complaint I have is that the forward to next song freezes on occasion.

I've downloaded & installed the update, and so far, so good. I haven't had a chance to try everything yet, and I don't normally use the Olive for internet radio, but I'll give it a try this weekend & report back.

Anybody update their systems to Hifidelio's latest software 2.3.23 dated 02.2009? It mentions an update to the internet radio section.

I can't comment on the analog recording since I have one of the last OPUS 5 made and they removed that feature from the system.

I do enjoy the fact that I have all of my music on my Opus and can play it anywhere in the house. I have it hooked up to my main system and networked to all of my macs using iTunes.

The biggest complaint I have is that the forward to next song freezes on occasion.

After further testing, I have to advise everyone NOT TO USE THE UPDATE 2.3.23!!!
It is apparently not compatible with our Olive units, only the newer Hifidelio "Pro" units.

Everything seems normal controlling the unit from the Jog/Shuttle Wheel, but when you try to use a VNC program to access the Olive the navigation arrows - Up, Down & Side-to-Side - are missing, making it impossible to navigate through the menus unless you are using a computer with up & down & side-to-side arrow keys. For instance, I can no longer use my Nokia N810 to control the Olive, I have to use my Mac. I have restored back to 2.3.18 and all is now back to normal. Instead of the navigation arrows, there appears two new buttons - one that looks like a "Tool" button, and one that looks like an E-mail button - neither of which worked for me, of course.

Also, I did not see any improvement in Internet Radio searching. It never worked for me at all, and still doesn't on the new version.

So, BE WARNED.
Ed

After further testing, I have to advise everyone NOT TO USE THE UPDATE 2.3.23!!!
It is apparently not compatible with our Olive units, only the newer Hifidelio "Pro" units.

Everything seems normal controlling the unit from the Jog/Shuttle Wheel, but when you try to use a VNC program to access the Olive the navigation arrows - Up, Down & Side-to-Side - are missing, making it impossible to navigate through the menus unless you are using a computer with up & down & side-to-side arrow keys. For instance, I can no longer use my Nokia N810 to control the Olive, I have to use my Mac. I have restored back to 2.3.18 and all is now back to normal. Instead of the navigation arrows, there appears two new buttons - one that looks like a "Tool" button, and one that looks like an E-mail button - neither of which worked for me, of course.

Also, I did not see any improvement in Internet Radio searching. It never worked for me at all, and still doesn't on the new version.

So, BE WARNED.
Ed
egoss thank you so much for the information.

Which model do you have? I can get some stations. My Top 500 is actually 27 right now. Eclectic has the most at 82 I don't use the opus as my router and initially did take some time for it to find the stations.

Well, all of my Internet Radio genres show (0) - no matter how long I let it search, or how many times I hit the Search button. Good thing I don't listen to internet radio, eh? :-)
I have a Musica, BTW.
And, for those of you who are wondering, it is on-line since it will search & find CDs that are not in the Database.

egoss thank you so much for the information.

Which model do you have? I can get some stations. My Top 500 is actually 27 right now. Eclectic has the most at 82 I don't use the opus as my router and initially did take some time for it to find the stations.

I like it a lot. It does a good job, even with the automatic level settings. I find my vinyl still has an "analogue" sound to it, even on the resulting digital tracks.

The track marker also works well on pop music or other music where there are silences between selections (i.e., not classical music).

I would even go so far as to say that it is an entry level "audiophile" solution for recording. (I don't think it is at the "audiophile" level for playback without an external DAC). As far as I know, there aren't many/any other units out there with the convenience and versatility of the Musica in recording analogue, especially when you consider it can record any analogue source.

I'm sure there are better sounding solutions, but I haven't seen any with this level of convenience - "all in one" solutions - and especially not at this price. In other words, a "free" feature on the Olive, an expensive addition in other situations: special software, soundcards, connectors, etc.

In fact, I recently converted to a Windows Home Server/Squeezebox setup. One of the main reasons I didn't buy the Olive 4 was the removal of the analogue recording feature from the newer models. So I'm keeping my Musica as a backup for my digital music and as an analogue recording device.

BTW, I do think music playback using the analogue output of the Squeezebox Duet system is superior to the sound of the analogue output of the Musica.

I recently pulled out my old tape deck and started to digitize my old tape collection (all mixed stuff from vinyl and early cd's). Some of them were recorded using Dolby and others using DBX.
I used the auto-level for the first time and I too found it pretty cool and easy to use. The auto divide works well as well.
I haven't done any real listening yet, so I can't comment on SQ.

I think egoss has tried some of his vinyl with the Olive as well, I know he is a much more critical listener than myself.
Egoss, care to chime in on this?

I have not yet used my Musica to digitize my vinyl. I have a Tascam professional CD recorder that I use for that purpose. Once on CD, I can then import to the Opus if I want. But, I mostly make CD copies of my albums to listen to in the car. If I want to hear real music, I would rather listen to the actual LP. :-) I may someday get around to trying the Opus for vinyl, but I'm not impressed enough with the DAC in the Olive to trust the ADC. If I had to rely on the on-board DAC in any of the Olives I've heard, they wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in my system. I'm not being elitist about this, I just happen to have already owned some really good equipment to do some of the same chores the Olive does. And, for me, it's only the music that counts.


