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Thoughts on Music with K/Is K falling behind?

Lossless Audio Export

I thought i read somewhere that this was in the works. Would be really nice. Some of the higher end car systems (e.g., B&O) sound much better with lossless content. Seems like something kscape could do with little effort.
 
I agree, there are some very good car HiFi systems that need Lossless audio to achieve the best listening experience. I believe Conductor exports at a highest rate of 320kbs. The option for Lossless audio export would certainly be of use to me and I expect other owners.

I have been hoping that Apple will increase the size of the 160GB iPod classic but this product has gone without an upgrade for a long time.... it would be nice to fit everything on one iPod!
 
Any system that uses some kind of surround sound will benefit from the original "lossless" music because lossy formats (like MP3 and AAC) throw away sonic cues that you might not really notice, especially with rock and pop music, but the system in your home or car, again, if we're moving beyond just stereo here, that system is looking for those cues. Now many car systems are engineered today to work with iphones, ipods, etc and the engineers know that you are using lossy formats and they are tuned and programmed to do as much as they can with that limitation.
 
K, PLEASE link with another DB for music, the idea that we have 3 albums in our system (all popular enough to have gone gold or platinum in sales) that are still unrecognizable is laughable.

k thanks.
 
Sometimes they have second/third pressings that don't have the same disc ID as the primary pressing. These things happen. I know that happened with the Baby Einstein DVD series and am willing to bet it has happened on a lot of music discs as well.

I have actually found that the hit rate for music has gotten substantially better over the years.

If you have 3 albums in your system that are unrecognizable, then enter the data or send them in. I don't know how large your collection is, but I have had to send in a lot of discs for DVD, BluRay and CD. I just figure that when I do that, it makes the experience better for everybody by improving the database because it isn't going to get fixed until somebody sends in the discs.

I don't think there is some other database out there with a perfect hit/miss ratio, so the best course of action is to be part of the solution.
 
I agree and have also lent close to 1000 disks (CD / DVD / BluRay) as whilst feature films are usually recognised many UK TV series are not. My passion is more UK TV drama than Hollywood blockbusters as living outside the UK I miss that part of the UK. The loan service is free to use and helps everyones viewing experience and that can only be good for all K-scape system owners and users
 
because it isn't going to get fixed until somebody sends in the discs.

... or kscape partners with someone who actually does a good job at music. Even if you don't get the artwork, you can get the tracks right. I've never put a CD into iTunes or Windows Media Player that wasn't recognized.

Heck, my wife put her Beyonce CD in her car, and even IT recognized it (the CD text thing). There's really no excuse to be that bad -- and I disagree, I think their hit rate has seriously gone way down.

I don't think there is some other database out there with a perfect hit/miss ratio, so the best course of action is to be part of the solution.

If the "lending" process were simpler sure. By the time I request a box, get it, package my discs and send them in, and wait for the data to update I can just scan the image (or grab it from amazon) and enter the tracks.

I agree and have also lent close to 1000 disks (CD / DVD / BluRay) as whilst feature films are usually recognised many UK TV series are not. My passion is more UK TV drama than Hollywood blockbusters as living outside the UK I miss that part of the UK. The loan service is free to use and helps everyones viewing experience and that can only be good for all K-scape system owners and users

It's not that I can't do it -- more like why SHOULD I with this supposedly-great system? :confused:

Plus, lending movies is a different matter (and more worthwhile) than music CDs (I have sent them movies, I don't see the point with CDs as pointed out above).
 
... or kscape partners with someone who actually does a good job at music. Even if you don't get the artwork, you can get the tracks right. I've never put a CD into iTunes or Windows Media Player that wasn't recognized.

How many people use iTunes vs. how many use a Kaleidescape? You certainly have a different quantity of people inputting data there. That said, iTunes and WMP have some pretty good databases.

Heck, my wife put her Beyonce CD in her car, and even IT recognized it (the CD text thing). There's really no excuse to be that bad -- and I disagree, I think their hit rate has seriously gone way down.

I am not really quoting what I "think" but my experience as a Kaleidescape owner for the last 7 years as well as a bulk loader for Kaleidescape systems. Perhaps your taste in music has gone more off the beaten path lately or you just happen to get a lot of music on the first day of release, I don't know. What I do know is that my hit rate has gotten better and the "miss" rate for CD's has dropped by approximately 75% over the years.

If the "lending" process were simpler sure. By the time I request a box, get it, package my discs and send them in, and wait for the data to update I can just scan the image (or grab it from amazon) and enter the tracks.

You can just send them in without requesting a box and waiting for the box to come in. Just drop them in a box and UPS them in. I have lots of their shipping boxes and just keep them to send titles in whenever I have items that need to be bookmarked - generally when I bulk load a collection I will send in a box or several depending on the size of the collection.

