Media
3
Model: 343
Simplicity in interface; Perfection in function
MediaCube user's guide
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Table of Contents
1 About this manual.................................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Updates to this manual – Current version 1.4 (Date 1/4/2014)......................................................3
2 Configuring MPD clients for your MediaCube .................................................................................... 3
2.1 mPad Client (iPad) ....................................................................................................................... 3
2.1.1 Database and Local Cache – whats the difference?................................................................6
2.1.2 Displaying Liner notes in mPad............................................................................................. 8
2.1.3 Adding liner notes for an album........................................................................................... 10
2.2 Viewing the music inventory from any web browser...................................................................11
2.3 Operating your MediaCube from a Mac (OSX)...........................................................................12
2.3.1 A note about multiple MediaCubes. ....................................................................................13
2.4 Operating your MediaCube from Microsoft Windows ............................................................... 15
2.5 Other MediaCube clients (including Android and Linux)............................................................20
3 Adding music to your MediaCube....................................................................................................... 21
3.1 Understanding the Cube's file system – NAS configuration .......................................................21
3.2 Mapping drive to your NAS from Windows................................................................................ 24
3.3 Understanding the Cube's file system – Standalone configuration ............................................. 27
3.4 Manually ripping CDs to FLAC on your Mac ............................................................................ 28
3.5 Ripping to FLAC on your PC .....................................................................................................31
3.6 Using the MediaCube's CD reader / ripping service.................................................................... 32
3.6.1 Connecting up the MediaCube's CD drive. ......................................................................... 32
3.6.2 Adding a CD to your library................................................................................................. 32
3.6.3 Handling unrecognized CDs.................................................................................................34
4 Advanced configuration topics.............................................................................................................35
4.1 Using the MediaCube Administration interface ..........................................................................35
4.1.1 Running the Administration interface for the first time........................................................35
4.1.2 Checking the status of the MediaCube................................................................................. 37
4.1.3 Changing the email settings..................................................................................................40
4.1.3.1 Modifying the email notification list............................................................................ 40
4.1.3.2 Editing the email sender account.................................................................................. 40
4.1.3.3 Sending a test email (testing your credentials or target list) ........................................ 42
4.1.4 Manually starting a database refresh.................................................................................... 42
4.1.5 Updating your MediaCube operating system (OS).............................................................. 42
4.1.6 Logging out of the Admin Interface..................................................................................... 42
5 Features and Specifications..................................................................................................................43
5.1.1 Supported Media Types........................................................................................................ 43
5.1.2 Ports ..................................................................................................................................... 43
5.1.3 Bit rates supported................................................................................................................ 43
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1 About this manual
This manual covers common configuration operations for various MediaCube ( Media 3 ) clients
including the recommended iPad client, mPad. Section 3 covers adding music to the cube's database
for both local and NAS connected configurations.
1.1 Updates to this manual – Current version 1.4 (Date 1/4/2014)
This document is in a draft state and is updated regularly and the latest version is always available here:
http://www.nomadcube.com/doc/MediaCube_343.pdf
Rather than having to check back to see what has changed, you may send an email to
[email protected] with the subject line 'subscribe' and we will send you an email when user
guide changes are added. Any questions or comments about this manual please use the same email
address. We appreciate all feedback.
2 Configuring MPD clients for your MediaCube
Note: If you would like to find out more about the open protocol (MPD) that the MediaCube
uses to communicate with its clients, a good place to start is the Wikipedia article on the subject
here .
Once your MediaCube is up and running on your network it is time to configure clients. Although
there are dozens of compatible MPD (Music Player Daemon) clients, we recommend and support only
one for each platform. (iOS, Android, PC and Mac) The following sections will cover each with step
by step instructions.
2.1 mPad Client (iPad)
The mPad app is the recommended and supported user interface for all iPad devices. To install the
mPad client download mPad from the iTunes app store on your device. (link to app in iTunes store
here)
Steps to configure
•
Make sure the MediaCube has completed its boot sequence. You can verify by going to the
inventory page at:
◦ http://mediacube/inventory.html
•
Once mPad has loaded on your iPad, press the connection config button at the top of the screen.