I recently pulled out my old tape deck and started to digitize my old tape collection (all mixed stuff from vinyl and early cd's). Some of them were recorded using Dolby and others using DBX.
I used the auto-level for the first time and I too found it pretty cool and easy to use. The auto divide works well as well.
I haven't done any real listening yet, so I can't comment on SQ.

I think egoss has tried some of his vinyl with the Olive as well, I know he is a much more critical listener than myself.
Egoss, care to chime in on this?

I agree that the DAC (or more accurately the analoge out) on the Olive isn't very good. I also use the Olive only with the digital out to an external DAC.

However, I found the recording was good quality. I don't know what your recording setup sounds like (it may be superior), but the Olive does a good job. I think it sounds good - if played back through an external DAC.

You're probably correct. I really should try the Olive some time. I've just been kinda busy & haven't had a chance. And my Tascam does such good job. Maybe next weekend... :-)



However, I found the recording was good quality. I don't know what your recording setup sounds like (it may be superior), but the Olive does a good job. I think it sounds good - if played back through an external DAC.

I'm not impressed enough with the DAC in the Olive to trust the ADC. If I had to rely on the on-board DAC in any of the Olives I've heard, they wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in my systemso what about general playback quality from RedBook CD copies using analog OUT's (on-board DAC's)?

I'm not impressed enough with the DAC in the Olive to trust the ADC. If I had to rely on the on-board DAC in any of the Olives I've heard, they wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in my system. I'm not being elitist about this, I just happen to have already owned some really good equipment to do some of the same chores the Olive does. And, for me, it's only the music that counts.

FWIW. When I had my OPUS 5 in my system I never used the onboard DACs. I've since sold it to a friend who has a pretty good two-channel system (Bryston amps, Theil speakers). He uses the onboard DACs and seems reasonably satisfied with them. I'm pretty sure that the DACs on the 5 were better than the DACs on any previous or newer models.

My statement was/is a general condemnation of the quality of the parts installed in the Olives. There's a reason they don't mention anywhere what chips they use - they're simply not up to current standards. I'm speaking of all the older Olives - Musica, Symphony, Opus 3 & Opus 3S - Not the newer 4, with which I have no experience. I believe that Olive was kinda stuck with those chips from the re-badging of the Hifidelio units back then, and fervently hope they used more modern DACs in the new 4 - although they don't say what is inside those either. From what I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong, the newer Opus 4s still can't output 24/96 PCM streams natively, you must use an outboard DAC to accomplish that - contrary to what Olive advertises.

I never had an opportunity to hear the DAC in the Opus 5 that I ordered (long, sad story) so I don't know how that stacked up against today's modern equipment, and probably I would have ended up using my outboard DAC anyway, like JackD did.

so what about general playback quality from RedBook CD copies using analog OUT's (on-board DAC's)?

My statement was/is a general condemnation of the quality of the parts installed in the Olives. There's a reason they don't mention anywhere what chips they use - they're simply not up to current standards. I'm speaking of all the older Olives - Musica, Symphony, Opus 3 & Opus 3S - Not the newer 4, with which I have no experience. I believe that Olive was kinda stuck with those chips from the re-badging of the Hifidelio units back then, and fervently hope they used more modern DACs in the new 4 - although they don't say what is inside those either. From what I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong, the newer Opus 4s still can't output 24/96 PCM streams natively, you must use an outboard DAC to accomplish that - contrary to what Olive advertises.

I never had an opportunity to hear the DAC in the Opus 5 that I ordered (long, sad story) so I don't know how that stacked up against today's modern equipment, and probably I would have ended up using my outboard DAC anyway, like JackD did.

It's been a while but if I remember correctly, I think even Olive admitted that the DAC in the 4 was not as good as what was in the 5. They had promised a 6 which was supposed to have a DAC on par with the 5.

This is rediculous. I have no hands-on experience with the Olive, Opus models, but they seem like a great concept. I just don;t want to spend the cost for the latest Opus unit, only to add an outboard DAC to make it sound good.............thanks for your input guys......

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that most mass-market products that play CDs/DVDs/SACDs use the most economical DACs to reach their price selling point. They often don't sound very good - with glaring edginess to the high frequencies that cause you to actually listen less since it is hard on your ears! My friends & I call this phenomenon "Digititis." The great advantage of having an outboard DAC of a known high quality is that you can use just about any player that has digital out and obtain quality sound when output through your DAC. This is especially handy if you have more than one digital replay device - I have four! - and you don't want to spend mega-bucks for each device. Just buy something with a reliable transport mechanism, hook it up to your good-sounding DAC, and enjoy the music!

I/we certainly don't want to scare you away from owning an Olive. They are truly wonderful, remarkable actually, devices. On this forum you will find complainers (like me) and people with problems seeking solutions, but I doubt a single one of us would give up their Olive - regardless of model - and try to find another (relatively) affordable product with anywhere near the same features. Please feel free to ask any specific questions you might have, either on the Forum or via a PM.

