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Like many here, I try to keep computer audio simple. My music library resides on a single external bus-powered Oyen firewire drive. Until recently, this was a 1TB Samsung HDD. I've now replaced it with a 1TB SSD, but what is of relevance here is what happened after about three years of constant, daily use. Like many drives (HHD and SSD), it started to fail. However, it wasn't obvious to me, at first, that the hardware was failing. I am still not certain. When I copied the contents of the library, I noticed some files failed to copy: HFS+ has a reputation for being a fragile file system. I decided if I wanted to definitively address this problem, I wanted one of the more robust "self-healing" filesystems like sfs or btrfs on a NAS. Although replacing music files that become corrupted is a pain in the arse, it is at least possible. However, for my laboratory experimental data (including many 100s of GB of X-ray diffraction images), the data files are irreplaceable. Similarly, family digital photos cannot be replaced. I decided to get a NAS as part of a (redundant) data backup and storage strategy for my research group, and this would also allow me to keep a remote backup copy of my music library (and family photos) at work. An added bonus is that these would be accessible from any computer at work (or anywhere else). Since I have a computer hardware budget and limited time, I didn't want a DIY project. I wanted a NAS that would essentially be plug-and-play with minimal configuration. After a lot of consideration, I went for a ZFS-based freeNAS with four disc drives that could be configured in a raid array. The FreeNAS mini runs freeBSD, which happens to be the flavor of unix from which Darwin (OS X unix) was derived. The main point is it is a fairly standard unix operating system, so anyone familiar with linux, OS X, or other flavors of unix should be able to find their way around. The FreeNAS project is an open-source effort designed to allow a NAS such as the one I purchased, or one you might choose to assemble yourself, to be configured from a semi-user-friedly web-based GUI. (Although I am actually more of a unix command-line-oriented individual, rather than a GUI fan, I actually found the interface to be quite helpful. In fact, my only gripe is that the way this thing works is that changes made within the GUI persist, but many system modifications one might try to make on the command-line get wiped out upon reboot (or sooner). At first, this irritated the living shit out of me, but now I have come to appreciate the point of doing things this way, if one is administering what the vendor insists upon referring to as an "appliance." If I ever decide the GUI does more harm than good, I can always kick it to the curb, but for now I have surrendered to its functionality for the most part.) Hardware The hardware seems to be first-rate. The chassis holds four conventional hard drives, which the vendor optionally supplies, formatted and ready to install. I decided to take advantage of getting everything bundled, and got the largest hard drive option they sell. Their choice is the WD Red HDD, which I guess is reasonably robust, unlike the 3TB Seagate Drive with the 38% failure rate I bought at Costco. All you do is stick the drives in the bays and plug it in. (I didn't realize you have to use the ejection lever to put the drive in properly, or it won't seat on the pins and power up. Customer service got back to me at 7 am local time when I submitted an 11th-hour plea for help via email.) Once you get the discs installed, you have to hook up a VGA monitor temporarily, and a USB keyboard, and issue a few responses to some initialization prompts, and then you can access the web browser-based GUI from the comfort of any other computer on your local network to complete the setup process. Here is what the GUI looks like: The FreeNAS GUI What you see below is the web-based interface that allows you to control the NAS. You have to configure everything using the GUI. The GUI then saves the configuration parameters in a sql-like database file, and from that file standard unix configuration files are generated (and re-generated) upon rebooting (sometimes sooner). This can be a double-edge sword. I quickly learned to stop fighting it, but it still bugs me that I can't over-ride some default settings that appear to be counter-productive or security holes, without coming up with some crazy work-around strategies (one of which I describe at the end.) You can save the original factory settings, and each set of changes (and prune the list as you see appropriate), which allows you to go back to and boot into a previous configuration if you run into problems: Once you configure the RAID