The button looks like this:
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•
If this is the first MPD server you have configured you will see a popup dialog that looks like
this:
•
Select the “Music Player” in the “Discovered Players” list to bring up the settings dialog. The
following screen shot shows the dialog properly filled out for the media cube. Note the values
for Server will be filled in for you but you will have to edit the URL, Cover Filename and Liner
Notes Filename fields. Note: The Filename must be changed from 'Folder.jpg' to 'folder.jpg'.
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•
Select the Save button to continue.
◦ Important Note: If you click back on the rest of the screen without pressing 'Save' first you
will abandon all your changes. This is quite easy to do accidentally.
At this point mPad will have already begun downloading a complete copy of the metadata (Music file
details like Album name, Artist and album art) from your MediaCube.
2.1.1
Database and Local Cache – whats the difference?
A quick overview of where music and its associated description data (Metadata) is stored in your
MediaCube system is necessary here. For performance reasons the metadata is stored in one place and
cached in two separate tiers. All metadata resides on disk, whether that be on your cube locally or on
your configured NAS Raid device. The first place that metadata is cached is in the RAM of the
MediaCube itself. This cache is referred to as the 'Database'. The second place it is cached is on your
MPD client (like mPad). A complete copy is stored for every client. So if you have 3 iPad tablets
linked to you MediaCube, each will have its own complete cached copy all of the associated metadata
for all tracks in the database.
Since the data is cached in two places you can control when each is updated. Both are controlled from
the 'settings' screen which is loaded by pressing the button that looks like a gear at the top of the mPad
screen, shown below:
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When you have added new music to the filesystem that is scanned by the MediaCube you must tell it
when to rescan the filesystem to add all of the new files (and remove deleted ones) to/from the
database. Select 'Update Database' from the settings screen (above) to perform this step. When your
MediaCube has completed the re-scan of the filesystem it will send you an email confirming that the
task is complete along with statistics for you newly updated database. (e.g. total number of Artists,
Albums and tracks, disk space used and free, etc)
Once the database update is completed the MediaCube is ready to go. Now you must tell any clients to
update as well. This is done by pressing the 'Refresh local cache' button from the settings dialog of the
iPad that you wish to update. Remember that if you have multiple tablets linked to your MediaCube
you will have to update each of them. If they are not updated they will continue to work fine, however
they will not show you any of the new tracks that have been added since the last database update.
2.1.2
Displaying Liner notes in mPad
Pressing and holding down for any album will bring up a list of options for that item. At the bottom of
this list is the 'Show liner notes' button. Shown below:
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Once this option is selected (if liner notes are present – see next section for how to add them) you will
see the liner notes displayed as shown below:
Note that the MediaCube scans your entire collection nightly looking for notes and prepared an updated
liner notes file for mPad if any are found.
Important note about liner notes: If you test a liner note that you know is present and it does not come
up, you must stop and find out what has been misconfigured back on your connections configuration
screen in mPad. If you test liner notes for a album where you know there are liner note present (a
notes.html file in the albums directory – all systems are shipped with at least one of these for testing)
then mPad is not retrieving album art directly from the cube either. Please go back and re-check the
URL settings (in the local cover art section of the connection config screen). If you cannot get it to
work with mediacube.local then try using the cube's I.P. Address. The I.P. address is announced by the
cube every time it starts up over your system's speakers. An example of this would be something like
this (with your own IP address substituted) Example: http://192.168.1.15
If you must use the I.P. address instead of mediacube.local for the URL, you should contact your dealer
for special instructions for optimizing your network configuration.
2.1.3
Adding liner notes for an album
You can add your own custom liner notes to any album by first going to the directory where the new
album is located on your storage volume. If you have a standalone configuration the path to the root of
your storage volume will be http://mediacube.local/Hitachi/cube.root/ and the Windows share will be
\\mediacube\share\Hitachi\. (for editing) From a Mac connect to smb://mediacube.local as
guest and select the 'share'. From there navigate down through the 'Hitachi' folder.
There place a text file named review.txt with whatever information about the album you wish to store.
Every night the MediaCube will look for new review.txt files and generate a new notes.html file based
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on the contents and the rest of the albums metadata. If you wish to make you own html file (custom
format) then do not create a review.txt and create the notes.html file using whatever means you prefer.