Remember, it's all about the music - NOT the gear!
Ed
This is ridiculous. I have no hands-on experience with the Olive Opus models, but they seem like a great concept. I just don't want to spend the cost for the latest Opus unit, only to add an outboard DAC to make it sound good.............thanks for your input guys......

Is there a way use something like the SqueezeBox Duet remote with the Olive units? They seem very nice, but without an easy way to access the info from my couch, it's not really all that worth it (for me) except for background music, in which case, the squeezebox at $400 is probably a better solution. I'd prefer something more high-end. Its too bad the Opus 4 doesnt have better DACs

Hi-

It can't be done unless you turn your Olive into a Squeezecenter Box (possible, but difficult and sort of pointless).

I own a Duet system and an Olive 3. The Duet analogue out is much better sounding than the Olive analogue.

If you want the convenience of the Duet controller (and it is great) you'd be better off getting a dedicated computer running as a SqueezeCenter music server. You can use just about any PC - even a netbook or older one. If you don't want the PC in your living room, it can operate wirelessly from a closet or basement. Only the Duet itself needs to be next to your sound system. (Otherwise you may need to invest in an HTPC case and a relatively quiet
PC ).

A dedicated PC with lots of storage can be had for $300-$400. The Duet is about $350 online, and you're good to go.

I'm not trying to start an argument here about Olive vs. Logitech. Just saying that if you want the Duet system, the Olive isn't the way to go.

Hi there,
I want to be able to display cover art on a PC I use as a controller for my Opus 5. Software version 2.3.18 says it can be done, but I can't see how. Can anyone help?

mondy123,

The handling of cover art was never particularly strong feature of that model lineup (I had a Musica with the same software version). I'm pretty sure you have to embed it in the file, which I don't think you can do with Olive's interface. I was able to do it by ripping a disc on my computer (I ripped to FLAC using dBpoweramp), then transferring over the network to the import folder on the Olive and importing the file(s). After that it would show up in the Olive's web interface. I don't think there's a way to add cover art to the Olive's internal database for CDs ripped directly by the unit. And as you may be aware, development on that platform, which was licensed from a now bankrupt German company called HiFidelio, is essentially dead so don't expect any future software updates from Olive. I think HiFidelio was either bought or spun off during the bankruptcy, and there are now updates to their products, but I'm not sure if they work on Olive's units (and trying could potentially brick the unit).

http://www.hifidelio.org/index.php?id=download.software

Many thanks nottlv. This sounds like it could be quite a task, but I will give dbPoweramp a try.

Never mind. In my haste I put my comment in the wrong forum. Sorry.

I have a question. I loaded 2 brand new CDs into my wife's Symphony this morning. These CDs just came out, and are most certainly not in the installed Olive Database. The Symphony is not connected to the internet or my home network. BUT, both CDs were recognized - Title, Artist and Songs - by the Symphony. How does that work? Usually I get the generic date & time info. Could newer CDs have embedded track & title info that the Symphony can recognize? It was a shock to see them come up, and a relief that I didn't have to enter them manually. Anyone with a theory?
Thanks, Ed

Also, I'm looking for another Olive. Here's what I want:
Must be black.
A 250GB or better Musica or Opus 3.
A 500GB or better Symphony or 3S.
Must be in nice shape, but doesn't have to be perfect looking.
Must be black. :-)

Let me know if you have anything hanging around you want to part with. This is for an extra system I'm setting up in an office that won't get tremendous use, so I'm not looking to pay a fortune.

Thanks again,
Ed

Hi all- I'm new here, and just got an Opus 3, aka Musica. I have all my music stored as FLAC and wanted to be able to add it to a portable player that works with the Olive. Does anyone know of a portable device that will:
1. Be recognized by the Olive Musica when I connect it to the USB port
and
2. Supports FLAC playback
Many Thanks!

Also, I'm looking for another Olive. Here's what I want:
Must be black.
A 250GB or better Musica or Opus 3.
A 500GB or better Symphony or 3S.
Must be in nice shape, but doesn't have to be perfect looking.
Must be black. :-)

Let me know if you have anything hanging around you want to part with. This is for an extra system I'm setting up in an office that won't get tremendous use, so I'm not looking to pay a fortune.

Thanks again,
Ed


Ed, I'm not sure, but I don't think the 3S models ever came with a 500gig HD. The 3S and Symphony's with the newer version HDs sure are sweet....Dead silent with no vibration at all.

As for your other issue, I'd be extremely wary (especially this time of year)....
Your unit may be haunted!

Happy Haloween !
Gary

Hi-

There wasn't one. There is such a model marketed by the European company marketing Hifidelio. They've even done a minor software update.

Your best bet might be to buy one of the existing models used, and just put in a larger hard drive. There are some "green" (low power) HD's on the market now that will give you the 500GB of space, and draw less power than the original HD in the unit.

Hi-
Your best bet might be to buy one of the existing models used, and just put in a larger hard drive. There are some "green" (low power) HD's on the market now that will give you the 500GB of space, and draw less power than the original HD in the unit.