It's not that I can't do it -- more like why SHOULD I with this supposedly-great system? :confused:

Plus, lending movies is a different matter (and more worthwhile) than music CDs (I have sent them movies, I don't see the point with CDs as pointed out above).

CD's take very little time to input the data. I can't bookmark the films so those always get sent in. As far as why you should send it in, what makes the system great is how it performs when all the data is there. I suspect you have the feeling that since it is expensive, then they should have a perfect database yet if there is an error you don't want to help make it better. The only reason the other databases you like so much are good is because people contribute the data. If people all felt they don't have to contribute, we would have very few databases with much depth.

If you have a suggestion for a database that is better, tell them and see if they can partner with them or pay for access to the database.
 
I'm not sure if this is a case of "making excuses to justify a large purchase", but some of these answers are a bit out there...

How many people use iTunes vs. how many use a Kaleidescape? You certainly have a different quantity of people inputting data there. That said, iTunes and WMP have some pretty good databases.

iTunes uses Gracenote's CDDB. I don't think either company actually maintains their own database. In fact, a LOT of people use CDDB. Why can't K? Even as a backup to the ones they don't index?

And no, it's NOT crowd-sourced, so how many people use iTunes is not a factor.

I am not really quoting what I "think" but my experience as a Kaleidescape owner for the last 7 years as well as a bulk loader for Kaleidescape systems. Perhaps your taste in music has gone more off the beaten path lately or you just happen to get a lot of music on the first day of release, I don't know.

Off the beaten path? What? We both listen to the same music we always have.

I'm pretty sure Beyonce's "4" is Gold, if not platinum by this point. It STILL won't recognize in the system (even after deleting, re-importing and entering the UPC).

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Born-This-Way/dp/B0051QJ87Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315649261&sr=8-2"]Lady Gaga[/ame] sold more than a million copies of her album in the first week, yet up until about 4 weeks ago, the kscape data on the CD was my own.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Tha-Carter-Deluxe-Lil-Wayne/dp/B004R0MF16/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1315649332&sr=1-1"]Tha Carter 4[/ame] sold just under a million in its first week. The system is still using our inputted data (actually just data for the 2 tracks my wife actually wanted to hear).

I could go on, but the point is if those are obscure or "off the beaten path", then what isn't?

What I do know is that my hit rate has gotten better and the "miss" rate for CD's has dropped by approximately 75% over the years.

95% of stats are made up on the fly. I jest, but seriously, do you have any statistical proof or are you just pulling that number out the sky? Did K actually release numbers on this? I haven't heard them talk about music much at all.


You can just send them in without requesting a box and waiting for the box to come in. Just drop them in a box and UPS them in. I have lots of their shipping boxes and just keep them to send titles in whenever I have items that need to be bookmarked - generally when I bulk load a collection I will send in a box or several depending on the size of the collection.

This, I didn't know, but I don't mind the process for movies at all. It's a larger undertaking and I honestly prefer that K does it.

CD's take very little time to input the data. I can't bookmark the films so those always get sent in. As far as why you should send it in, what makes the system great is how it performs when all the data is there. I suspect you have the feeling that since it is expensive, then they should have a perfect database yet if there is an error you don't want to help make it better. The only reason the other databases you like so much are good is because people contribute the data. If people all felt they don't have to contribute, we would have very few databases with much depth.

Again, no problem with movies, but with music there are solutions (third party databases), so yes I expect that it should be darn near perfect (the database) if other (free) solutions are.

I'm PAYING Kaleidescape. If I wanted to be a minion of crowdsourcing I would have gone with another solution. Kscape is supposed to "just work" right? I'm also fairly sure CDDB is internally maintained and not crowd sourced.

If you have a suggestion for a database that is better, tell them and see if they can partner with them or pay for access to the database.

I have. Both directly and just about in every post where I voiced dissatisfaction with their music recognition.

*edit* aside from gracenote, there's freedb, MusicBrainz (though these are more "open" and maybe not something K wants to use) and more. If perhaps we had a way to specify an API to use to throw the CD hashes against when K fails, that would be a solution.

Both of the above DBs recognize the 3 CDs mentioned by the way.
 
I was pleasantly surprised to see that K completely recognized the [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Evanescence-Deluxe-CD-DVD/dp/B005GVA2L0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318363014&sr=8-1"]Evanescence[/ame] CD I inserted today (release date). It didn't recognize the 4 bonus tracks, but title, artwork, release date and the first 12 were there. I was expecting to have to enter it all (had even downloaded the artwork from Amazon). Glad to be wrong.
 
I didn't care for sonos quality and can't afford kscape and sooloos. So I bring music from kscape spdif into a bel canto dac. Sound is awesome. Use the iPad app for management.
 
Yep- its what Ive been saying all along- you CAN get great sound quality out of the K player- you just have to know where to look. And the bel canto is supposedly a great DAC. Nicely done :)
 
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