2.2 Viewing the music inventory from any web browser
The entire inventory of your system is automatically updated every night and can be viewed from any
web browser on your network at the following URL: http://mediacube/inventory.html
The figure below shows the first page of the search results where the search was for the value 192000.
(See the red arrow) That is show all files that have a sample rate of 192000 or 192K. Note you can
use browser functions to search for items in this screen. Anything you type in the filter field will be
matched across all of the shown fields but the search is case sensitive. Partial word searches are also
supported. (e.g. 'Mud' would match Muddy Waters) To clear the search and redisplay all items blank
out the filter text and click on the 'Filter Now' button.
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2.3 Operating your MediaCube from a Mac (OSX)
For OSX users we recommend the Theremin app (http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Client:Theremin )
The latest supported binary can always be downloaded from the MediaCube's info page here:
http://www.nomadcube.com/bin/Theremin.app.zip
After you have installed the application select the Theremin menu and select Preferences from the
dropdown. On the preferences page select the Server tab (shown below). If you have multiple cubes
in one location you may want to setup a profile for each (also as shown below). For a single
mediacube simply enter in the hostname (use mediacube) or the IP address of the MediaCube (for
advanced configurations).
After setting the hostname you can close the preferences to run the player.
The first screen we will look at is the 'now playing' screen. This screen (shown below) shows the
current song playing, the current playlist, current song position, and has buttons to control playback
(play, stop, forward, back and pause)
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2.3.1
A note about multiple MediaCubes.
If you have multiple cubes configured you can tell Theremin to select the one that you want to control
with the profile dropdown in the bottom right of the window. Shown below is an example of this
profile dropdown showing 3 cubes on the same network with the top one selected.
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From the playlist window, clicking the note symbol (shown below, see arrow) will toggle the playlist
window visibility.
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Finally the library window will be displayed by pressing the left most note symbol at the bottom right
of the now playing (player) windows. The library windows (shown below) allows you to browse
(and perform searches) for media based on album, artist or track names.
A note about compatibility. The current version of Theremin requires a more recent version of the
MediaCube. As of of the 2014 version, all MediaCube models are compatible with Theremin. If you
have an older version of the MediaCube contact your dealer for an upgrade to the latest version.
2.4 Operating your MediaCube from Microsoft Windows
For Windows we recommend the Gnome Music Player Client (GMPC) (http://gmpclient.org/). We
have a pre configured portable version of this on the MediaCube support site here:
http://www.nomadcube.com/bin/GmpcPortable.MediaCube.zip
This version can be run without installing. Just unzip to any directory (even on a thumbdrive) and run
the .exe. The default configuration is setup to try to find a MediaCube on your network and should
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automatically connect.
If your MediaCube is not connecting or you have multiple MediaCubes go to the music menu, select
preferences then click the connection tab. The host name should match your MediaCube's name or IP
address. The port should remain the default (6600).
The now playing view (shown below) can be accessed by selecting the 'Now Playing' button on the
leftmost panel. Below the current song information are various options including :
•
Lyrics (shown) – attempts to look up the lyrics to the current playing song on the internet.
•
Similar Songs – computes a list of similar songs in your current MediaCube library.
•
Web Links – shows links to various sources of information about the current artist.
•
Artist information – Shows a brief text description of the artist and background.
•
Songs from Album – Displays links to play the other songs in this album.
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The search view (shown below) is accessed from the 'Search' button on the leftmost panel. This search
allows for a wide variety of full and partial word searches against Artist, Album and track. Shown
below is a Artist search on the word 'alan' which matches artists whose name contain the string 'alan'.
There are too many features in this client to cover in this introductory document but the last feature to
cover is one that is often overlooked. GMPC will generate sorted graphs based on your music
database's metadata. This feature is located in the 'Server Information' windows which can be found
under the Server menu as 'View Server Information'. From this screen you can select a tag value to
see a graph of that tag. For example the screenshot below shows a graph where the tag selected was
Genre. So the graph is a histogram of the different types of genres represented in this library sorted by
the most popular on the top. You can see this particular library has almost twice as much 'Rock' as
music that is classified as Jazz.