I have already done a hard drive upgrade on a Musica - which worked very well, and is very easy - but to upgrade a Symphony/3S with a 2.5 inch notebook hard drive requires taking the unit completely apart to access the HD mounting screws on the bottom of the circuit board. Not impossible, but a lot more time-consuming than upgrading a Music/3. BUT, if they never made a 3S with a 500GB HD, I guess I'll have to stick with a Musica and the higher noise level. It's only for an office system, so I might even settle for a smaller drive Olive and use an external HD for increased playing time. The problem with that option is that you can't shuffle the external drive and the enclosed drive as one whole library - it's either one or the other. One solution I set someone up with who had an 80GB HD was to use that as kind of a "Favorites" Playlist, and use an external 500GB HD as the main library in shuffle mode. Problem with that option is you can't search the external drive by album, artist, or genre. Oh well, nobody said these things were perfect. :-)

Has anyone tried this hack on their old Opus/Musica's.

"Mod-Image"

Its on the German forum, don't know if I can provide a link
on this one without breaking the rules here.
Anyway if you have tried it, did it work?

I'm assuming if you have, you know what I'm talking about :)

egoss...

What HD do you think works best for a Musica upgrade?
I'm thinking putting in a 500GB HD also.

egoss...
What HD do you think works best for a Musica upgrade?
I'm thinking putting in a 500GB HD also.

Hi - Check back a page in the this forum to posts 1052-1057. I provide links for the upgrade instructions & the 500GB hard drive I used. So far, it's working perfectly - with no excess heat issues at all.

Has anyone tried this hack on their old Opus/Musica's.

"Mod-Image"

Its on the German forum, don't know if I can provide a link on this one without breaking the rules here.
Anyway if you have tried it, did it work?

I'm assuming if you have, you know what I'm talking about :)



I don't know what you're talking about there, but it's OK to post external links on this forum if you wish. I would be interested to know what the mod-image hack is.

Here is a link to the "Mod-Image" thread, it's in German, so Google translate
it if you don't know the language. (I wish I did because there is allot of info
relating to the old Musica on the forum.)

http://www.hifidelio-user.de/viewtopic.php?p=1764#1764


Basically, it is an ISO file that you burn to a disk and load on your Opus/Musica
(NOT THE NEW OPUS 4) as you would a CD software update.
What it does is allow you to see your music files over your network and drag and
drop, edit or what have you.
This is different than just being able to drop things in the import folder.
There are ways to achieve this kind of access through Telnet, but this
is meant to be simple .

I haven't tried it yet myself, but it would sure open up new ways to
deal with tagging and backing up files.

Anyone tried updating the internal CD db? I was curious if the link below (for the Hifidelio and translated via Google) works for the Olive 3/musica as well.

I just came across the page when researching how to upgrade the drive....link:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.midgts.net/anleitung.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3DHifidelio%2Bforum%26hl%3Den&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhhQqOinvFvTBvPfnxcWSfXaie7uPQ

Anyone tried updating the internal CD db? I was curious if the link below (for the Hifidelio and translated via Google) works for the Olive 3/musica as well.

I just came across the page when researching how to upgrade the drive....link:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.midgts.net/anleitung.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3DHifidelio%2Bforum%26hl%3Den&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhhQqOinvFvTBvPfnxcWSfXaie7uPQ

I have kind of gotten used to the outdated CD Database in my Olives. I have found with my hard-wired Ethernet connection that CD recognition for "unknown" CDs is quite quick & painless, so I never considered updating. BUT, it would be really nice if that update works. I'll need some more research before I try it though. I'll post if/when I try it.

Very interesting. Thanks for the link. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving to the US Forum members!

FYI - After upgrading my opus 3 drive and restoring the software, I tried the database update...it worked. Not game changing for most people, but nice to have as my Olive is networked via an ethernet connection to my laptop. Now I don't need my laptop to be on to rip newer cds.

Also, for those looking to upgrade their opus 3 drive I just installed a WD 500 gb drive and so far (knock on wood) no issues (heat or otherwise). I actually think the new drive is quieter than the stock drive.

Thanks egoss for the useful links and info on this thread.

FYI - After upgrading my opus 3 drive and restoring the software, I tried the database update...it worked. Not game changing for most people, but nice to have as my Olive is networked via an ethernet connection to my laptop. Now I don't need my laptop to be on to rip newer cds.

Also, for those looking to upgrade their opus 3 drive I just installed a WD 500 gb drive and so far (knock on wood) no issues (heat or otherwise). I actually think the new drive is quieter than the stock drive.

Thanks egoss for the useful links and info on this thread.

I'm glad it worked out for you! I have found a 320GB 7200 RPM drive that I am going to install in my wife's Symphony, which has an 80GB drive stock. According to the specs, it uses less power AND is quieter than the stock drive. When I have the time... :-)

Thanks, Ed

Can you tell me the date on the new CD database?

Can you tell me the date on the new CD database?

Never mind, I did the update. The new database is dated 1/8/2009, for those who are interested.

