Hullo - I have Songkong on Windows 10 and Mac. Happy with it. Also have a Melco N1, happy with that too. Question is what are the pluses and minuses of now moving to Songkong for Melco? My music is primarily classical, particularly early music but also some jazz and pop. I am a little concerned about possible downside of a “one size fits all” approach.
Anyone made the swap from Windows or Mac to SK on Melco? Any learning experiences to share?
SongKong for Melco v other versions
Customers may have other points to make but the only technical difference between SongKong for Melco license and SongKong Pro, is that a Melco license:
- Can process Naim Wav Metadata files and add the data directly in to the Wav files.
- Allows SongKong to run on directly on a Melco server
But most usually a Melco license is used to run SongKong directly on a Melco server, and there are differences to consider when running SongKong directly on a Melco compared to running SongKong on a PC, Mac or Linux server.
If running SongKong directly on Melco:
- Comes with slightly different default profiles designed to work best with the default MinimServer profiles available with Melco EX
- Will be running on local, files so removes the network load of copying files to and from Melco and PC.
- Despite that will run slower, because Melco does not have the CPU or memory capacity of your typical PC or Mac.
Thanks for that and it makes sense. My Melco is an N1 and I am using it through a Linn streamer so Naim point does not apply, the rest do.
I shall follow up on your web pages and then be in touch about licences.
Regarding
Will be running on local, files so removes the network load of copying files to and from Melco and PC.
It applies in two scenarios, if not running SongKong on your Melco you have two choices:
-
Connect to your Melco drive via your PC/Mac. This way you can directly modify the melco files but this has the disadvantage that in effect SongKong has to copy the file data when reading the file, fingerprinting the file and saving changes to the file. So there is alot of network activity which is going to slow down the process especially as they are almost definitently going to be lossless files and possibly hi-def files, and there is the issue of the network failing
-
Fix the songs locally on your PC and then transfer them to the Melco. This avoids ther network issues and the matching is going to be much quicker, but then there is the time taken transferring files to and from Melco. The best option maybe to backup Melco, modify backup on PC and then restore backup but I haven’t tested this out yet.
So I can confirm option 2 works well:
- Run a backup of Melco to an external drive
- Plug drive into computer
- Run SongKong against the .Anas.bak folder, you can safetly modify files under .Anas.bak folder
- Plug drive back into Melco
- Restore backup to Melco
But worth noting it is always recommended you have a backup of your music if making major changes. So you should make a copy of .Anas.bak and keep that as a master backup first.