and import some files, you can export all or portions of the RAID file system to your other computers using Apple's firesharing protocol (AFP), SMB, NFS, or other options. The GUI allows you to configure these, and importantly, restrict who can access them and from what computers (using hosts allow and host deny and/or username-based access). Here's a (redacted) copy of the first few AFP exports I created. I am able to mount (for example) my music and photos library from my laptop in a hotel room many miles away (not an option I recommend implementing normally): Jails and Plug-ins I mentioned FreeNAS is very intolerant of customizations you might wish to make that are not available via the GUI. Instead, if you want to run a lab website, or a music server or minecraft server or whatever, you can create what FreeBSD maintainers call a "Jail" or sandbox, which creates a FreeBSD operating system nested within the parent OS. In other words, you can run a computer within the computer, and the computer within cannot interfere with or damage or delete files in the parent computer. Its contents and functionality are jailed or sandboxed. A set of pre-prepared jails are made available as "plug-ins" that can be installed from the FreeNAS GUI, or you can create your own jail, as I did, when I cloned my lab's website. These jails get their own IP addresses, MAC addresses, and so forth, and to the outside world look like stand-alone computers. Importantly, these files reside on the RAID itself, and are not clobbered upon reconfiguration or reboot. Although I don't happen to use this NAS as a conventional music-server NAS, you can see there are several plug-in options that would enable you to do this. (You can then export your library from the main filesystem to the jail and mount it). Turn off the damn GUI I think having a GUI login with a root password is idiotic. It is even more idiotic to have to type the root password in via http rather than https (the default, although you can, and should, remedy this). It is even more idiotic to broadcast that GUI login page to the universe, and have no apparent way to firewall it off or restrict access to your LAN or vLAN. WTF? Even my attempts to do this in the webserver configuration files got clobbered almost immediately. One workaround I have is to ssh into the machine and kill the webserver, and then start it back up only when I need it. This is not reasonable, and even this won't survive a reboot. I defined two shell functions to try to make this easier: I really shouldn't have to do this. Complaining got me nowhere. Overall Assessment: Although by no means as simple as setting up an Apple computer running OS X, assembly and set up of the FreeNAS Mini was relatively straightforward, and file exports work as expected. I am even able to do time-machine backups, although I find rsync both faster and more useful. (Time machine creates a monolithic sparse disc image file, so I would suggest not using it for NAS backups, but instead use rsync or the equivalent, especially if you are dealing with a music or photo or movie library.) The FreeNAS GUI and OS, along with the plugin/jail system, gives you the flexibility you need, within the confines imposed by the FreeNAS way of doing things. (The flip-side of the imposed restrictions is they have made administering the NAS fairly idiot-proof, and it spares you the need to learn a lot of zfs jargon and configuration, which looks to me like a fairly steep learning curve. If you have the time and patience and aptitude to DIY, you can save some money, but this "appliance" will save you a lot of grief if you are a time-strapped ADHD-addled borderline computer illiterate like I am.) Additional Information: Wikipedia Article on ZFS iXSystems FreeNAS Mini NAS Review - Tom's Hardware iXsystems FreeNAS Mini 4-Bay NAS Review ---

I'm playing with a new remote control setup, the Logitech Harmony Smart Control system. I initially purchased the system with the physical remote: It lists for $130, but Logitech periodically drops the price to $99, so it is worth holding out (as I did) until the next time it goes on sale. You can also buy it with an integrated keyboard/scrollpad instead: This lists for $150. I have not seen it go on sale. I hated having to make the choice, but now Logitech has answered the pleas of its customers, and you can buy the keyboard or physical remote as an add-on, so you can have both. I just ordered the Keyboard add-on. The fatal flaw with the other iOS-app remote solutions is that nobody in your family, other than you, wants to use an iOS device as a remote control. Sure, it is great to be able to do so, but it is not so great to be obligated to do so, especially if all you want to do is turn the volume down while watching TV, or change