Now, the really interesting part. When I used to connect to my Musica via my wired Ethernet network I would see 2 folders inside the "Olive Music" folder -which is the name of my Olive over the network. The 2 folders were titled "Import" and "Record" and their function is spelled out in the Olive User's Manual, and I'm sure we've all used them at one time or another. BUT, when I connect now I see a THIRD folder titled "Music." Opening that folder reveals a complete list of my music by artist! Very cool to be able to check what's on the hard drive in the Musica, but I don't dare try anything else with it until I figure out what it's for, or someone else informs me what it's for. Has anyone else seen this? Have I just been missing it all along, or did the CD database update somehow kick in another feature? Very puzzling to me, but very, very cool. How about you, Nonpoint, have you seen this?

Thanks, Ed

Ed,

The music folder is used for back up (at least that's what I use it for). I enabled the folder via telnet to drag and drop my olive music to an external hard drive for archive (or to play selected files on my laptop when away from home), but now i see an image is available to make this modification easier. I should note to restore my music I still dropped all the files into the import folder.

Everything worked fine for me. I hope that helps.

Well, Olive is at it again. Apparently they have taken all the "trade-in" Musica & Symphony models and peddled them to a re-seller to get rid of on eBay. Here is the only info provided:

"Previously-owned, sold as is, all in good condition. You can return the item within 3 days after receiving if (and only if) the unit is not working. I'm an eBay seller working directly with Olive Media Inc to sell their inventory. Shipping directly from Olive Media, Inc. Hard drive capacity at least 160GB. Also available in black from this seller -- see other auction."

Yup. Here's the deal folks. You pay them $300.00 and they send you EITHER a Musica or a Symphony with "at least" a 160GB hard drive. The only thing you get to chose is the COLOR! But, don't worry, there's "more than 10 available!" in each color.

Am I the only one who thinks this is totally ridiculous? How can you buy something with no info as to what you will actually receive? No description of wether you get a remote, original box, not even which model, NOTHING. Very strange to me. Or, am I missing the point? Just another example that Olive doesn't get it. Of course, that's just my opinion, and I'm never wrong. LOL

I'm posting this in both Forums just in case someone wants to take a shot at one for a second system or something like that. Here are the links:

Black - http://cgi.ebay.com/Olive-Musica-Symphony-digital-home-music-server-Black_W0QQitemZ260516893255

Silver - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260516893344

Does anyone have experience playing 96Khz/24bit FLAC files on an Opus 5?
I can play about 1/2 of each file - then it stops (as though it has finished the entire file). This happens with every HD file I have tried to play (although only 4 so far). Sound improvement is dramatic, but I am not willing to give up the second half of each piece to improve the first half.

I would appreciate any insight you may have on this.

Does anyone have experience playing 96Khz/24bit FLAC files on an Opus 5?
I can play about 1/2 of each file - then it stops (as though it has finished the entire file). This happens with every HD file I have tried to play (although only 4 so far). Sound improvement is dramatic, but I am not willing to give up the second half of each piece to improve the first half.

I would appreciate any insight you may have on this.

Same thing happens on my Musica. I know it's not much help to you, but I'd also like an answer. And you're right, the difference is startling.
Are you using an outboard DAC, or the Opus 5 analog outputs?

I use an outboard DAC, and blamed it on some kind of incompatibility. But maybe there's something deeper going on.

No outboard DAC - using the analog outputs. I also tried a 192/24 file. That wouldn't even start. I had no problem playing both the 96/24 and the 192/24 files on my computer using Songbird, so there was no problem with the files. Specs for the Opus 5 say that the DACs can handle up to 192/24, so it must be something in the player program. Do you know what they used?

No outboard DAC - using the analog outputs. I also tried a 192/24 file. That wouldn't even start. I had no problem playing both the 96/24 and the 192/24 files on my computer using Songbird, so there was no problem with the files. Specs for the Opus 5 say that the DACs can handle up to 192/24, so it must be something in the player program. Do you know what they used?

No, I don't know what they used. I was hoping someone else would jump in on this topic and give us some insight, but no luck so far. I know there's a thread on the other Olive Forum about hi-res files. I'll have to check back and see what they said about it, and if any of the info pertains to older Olive models. Keep me posted if you find any info on your end. It is frustrating that our units don't do what it seems they are advertised to do. But not surprising, really.

Hi all,
just purchased Olive Opus 4 1TB, it looks great, but I can not connect to network and internet. I have Apple airport extreme, WEP2 personal entcryption and always I want to set up connection I get " ERROR, selected network can not be saved".
I put entcryption off and always the same. I took olive to my friend which has belkin router and overthere it works fine.
Has anybody the same problem, or what I am doing bad?
Thank for any advise.

Hi all,
just purchased Olive Opus 4 1TB, it looks great, but I can not connect to network and internet. I have Apple airport extreme, WEP2 personal entcryption and always I want to set up connection I get " ERROR, selected network can not be saved".
I put entcryption off and always the same. I took olive to my friend which has belkin router and overthere it works fine.
Has anybody the same problem, or what I am doing bad?
Thank for any advise.

Hi Jojosr. You might want to post that question to the "new model" Olive Forum, which was started to deal with the Opus 4,Melody, and newer models as well. This Forum is for owners of the "older" Olive models: Symphony, Musica, 3, 3S, and 5.