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2.5 Other MediaCube clients (including Android and Linux)
See http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Clients for a list of known MPD clients for all platforms. The
Wikipedia article on MPD also lists some clients here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Player_Daemon For Linux users we recommend GMPC which is
the same application we discussed in the “Operating your MediaCube from Microsoft Windows ”
section above. To install GMPC for Ubuntu (or any Debian based distribution) enter
sudo apt-get install gmpc
from the command line. The gmpc to start the application. For Android users we recommend the
'Droid MPD client'.
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3 Adding music to your MediaCube
Adding music to your media cube consists of merely dragging the music directories that you want
added to your database and telling the updating the database as we discussed in section “ 2.1.1
Database and Local Cache – whats the difference”. (also see the admin section for manually starting a
database refresh) The next section will explain the organization of the cubes file systems so you know
where to put your files when you have finished ripping them.
3.1 Understanding the Cube's file system – NAS configuration
When the MediaCube is using a NAS the system looks for a directory off of the primary share named
'cube.root'. In the example below we will be using a Mac OS 10.8 to connect to our NAS.
First you must connect to your NAS device. In the default case our 4 bay NAS units are named
'media4' so to connect we go to the 'Connect to Server' (off of finder 'go') menu. For the server
address we enter in 'cifs://media4' where media4 is the name of our NAS. The press the connect
button.
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Next (if this is the first time we have connected) we will be asked if we want to connect as Guest or as
a registered user. If we want to be able to write to our NAS we will need to login as 'admin', and use
the password we received when we received our MediaCube from the dealer.
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One the connection is completed you will see the root of your share for 'media4' which will look
something like the screen shot below:
You will notice in the screenshot above that there is a directory structure named 'cube.root'. This is the
directory that is scanned by the MediaCube every time you ask it to update it's database as we
discussed earlier. If you have other directories at this level they will not be scanned. So in the
example above. Any files or directories underneath 'cube.desktop.client', 'customer.demo.training' and
'non.scanned' will be ignored by the MediaCube. This allows you to store music on your same NAS
that you are working on or for some other reason do not want to appear in your MediaCube interface.
The next figure shows what is inside a our demo system's cube root. You can see there are separate
directory hierarchies for flac music, hd tracks, low res stuff and classical. You can organize your
music any way you wish as long as it is placed underneath the cube.root directory. The MediaCube
will recursively scan this entire tree for all know digital music file formats upon every database update.
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One you have your cube root up in a window like this, simply drag and drop any music directories that
you have created from other applications (like Phile or iTunes) into the cube.root subdirectories of
your choice. You may create as many subdirectories as you wish, from just a few to thousands, and
those directories can have as many subdirectories as you need to organize your music. MediaCube
does not impose any organizational patterns. It work with any configurations and creates its own
internal structure dynamically with each database update.
3.2 Mapping drive to your NAS from Windows
The previous section showed how to connect to your NAS device so that you could drag and drop files
to and from your MediaCube's database. This same operation is accomplished on a PC by mapping a
drive. Bring up your windows explorer (not internet explorer) and enter in '\\media4' into the
command bar as shown here:
When you press enter you will see the 'media' share that is shared by this NAS device.
Right click on the 'media' share to bring up the context menu as shown here:
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Select the 'map network drive' option as shown above and you will be prompted by the map network
drive dialog.
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Select the drive letter you wish to use, then select the 'connect using different credentials' check box as
shown above. This is so that we can login as admin which will have rights to write and delete files to
the share. Guest connections will only allow read only operations.
Select 'Finish' to get to the credentials screen, shown here:
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On the credentials screen there are two panes, select the lower one and enter in your id ('admin') and
your administrator password for you NAS unit which you got from your MediaCube dealer. Pressing
ok will bring up your newly mapped drive, from which you will see your cube.root directory that we
discussed in the previous Mac section.
3.3 Understanding the Cube's file system – Standalone configuration
Standalone configurations have a folder named 'Hitachi' off of the main share. The 'cube.root' folder
under there is the top level for the entire MediaCube music database. 'cube.ripped' (the location of any
newly ripped CDs ) is located at the top level under 'cube.root'.
