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Trouble playing WMA lossless files

635 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Haywood Jablomi
I have two separate systems in my home, one upstairs on down. I have a Yamaha 7040 running my upstairs and a new Marantz 6009 downstairs. I play music off my router/PC through both systems but the Marantz will not play the WMA lossless files while the Yamaha will. Yamaha is on WIFI, Marantz cat5e. Both claim to play WMA files. Any suggestions? I play WAV files on both systems with no problems but downloading everything in WAV is eating up my hard drive. thanks
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IIRC, WMA lossless contains a DRM component that severely limits how it can be shared. Or at least it used to.
Yeah.... Avoid Microsoft products when you can, that's just generally a good rule. When you can't avoid it, don't be surprized when it doesn't work.

Failure is not an option, it comes bundled with every Microsoft product.

Why or how did you end up with WMA files?... :confused:

I suggest FLAC or Apple Lossless. I think you can convert WAV to apple lossless with the free program called iTunes.
I rip everything in WMA lossless (still), and my Onkyo 807 had trouble playing them via folder structure. My 818 does not. The 807 claimed to be Windows Media compatible. I went around and around with Onkyo. That was when I tried Serviio and PLEX. I use PLEX Server to stream all my music now. Serviio was OK, but IMO, PLEX does it better.

Have you tried the "Play To" function in WMP? Sometimes, that just works.
Was using Tversity free for my dlna streaming to my 818 & for the most part, it was ok but time to time would drop the stream & revert back to connect to server & I'd stop what I was doing & click thru the icons to start another stream. Got old after a while so tried Serviio, it does the same thing. Happened upon this thread, so have dl'd Plex server & so far, so good. All my ripped songs are wma lossless too & have a bunch of purchased mp3s from Amazon. I'll try anything once lol.
I originally ripped everything to WMA Lossless. Now I use high bit-rate MP3 or FLAC. I would avoid Apple Lossless too. It is not better supported across devices than WMAL. Actually, lossless in general is a pain in the ass. The only good news is that you can transcode down to anything from any lossless file without having to rip the disc again. There are programs out there that will convert WMAL to FLAC, MP3 or whatever. Unless you are seriously invested in the Apple ecosystem, I would avoid Apple Lossless.
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I am in total agreement, if only because I can't stand Apple.

wtxgringo, and OP

The only real issue I have with PLEX, is the lack of gapless playback. (but our 818's do not support gapless either, so it's probably moot). So, if you enjoy Live music...it kind of detracts from the experience. I stream to multiple devices via PLEX, Samsung SMART TV, PC's throughout the home...phone, tablet etc...
I am in total agreement, if only because I can't stand Apple.

wtxgringo, and OP

The only real issue I have with PLEX, is the lack of gapless playback. (but our 818's do not support gapless either, so it's probably moot). So, if you enjoy Live music...it kind of detracts from the experience. I stream to multiple devices via PLEX, Samsung SMART TV, PC's throughout the home...phone, tablet etc...
I use Plex, but I also have Logitech Squeezeboxes scattered around the house and run Logitech Media Server on my NAS. I like that solution because I can sync the Squeezeboxes together to form zones. I also like the fact that I can control any Squeezebox or collection of Squeezeboxes from a browser, tablet or smartphone. I am also not a huge fan of the metadata management in Plex. I think Plex has a ways to go if they want to make managing a large music library in their tool easy and intuitive. It is one of the weakest features of the platform and I find it kind of aggravating.
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I use Plex, but I also have Logitech Squeezeboxes scattered around the house and run Logitech Media Server on my NAS. I like that solution because I can sync the Squeezeboxes together to form zones. I also like the fact that I can control any Squeezebox or collection of Squeezeboxes from a browser, tablet or smartphone. I am also not a huge fan of the metadata management in Plex. I think Plex has a ways to go if they want to make managing a large music library in their tool easy and intuitive. It is one of the weakest features of the platform and I find it kind of aggravating.

I really wish I had jumped on the Squeezebox train years ago...I was on the fence for so long. Now, I wish they weren't extinct...
I really wish I had jumped on the Squeezebox train years ago...I was on the fence for so long. Now, I wish they weren't extinct...
I had a couple when they were discontinued. I've acquired the rest since. They are readily available used. The nice thing is that the software is open source and new plugins are still being developed by the community. There is a very nice Spotify plugin, for instance.
Oh, I almost forgot. **** Apple. :)
I had a couple when they were discontinued. I've acquired the rest since. They are readily available used. The nice thing is that the software is open source and new plugins are still being developed by the community. There is a very nice Spotify plugin, for instance.
Yeah, I've kinda been watching...but anything I have seen are ridiculous on the prices.
Yeah, I've kinda been watching...but anything I have seen are ridiculous on the prices.
They seem to run about $150-180.
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