Here's a link to the newest page at the other Forum:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1091695&page=21

Bets of luck, Ed

Hello all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Quick question.
I have both a Musica and a Symphony.
Can these be used to stream Flac encoded music as server/client set up between each other?
Thanks.

Hello all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Quick question.
I have both a Musica and a Symphony.
Can these be used to stream Flac encoded music as server/client set up between each other?
Thanks.

I think that's possible, but I have not tried it myself. I also have a Musica and Symphony, so I'll try it this weekend & report back.

Happy Holidays To All!
Ed

Last weekend, I went downstairs to listen to my trusty Musica and I noticed that the LCD screen was almost completely black (the edges were lit up, but the main portion was basically a black square). It was definitely powered up and I could access and play music via my network, but the screen appears to be out of commission. When I use the jog dial to navigate through menus, I can faintly see things changing on the screen, but I can't make any of it out. I attempted to email Olive, but they have yet to respond. So now I have a couple of questions.

Do any Olive reps frequent this forum? Does anyone know if it would be worth it for me to try to send it in to get a screen replacement/fix?

Thanks guys. Oh and Merry Christmas!!:)

Awhile back, while looking at the Hifidelio site I saw some information about replacement LCD screens that could be purchased. They didn't come directly Hifidelio. They were pretty cheap if I recall and seemed like they were an off the shelf component.

Hello all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Quick question.
I have both a Musica and a Symphony.
Can these be used to stream Flac encoded music as server/client set up between each other?
Thanks.

Well, the results are mixed from my experiment. I have a 500 GB Musica hooked up wired Ethernet to my main Hi-fi setup, and an 80GB Symphony hooked up wirelessly with an Ethernet bridge to my secondary Hi-fi setup. On my Mac computer I can see and access both to import. I can connect to, and control, both via VNC or the Lenore web-based application. Now, to answer your question: I can see, control, and play (stream) the Symphony from my Musica - both via VNC and Lenore. It shows up in the "Music Server" listing in the main menu. But, my Musica does not show up on the Symphony as a server, and I cannot play the Musica from the Symphony. A bummer actually, since there's so much more music on the Musica. It is probably a matter of some Ethernet network setting, and when I have a chance I'm going to check out both units to see if there's any difference in how they are configured.

Let me know if you have any success on your units,
Ed

Ed,
Thanks for the info.
I tried it on mine and was able to go both ways. The only thing I couldn't do was to get my Musica to read the external HD connected to my Symphony.
Also, the Musica locked up once and had to do a hard shut off. I think this was due to me not understanding the menu situation which gets a little complicated with them connected.
You may want to play around with this a little.
Seems work very well actually.
Thanks again.
Gary

Ed,
One other thing. You probably aready did this, but just in case, make sure both units have both the UPN set to "on" for both send and receive.

Ed,
One other thing. You probably aready did this, but just in case, make sure both units have both the UPN set to "on" for both send and receive.

Turned out a simple restart of the Symphony made the Musica show up in the Server List. I can now play in both directions. Cool. I can't believe I've never tried that before. :-)

Awhile back, while looking at the Hifidelio site I saw some information about replacement LCD screens that could be purchased. They didn't come directly Hifidelio. They were pretty cheap if I recall and seemed like they were an off the shelf component.

Thanks for the reply. I did a little looking around via google but I didn't see anything that helped my particular situation. Olive finally got back to me and it looks like its gonna run me around $150 to get it fixed and shipped back. It's strange, but I was almost hoping that the quote would be outrageous so I could use that as an excuse to look into the Sonos system instead. ;)

In all seriousness though, $150 did seem a little steep but it's easier to justify that than an entirely new system. Any other help or suggestions out there??

Apollo,

Sorry to hear that, but not surprised the price is that steep. I'd be tempted to throw down an extra $150 and get one of the refurb units from ebay that Ed mentioned some posts back.

Apollo,

Sorry to hear that, but not surprised the price is that steep. I'd be tempted to throw down an extra $150 and get one of the refurb units from ebay that Ed mentioned some posts back.

Better hurry. They sold out the dozen or so black units in three days, and after starting with almost 40 silver ones they are down to just ten left!

Anybody out there pick up one of the Ebay Musicas? It is certainly a tempting option considering the price of fixing my current one. Just a little apprehensive though, I mean, why can't they tell us the storage space on them individually. The whole crap shoot thing makes me a little uneasy.

Apollo,

I did, but my purchase was made from the previous ebay re-sale (april 09 timeframe) from olive. This is the second clearance sale of the 3's that I've seen.

I picked up a silver 160 gb refurb musica. I've since upgraded to a 500 gb drive and the latest firmware with no problems (knock on wood) that others haven't noted from brand new units.

I see that the ones left are without remotes, but that is of no concern to me. I am still on the fence so we'll see. Thanks for the replies.

In regards to the liquidation in general, does anyone know why they have so many refurbs/used Musicas? Are people trading them in to upgrade to a newer unit? If so, that is certainly intriguing. I would love to upgrade if possible.