Typical layout of a standalone storage configuration
Hitachi
cube.root
cube.ripped
bank1
bank2
bank …
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3.4 Manually ripping CDs to FLAC on your Mac
In addition the the built in ripping provided by the MediaCube, you may use any ripping application
that you wish to import your CD's into the media cubes database. We will not be able to cover all of
them here but all you need to do is get your files into one of the supported formats (e.g. FLAC, mp3,
etc. ) and drag the files to your MediaCube's local share (if you are not using a NAS) or your NAS's
cube.root directory as we will show in the example below.
In our Mac example we will be using Phile Audio which is available in the App Store. The Product
page is shown here:
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Once you have the product installed go to your preferences and set the encoder preferences to FLAC
(assuming you want FLAC of course) as shown below. If you are ripping to another format you might
as well just use iTunes though since that is an adequate ripper for the other open formats like mp3.
Also make sure you have your destination file location set to somewhere that you want the files to be
stored temporarily before you copy them to your cube. You may also set the destination directory to be
directly on your cube or on your NAS device that is used by you cube for media storage.
Phile Audio will retrieve the metadata for each CD you rip automatically. The screenshot below shows
Phile automatically ripping a CD for which it has already identified and populated the metadata.
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3.5 Ripping to FLAC on your PC
For FLAC ripping on the PC there are even more choices than you have for the Mac. If you don't
already have a favorite for FLAC ripping, we recommend dbpoweramp which can be obtained from
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/.
The screen below shows dbPowerAmp's main ripping screen with the settings set for FLAC ripping at
level 8.
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3.6 Using the MediaCube's CD reader / ripping service
If you have a MediaCube that was manufactured after 10/2013 or updated since then you will have the
ability for your cube to automatically rip your CDs to Flac and add them to your music library. If you
have a MediaCube that does not have the CD ripping option you can contact your dealer for an
upgrade. All MediaCubes ever sold require at most a software upgrade to support the new external CD
reader hardware.
3.6.1
Connecting up the MediaCube's CD drive.
Connecting the CD drive requires only one cable (no additional power supply is needed). The cable
has the smaller mini b type USB connector on one end. That is the end that connects to the back of the
CD drive shown in the illustration below:
Illustration 1: Back side of CD reader showing usb plug
Note that the other end of the cable has two of the larger USB A type plugs (The plug that is larger and
has white on its tip). For the MediaCube side you only need to use the plug that has two wires
connecting to it. The other usb plug is an extra for additional power. You can connect both of them to
the cube if you wish, but it is not required. Also it does not matter which free usb port you choose on
the back of the MediaCube.
The CD drive can be left connected at all times but it can also be removed if it is no longer needed to
conserve rack space. The only thing to remember if you are connecting and disconnecting it, is that the
drive must be attached at the time the MediaCube is started in order for it to recognize the CD device.
3.6.2
Adding a CD to your library
After booting the MediaCube with your CD drive attached, you should be ready to start adding CDs to
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the library. Press the tray eject button on the front face of the drive (located just to the right of center)
to eject the CD tray. Place your CD inside and close the tray. After a few seconds the MediaCube will
begin reading the disk and converting it to Flac files for your library.
Note: Your MediaCube must have a working connection to the internet in order to retrieve metadata for
the disks that you import.
After the import process is completed you will receive an email from your MediaCube with detailed
information about the data that was found on the disk for your records. A typical email will look like
this:
Subject:
[cube 1300003] [Ripping completed. (drive 0) ] Saturday, 05. October 2013 03:17:19 PM
Body:
Mediacube (postrip status v1.01)
Completed on:
Sat Oct 5 15:17:19 PDT 2013
CDDB data dump:
210 jazz 78093c0a CD database entry follows (until terminating `.')
