Alec Saunders SquawkBox

I’m looking for a good UPnP music server.  So far, the closest I’ve found to meeting my needs is Nero MediaHome, but it’s far from perfect.  Just last night I installed Yahoo Music Engine, with their UPnP plug-in.  I left it cataloguing and went to bed around midnight.  This morning, I checked it out (another reject), and then uninstalled it. 

What I want is something that:

1. Runs as a Windows service.  It must not be a requirement that a specific person be logged into the PC.  Nor can it be a requirement that a specific media player application (like Windows Media, or Yahoo Media) be running in order to power my media devices around the house.
2. Uses a database to store track information. It must not reload all the track information from scratch when it starts.
3. Collects and represents all the tracks I have on the network as a single music collection.  It must not require that I know which server has which tracks, and whether or not that particular server is online.  It would be really nice if the media server could use the "wake on network activity" feature that most PC’s support in order to wake the server up if the music was offline.
4. Can handle a large number of tracks.  Most of the servers I’ve seen are optimized for a few hundred, or maybe a couple of thousand.  The design point seems to be "how many tracks could you fit on an iPOD".  I’m pushing 10,000 at the moment.  Nero Mediahome takes over 30 minutes to load the track list each time it starts, for example.  The brain dead Netgear media server that came with my MP-101 devices takes 1.5 days to recatalog the collection when I add a new track. 
5. Exposes a rich set of features to the UPnP media end-point device.  A few that I am looking for right now include playlists, play by genre / artist / album / year / mood, internet radio.
6. Acceptable interaction speed with my MP-101 devices.  Some of these servers can take 30 or 40 seconds to respond to a request.  The designers seem to have forgotten that these things are consumer electronics devices.

What have I tried so far?

• Twonkyvision - rejected because of an incomprehensible setup / user guide, impossible to use UI, and inadequate feature support. 
• Windows Media Connect - doesn’t catalog files except on the local PC.  Most of mine are located on a Request Audio ARQ-1 Pro media server. Windows Media Connect doesn’t run as a server either.
• Windows Media with the On2Share UPnP plug-in - Doesn’t run as a server, and requires Windows Media player to be running at all times.  Lousy feature support on the end-point device.
• Yahoo Music Engine with the UPnP plug-in - Ditto.
• Netgear MP-101 Media Server - terrible UI, no database, slow slow slow.  Good feature support though, except no support for playlists.
• Nero Mediahome - This thing is a major CPU hog.  At random times it pushes my CPU to 95% capacity, and pegs it there for 30 minutes or more.  Poor feature support.  Slow startup. Slow interaction with the music player device.

My ideal scenario would be for the good folks at Request Audio to support this stuff natively on the ARQ-1. 

Does anyone out there have any other suggestions?

Like to blow stuff up? I mean fireworks :)  One of the best distributors of fireworks in Canada is Mystical Distribution.  To get the really good stuff, though, you have to travel to their factory outlet in Trenton, Ontario.  I did exactly that, just before the Victoria Day weekend.  It poured rain May 24th, so we couldn’t set them off then.  Tonight, however, we wished Queen Victoria a belated happy birthday.  The photo shows the remains, after we collected them up and put them in the driveway for garbage collection.

You’ve heard it a million times — people bitching about their micromanaging supervisors. I coach a lot of my former employees, and probably at least once a week I hear from someone who’s unlucky enough to work for a micromanager.  Could you be one?  Here’s a quick guide to help you rate yourself:

1. Do you manage a team of smart, energetic people who know their jobs, but insist on telling them what to do anyway?
2. Do you repeatedly showcase your expertise by second-guessing everyone on your team?
3. Do you have to make all the decisions, set all the priorities, do all the talking?

If you answered "yes" to even one of these questions, then watch out! 

Micromanagers are the most demoralizing force in the workplace.  Nobody wants to work for someone who’s "right" all the time. Some of the most common results are frequent high turnover, and delayed and missed deadlines as the team scrambles to meet the latest insignificant demand from the boss.  More importantly, though, micromanaged teams are rarely able to execute strategically.  Micromanagers, by nature, can’t see the big picture.  They’re too busy managing the details!  And that is reflected in the performance of the team.

If you fit the mold of a micromanager, what can you do?  Try to practice what my old friend Jonathan Roberts refers to as "strategic management".  Get agreement from your team members on the outcomes you want.  Be results oriented, rather than prescriptive.  Then get out of the way and let them get to work.  Let go of the details, and focus on managing the team to the outcome.  Save your bullets for the decisions you really need to make.  You might be surprised.  Those highly paid individuals who work for you might know a thing or two about how to get the job done.

Once you’ve mastered strategic management, try to move beyond that to what I call "aspirational leadership".  Enroll your team in the outcomes.  Have them set goals appropriate to their areas of responsibility.  Encourage them to think for themselves, and swing for the fences instead of the infield.  In my opinion, this kind of leadership is the single most important ingredient in building high performance teams. 

And if you work for a micromanager, good luck.  You have my condolences.

Links of Interest: Jim Piccolo - Leader, Visionary & Philanthropist. - Current CEO & Chairman of Nouveau Riche University. Click to learn more.

Geoff Merrill 2001 Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre is another fantastic Australian wine I’ve recently discovered.  At C$19.95 it’s underpriced.  Nice nose, dense flavours of berry and spice, and a little heat on the tongue to finish.  We had this with pepper-crusted roast beef a couple of nights ago, and with cheese again the next day.  Excellent!  I am going to get a case of this.

It’s done.  Or, as done as it’s going to be, anyway.  The blog is migrated, and I am not going to do a whole lot more work on fixing up old posts. In honour of the occasion, Alec Saunders .LOG has been renamed:  Res Ipsa Loquitur is a Latin phrase meaning "The thing speaks for itself". I think that’s pretty fitting for my personal soapbox. 

Hope you all enjoy it, and continue to read.