No, I don't know what they used. I was hoping someone else would jump in on this topic and give us some insight, but no luck so far. I know there's a thread on the other Olive Forum about hi-res files. I'll have to check back and see what they said about it, and if any of the info pertains to older Olive models. Keep me posted if you find any info on your end. It is frustrating that our units don't do what it seems they are advertised to do. But not surprising, really.
I checked with Olive. They told me that the software they use for playback was created by their German affiliate (Hermstetd?)

This is what they said in response to by inquiry about why I can't play 96/24 files:

"So, we have consulted with our development team, and were notified that the Olive 5 did not support playback of 24/96 files -- its DAC had the capabilities of upsampling 16/44.1 to 24/88.2 - but it does not have playback support for HD files.

"Obviously you got it to handle the files -- but the software is obviously misinterpreting/handling them, which is most likely because they never wrote the software to handle that application.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news -- but, just an FYI -- our new Olive 4HD can handle those."

Actually, they were very responsive, but just with the wrong answer.

Is there a way to add 2 FLAC files together? Maybe by adding a second identical copy of the file to the end of the first file, it would still play 1/2 of the total file, but all of the music selection. Just curious, I don't think I would do that since it would take up twice the space.

I checked with Olive. They told me that the software they use for playback was created by their German affiliate (Hermstetd?)

This is what they said in response to by inquiry about why I can't play 96/24 files:

"So, we have consulted with our development team, and were notified that the Olive 5 did not support playback of 24/96 files -- its DAC had the capabilities of upsampling 16/44.1 to 24/88.2 - but it does not have playback support for HD files.

"Obviously you got it to handle the files -- but the software is obviously misinterpreting/handling them, which is most likely because they never wrote the software to handle that application.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news -- but, just an FYI -- our new Olive 4HD can handle those."

Actually, they were very responsive, but just with the wrong answer.

Is there a way to add 2 FLAC files together? Maybe by adding a second identical copy of the file to the end of the first file, it would still play 1/2 of the total file, but all of the music selection. Just curious, I don't think I would do that since it would take up twice the space.

Well, thanks for the effort anyway. I guess we are stuck with 16/44. I tried the latest software update from Hifidelio; and, even though it won't work with a lot of the features in our older Olive units, it won't play 24/96 on them either. So I guess they never figured it out for the older units.

If Olive ever gets their act together enough to make the newer units as useful to me as my older one, I'll buy one in a minute. But I'm certainly not going to hold my breath.

Well, thanks for the effort anyway. I guess we are stuck with 16/44. I tried the latest software update from Hifidelio; and, even though it won't work with a lot of the features in our older Olive units, it won't play 24/96 on them either. So I guess they never figured it out for the older units.

If Olive ever gets their act together enough to make the newer units as useful to me as my older one, I'll buy one in a minute. But I'm certainly not going to hold my breath.

I am intrigued about what Olive means when they say the software was not designed to handle high-resolution files: it is obvious that the DAC will not convert such files, but will they be output to the digital out?As to Olive kind and disinterested advice that we look into the Opus 4-HD, a quick glance at the "official" AVS forum on the Opus 4 series will show that the HD feature still needs some improvements. It would be nice if Olive offered a relatively inexpensive option in the form of a HD-capable version of the Melody, as it would "see" and decode HD files stored on an older Opus or a Musica, but that does not seem likely.

M.G.

Found one. Please disregard this post.

Just a reminder that I'm still looking for a black Symphony/Musica/3/3S/5 with at least a 160GB hard drive. For a reasonable price. :-)
Better to e-mail than PM, but I do check for PMs about once a week.
Thanks.

Hi, I have an Olive/Musica with firmware 2.3.8 PRO. It's been working good, so I never thought about updating.

Recently I upgraded my wireless router. Two things now bother me. (1) Internet Radio stopped working. (2) WPA does not work. (I used WEP with my old router, but wanted to switch to WPA. There is a button for WPA under Networking, but I couldn't make it to work. Maybe it's never really there?)

My question: If I want to update the firmware, which version do you recommend? I saw a version 2.3.18 (for Opus) available from Olive website. Is it the right version to use?

Thanks!

Hi, I have an Olive/Musica with firmware 2.3.8 PRO. It's been working good, so I never thought about updating.

Recently I upgraded my wireless router. Two things now bother me. (1) Internet Radio stopped working. (2) WPA does not work. (I used WEP with my old router, but wanted to switch to WPA. There is a button for WPA under Networking, but I couldn't make it to work. Maybe it's never really there?)

My question: If I want to update the firmware, which version do you recommend? I saw a version 2.3.18 (for Opus) available from Olive website. Is it the right version to use?

Thanks!

Hi, and welcome to the club!

2.3.18 is a viable and recommended update for your Musica. There is also a 2.3.21 update on the HiFiDelio website that works, but I really haven't noticed any difference on my Musica.

Internet radio has been problematic for all of us, and I don't know of anyone who has it working properly.

Wireless is also a problem area. I don't have any answers for you since I use wired ethernet, but there a many posts earlier in this thread about both wireless and internet radio problems. I would recommend that you read through the earlier posts to see what you might learn. I know there are a lot of posts, but there is a lot of good info there from members who have since moved on to the Olive 4/HD forum.