# xmcd CD database file
#
# Track frame offsets:
#
183
#
18858
#
35420
#
55000
#
72920
#
89708
#
103080
#
121670
#
139513
#
157895
#
# Disc length: 2366 seconds
#
# Revision: 15
# Processed by: cddbd v1.5.2PL0 Copyright (c) Steve Scherf et al.
# Submitted via: CDex 1.50
#
DISCID=78093c0a
DTITLE=Robert Cray / Strong Persuader
DYEAR=1986
DGENRE=Blues
TTITLE0=Smoking Gun
TTITLE1=I Guess I Showed Her
TTITLE2=Right Next Door (Because Of Me)
TTITLE3=Nothin' But A Woman
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TTITLE4=Still Around
TTITLE5=More Than I Can Stand
TTITLE6=Foul Play
TTITLE7=I Wonder
TTITLE8=Fantasized
TTITLE9=New Blood
EXTD= YEAR: 1986
Note, the line
DTITLE=Robert Cray / Strong Persuader
shows the Artist / Album.
After each album is added, the MediaCube will initiate a re-scan of its music database. When this is
completed you will also receive the standard email notification. Once you see the db update complete
email you can update the local cache for any of your tablet (mPad) devices configured for this cube.
3.6.3
Handling unrecognized CDs
If the DTITLE line in your 'ripping completed' email shows:
DTITLE=Unknown Artist / Unknown Album
then the metadata for the CD you just imported was not found in the online CDDB database. This
can happen for lesser known discs or disks that are too new to have been entered into CDDB. If your
disk was not recognized you can still listen to it using the cube.
The illustration below shows the button to switch Mpad into the file system Browse view.
Note : These are instructions for a MediaCube with an attached Hitachi storage volume. If you are
using a NAS device consult your dealer for specific instructions.
Once there navigate into the Hitachi / cube.root / cube.ripped / flac
directory. There you will see a list of artists that you have added to the collection through the ripping
function. All of the 'unknown artists' tracks can be found and played by browsing here.
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4 Advanced configuration topics
4.1 Using the MediaCube Administration interface
The MediaCube comes with a web based Administration interface that can be run from any Desktop
Browser (Safari, Firefox, and Chrome) or any tablet or phone (iOS, Android and Windows Mobile).
This interface is primarily to automate first time setup issues (like email notification setup) as well as
checking the status of the MediaCube's internal services and resources as well as the status of the
network to which it is attached.
4.1.1
Running the Administration interface for the first time
In any browser (mobile or desktop) enter in the following URL:
http://mediacube.local:5000
(Its recommended that you save a shortcut to this url on your iPad's home screen. )After the interface
has loaded you will see the following screen. (image below) Note that all of the screen shots of the
Administration interface in this document are taken from an Android phone to show cross platform
compatibility. If you use a tablet or a desktop browser these pages will dynamically adapt to a larger
format.
The first time you load the interface you will be prompted for an administrative pin. The default pin is
'343'. The illustration below show the pin authentication screen:
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Enter in your Admin pin and check the 'Remember my pin for this browser' to have the browser
remember you pin for you on this device. Once you have entered the pin you will see the main Admin
menu which is shown below.
A note about navigation:
All screens in the Administration interface have the common black MediaCube toolbar that you
see at the top of the main menu. (with a cube icon to the right) Clicking on the text of
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'MediaCube' from any of the other screens will always bring you back to the main menu you see
here.
Clicking on the “Cube Admin Functions” button will bring down a menu of buttons for all of the
features supported by your current version of the admin interface. The dropdown menu for version
14.0.1 of the MediaCube is shown in the illustration below:
4.1.2
Checking the status of the MediaCube
Selecting the 'System Status' option will show the current status of the system. A typical system status
screen is shown below.
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We will walk through the meaning of each of these items now:
•
Browser authenticated: This setting shows if your current browser has been authenticated with the
admin pin. The status screen does not require authentication to view.
•
CPU Core Temp: Shows the current CPU temperature and the upper limit permitted before a safety
shutdown will occur.
•
Cube OS version: Shows the version of the Cube OS that you are currently running. This may change
if you perform a system update (shown later)
•
Cube uptime and load averages: Shows the following fields:
◦ Current time of day (per the MediaCube's system clock) This is important for time stamping
newly ripped files.
◦ Uptime: UP followed by X days or X hours and/or Minutes. This is the amount of time that the
MediaCube has been running (since boot)
◦ Number of users currently accessing the system. (can show if someone is logged in remotely for
maintenance)
◦ Load statistics. (3 numbers) The first number is the CPU load average for the last minute, The
second is for the last 5 minutes and the last number is the load average for the last 15 minutes. A
load average of 0.0 means completely idle and an average of 4.0 means that all 4 cpus are 100%
utilized.
