Store MP3s on PC, play on PPC over WLAN

[Vaughan_Davies]

I have a music collection of around 20,000 MP3s and WMAs stored on my PC. With my PPC connected to my WLAN, I can see the files in File Explorer, but I haven't figured out how to play them without first copying them across to the PPC.

Isn't there some way to play tracks on my PPC over the WLAN?

[Vaughan_Davies]

I have a music collection of around 20,000 MP3s and WMAs stored on my PC. With my PPC connected to my WLAN, I can see the files in File Explorer, but I haven't figured out how to play them without first copying them across to the PPC.

Isn't there some way to play tracks on my PPC over the WLAN?

[rookcnu]

Have you tried Orb?

[Vaughan_Davies]

Thanks. I had a look at the Orb website. It seems an amazing product.

OK, so this suggests that (Orb excepted) applications on my PPC can't access files stored elsewhere on my network. Local copies only. Is that right?

I have ADSL broadband, but living a few miles from the local exchange I get only 400k up, which (I'm guessing) is going to be OK for music but hopeless for video (maybe I should give it a try instead of guessing).

If I'm at home, will I stil be limited to my ADSL upload speed or will I be able to stream at the speed of my WLAN?

[Cybrid]

Originally Posted by Vaughan_Davies

Thanks. I had a look at the Orb website. It seems an amazing product.

OK, so this suggests that (Orb excepted) applications on my PPC can't access files stored elsewhere on my network. Local copies only. Is that right?

I have ADSL broadband, but living a few miles from the local exchange I get only 400k up, which (I'm guessing) is going to be OK for music but hopeless for video (maybe I should give it a try instead of guessing).

If I'm at home, will I stil be limited to my ADSL upload speed or will I be able to stream at the speed of my WLAN?

Orb does sense that "you're at home" and re-routes.
To the real answer. Pocket file explorer while network aware is not capable of execute in place (by some flawed design decision) but other 3rd party applications are well capable of it. www.ghisler.com (Total Commander) is free and works quite well if you are versed in pathnames. Resco Explorer (not free) is an incredibly well thought out application which can even map out shared folders taking the hard work of having to remember //192.168.1.100/c:/shared docs/my crap/ I'd really recommend if bugdet is no consideration.

[Vaughan_Davies]

I might have a look at the Resco Explorer. $30 isn't too bad, and you get a free trial to see if it does the job.

I signed up to Orb, and after fiddling around with the firewall settings on my router managed to get it up and running. The UPNP setup on Orb seems to have failed to make contact with my router, so I can foresee more fiddling around ahead.

Anyway, I'm browsing the various shared folders on the home computer through the PPC. Clicking on a .MP3 filename launches WMP10 as expected, but generates an "incompatible file format" type error. Same with any video files.

I'm getting a strong feeling that I'm missing something really basic. Any ideas?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Originally Posted by Vaughan_Davies

I'm getting a strong feeling that I'm missing something really basic. Any ideas?

Have you thought of trying a player other than WMP?

[rookcnu]

Like everyone's favorite FREE Media player:

TCPMP

[Cybrid]

Originally Posted by Vaughan_Davies

I might have a look at the Resco Explorer. $30 isn't too bad, and you get a free trial to see if it does the job.

$0 vs. $30...same effectiveness except one is manual and the other is not...as such I went with Total Commander.

As for media, TCPMP is much more robust and will play far more file types. Even Quicktime .mov and YouTube .flv ....
For your error did you try several different .mp3 files or one? WMP10 should be able to play it. Try it from local as a test. (In my younger, more computer illiterate, days...I downloaded a bunch of movies and misc other files. Since they were always named similar to "xxx-hot-pr0n-girl-super-hot.avi"
I'd rename them more accurately..."semi-hot chick doing...mpeg" which would suprisingly work fine on a PC but not work on a PPC. )

[Vaughan_Davies]

Originally Posted by Cybrid

For your error did you try several different .mp3 files or one? WMP10 should be able to play it. Try it from local as a test.

Yes I tried some that I had ripped myself, and a couple that I'd downloaded. I copied one to the PPC and it played OK.

Next I'm off to try TCPMP to see how it goes.

[Vaughan_Davies]

W w w whooops ... [snip]