Feel free to post any answers or further problems on the forum. I keep an eye on it from time to time, but I don't know who else is still around.

Cheers, Ed

Ed, Thanks for the info. I upgraded my Musica to firmware 2.3.18 without any issue. However, the problems I had with WPA and the internet radio still remain (WEP is working fine). But at least I know now that I'm not alone on the internet radio problem. I also finally finished browsing the past posts in this forum, and found lots of useful info. Thank you in particular for experimenting other versions of firmware from Hifidelio!

Ed, Thanks for the info. I upgraded my Musica to firmware 2.3.18 without any issue. However, the problems I had with WPA and the internet radio still remain (WEP is working fine). But at least I know now that I'm not alone on the internet radio problem. I also finally finished browsing the past posts in this forum, and found lots of useful info. Thank you in particular for experimenting other versions of firmware from Hifidelio!

You're more than welcome. I love to try out new things, and am a sucker for new, untried stuff. It definitely gets me into trouble sometimes, but I can usually wiggle out of it somehow.

As I said, I'm currently running 2.3.21 on my 2 Musicas and 1 Symphony (I know, very sick puppy) without any problems. But, since I never was able to find out what was different from .18 to .21 I don't recommend it to anyone else. It still doesn't fix internet radio. :-(

One thing some might find interesting is an experiment I tried last week. My trusty old Musica - the one in which I upgraded the hard drive to 500GB - started having a problem with the display getting darker. Then the jog/shuttle wheel started "sticking" so you had to manually turn it back to center every once in a while. Then, the last straw, I removed the analog output interconnects and the "gold" contacts pulled right off the built-in connector! None of these problems prevented me from using the Musica, but I started to hunt for a replacement - as some of you know. Besides, the old Musica was silver, and the only silver unit in my whole Hi-fi setup, so I wanted a black one.

I found a 160 GB black Musica in like-new condition, and bought it. Here's where the fun started. I wanted to put the 500GB drive from my old unit into the new, but I figured that I would have to do an HD reset on both drives and re-load all of my music - many, many hours worth of work. So, I took the 160 GB drive out of the new one and put it into the old one. I then ran the HD reset program, and to my amazement, when I restarted it booted up perfectly, and my library showed up completely intact! I couldn't believe it! So, I put the 500GB drive into the new Musica, did the HD reset, and voila! - all my music was immediately available. No re-loading required!

I doubt that too many of you will be swapping hard drives from one Olive to another, but if you ever need to do it at least you'll know that it does work without a complete re-load of your music.

Cheers,
Ed

After some research, I figured out the problem with internet radio on my Musica. Now I can access hundreds of stations!

In my case, the problem turned out to be the DNS setting. For internet radio to work, Musica needs to first access the radio station directory at www<dot>shoutcast<dot>com, then the individual station website you choose. The DNS setting must be correct, so that the unit can understand web addresses. Before I upgraded my router, I was using DHCP, and the DNS setting was done automatically. Now, I'm using the 'Expert Mode', hence need to set DNS manually (which I forgot to do earlier). After getting my ISP's DNS address from my router, and entering it to the network setting on the Musica, The radio stations all appeared.

Hope this info is useful to those of you who have a similar problem.

After some research, I figured out the problem with internet radio on my Musica. Now I can access hundreds of stations!

In my case, the problem turned out to be the DNS setting. For internet radio to work, Musica needs to first access the radio station directory at www<dot>shoutcast<dot>com, then the individual station website you choose. The DNS setting must be correct, so that the unit can understand web addresses. Before I upgraded my router, I was using DHCP, and the DNS setting was done automatically. Now, I'm using the 'Expert Mode', hence need to set DNS manually (which I forgot to do earlier). After getting my ISP's DNS address from my router, and entering it to the network setting on the Musica, The radio stations all appeared.

Hope this info is useful to those of you who have a similar problem.

I bow to your problem solving skills! My internet radio now works!
I wonder how many people can't get internet radio in Expert mode because of the same problem.....

Seriously, good catch on the DNS settings in Expert mode. I also had to enter my router number (which happens to be the same as the DNS number for me) to make it work.

Thank you very much,
Ed

Has anyone been able to stream FLAC files from their Symphony, Musica, etc. to their PC?
I noticed on the ‘Official Olive OPUS’ thread that someone was using XBMC to stream.
I downloaded the XBMC program, but I can’t get it to read my Olives using Upnp.
Anyone out there doing this?
Thanks

Has anyone been able to stream FLAC files from their Symphony, Musica, etc. to their PC?
I noticed on the ‘Official Olive OPUS’ thread that someone was using XBMC to stream.
I downloaded the XBMC program, but I can’t get it to read my Olives using Upnp.
Anyone out there doing this?
Thanks
I was able to do this on a done this on a Mac running Songbird. The Olive shows up under the "Shared" heading, and loads a list of all of the music on the Olive, appropriately categorized by Genre, Artist, Album. I was even able to stream some HD music which my Olive 5 will not play (although not all HD files work). I know that Songbird has a Windows version.

Listed my olive opus 4 on eBay today if anyone's interested.