A load average of over 4.0 means that all CPUs are utilized and there are still tasks in
queue to be processed. You will typically see numbers below 1.0 when playing music, but higher
when ripping and playing music simultaneously, especially when ripping multiple disks at once.
Music playback takes the highest CPU priority to prevent playback errors even during the highest
utilization.
•
DB update status: Shows if a DB update is running currently. Note you must refresh this screen to see
an update of this value if you are waiting for an update to complete.
•
Disk space in Use: Shows the disk space in use (as a percentage) on your main storage volume. If you
have a directly attached drive this this number shows the space in use there. (default) If you have a NAS
unit or multiple volumes then this number will be customized for your configuration.
•
Email notification list: This shows the list of email addresses that will be notified for typical system
events. System events that create email notification are:
◦ System boots and notes a new local or internet address.
◦ System completed a database update.
◦ System completed ripping a new disk with identification of the disk.
•
Email sender account: This is the account that is used to send the email to the notification list.
•
IP address: This is the TCIP address of the MediaCube on your local network. On most networks you
can use the DNS name mediacube.local.
•
Internet connection status: This shows if the MediaCube's local network has internet access. This is
useful for debugging issues with email notification since if there is no internet connectivity then the cube
will not be able to send email notifications. You must refresh the status screen to see any changes in the
internet connection status.
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4.1.3
Changing the email settings
4.1.3.1 Modifying the email notification list
The 'Change Email Notification List' screen is shown below. This is the list of emails that will be
notified for all of the MediaCube system events. The current notification list will appear in the text
box. You can edit the text, adding or deleting any items you wish. Make sure that all email entries are
separated with a comma and and space as shown in the example below. When you are done editing,
click the 'Save new list' to persist your changes to the MediaCube.
4.1.3.2 Editing the email sender account
The screen below shows the 'Change Email Settings' screen. These are the credentials to use to send
the system notifications. For example if you wanted your MediaCube notifications to come from your
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own private Gmail account, you would enter those credentials here. Notifications are not sent to this
address, they are sent from this address. When you are done, pressing 'Save Settings” will save you
email credentials to the MediaCube. After changing credentials it is recommended that you run an
email test by selecting the 'Send Test Email” option which is discussed later in this document. Pressing
'Reset Form' will clear your credential from the form. The cube will not permit you to set blank
credentials here to prevent accidental erasure. Also the password for the email account is never
displayed by the Admin interface.
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4.1.3.3 Sending a test email (testing your credentials or target list)
Select “Send a test email” to send a test email based on the current target list and email credentials. If
you are using a Gmail account with 2 factor authentication enabled then you must generate a
application specific password for your account. Consult Gmail documentation or this help article for
how to generate them.
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en
4.1.4
Manually starting a database refresh
To manually have the MediaCube rescan the entire library to look for changes and additions, select the
'Send test email' option from the main menu. You will be notified by email when the process is
completed but you can also check the status screen (see : Checking the status of the MediaCube ) to see
verification when the process is completed.
4.1.5
Updating your MediaCube operating system (OS)
If you have been told by your MediaCube dealer that there is an update available for your MediaCube
you can download it and install it by selecting the '' option from the main menu. After downloading
the update it will be necessary for you to restart your MediaCube to have the changes take effect.
4.1.6
Logging out of the Admin Interface
Logging out is not necessary but if you do then the next time you try to use the admin interface from
this device you will be prompted for the admin pin again.
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5 Features and Specifications
5.1.1
Supported Media Types
All non DRM media types supported including FLAC, MP3, OGG, Wav Audio, Windows Media,
AAC and AIF.
5.1.2
Ports
2 digital output ports - SPDIF ( Coaxial and Optical )
USB Audio supported up to 96/24
2 USB 3.0 ports
4 USB 2.0 ports
1 Gigabit Ethernet
5.1.3
Bit rates supported
All rates supported up to 192kHz/ 24-bit over either SPDIF interface (Optical or Coaxial)
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