a channel. A physical remote is much easier and quicker to deal with, and you always know which couch cushion it lives in. As far as I am aware, Logitech is the first company to figure this out. Another nice feature of the physical remote is that it is an RF remote, not IR. The hub is both IR and Bluetooth, and is a wireless IP/RF bridge. This avoids the most frequent remote control user-error in our household. Typically, an activity is a whole string of IR commands punctuated by pauses, sometimes of several seconds, while your TV turns on, your AVR turns on, etc. If the user doesn't point the standard IR-based Harmony Remote at the AV components for 15 seconds, something goes wrong, and then you get the blame and a bunch of bitter sarcasm delivered with a British accent from a typically incompetent user (who has PhD and is very technically competent working with pathogenic viruses, but can't seem to handle the subtle and demanding complexities of pushing a button on a remote control. I digress ...). Anyhoo, this appears to have solved the problem, and is a nice minimalistic physical remote that works in an integrated manner with all the iOS devices that have the remote control software installed. I look forward to the delivery of the keyboard add-on. It is supposed to work with my mac mini, Apple TV, and whatever other device I might need to pair it with via Bluetooth or two accompanying USB receivers. I'll post again when I have it in hand. Initial Set-up of the iOS remote: Setting up the Harmony Smart works pretty much the same as for any other Harmony remote. The easiest way to do this is on your computer, using their web-based software (which now runs as a pseudo-stand-alone application). The set-up application allowed me to clone my Harmony 650 remote settings, so I didn't have to start from scratch. (Note that it will faithfully clone and propagate any mistakes you made previously, so double-check your settings and tweak them.) You add in all your devices (in my case TV, AVR, DVD player, Apple TV, Mac Mini computer, Peachtree Nova (integrated DAC/pre/Amp), Wii U, and the Comcast cable box I love to hate), as well as my Philips Hue lights, and then create a set of activities, up to six of which can be mapped into the three activities buttons on the physical remote (one short-press and one long-press for each). There is no limit to how many activities you can have on the iOS remote. In what follows, I will show some screenshots from my iPad mini to give you an idea for how this looks and works, using my "Listen to Music" activity as an example. This uses my Mac Mini and Peachtree Nova as "devices". The Apple remote control should be self-evident; the other buttons are for the Nova. First, the iOS software searches for, and finds, my Harmony Smart base station (I've already set it up, so I'll just click on the "Connect" button): I am then presented with a menu of the activities I have created. (Note that I have used customized icons. The aspect ratio isn't preserved, so my 2012 mini appears to have gained some weight). Now I will start the "Listen to Music" activity by tapping on the appropriate icon. When I do, it opens up to the menu that I customized. (I can add or delete buttons, so I can make sure I have the functions I need the most where I want them, and I can get rid of buttons I will never use.) Here is my "Listen to Music" remote, which is a combination of Apple and Nova buttons: That little light bulb at the top enables me to program Hue Lights settings to go with the activities. If I tap on the little hand icon with the index finger extended, it gives me a simulated touch pad on the iPad: I can turn the volume down by swiping down, and turn it up by swiping up. You can customize the gestures, but so far I haven't even had time to play with the defaults. Tapping the info button (i) shows you the various one- and two-fingered gestures, in case you don't have a photographic memory. In practice, all I use so far is volume control and tap to pause/play.

<p><a href="/monthly_2014_08/cherry-finish.jpg.05dfedcd24e85a719b4c7e8aa262d398.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28278" src="/monthly_2014_08/cherry-finish.jpg.05dfedcd24e85a719b4c7e8aa262d398.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> Vanatoo powered speakers My Rating: * * * * * Link: http://www.vanatoo.com/vanatoo Summary: Powered bookshelf speakers that don't suck Advertising is actually understated 24/96 capable, with analogue, USB, Optical and Coax inputs Internal direct digital DAC/amp Honest DSP implementation Pleasing fit and finish Moderately priced at ~$500 (black) No remote control Resamples to 24/48 for DSP Packaging is a bit of a crap-shoot (see Aug 19 2014 comment). My Review: For the last couple of months I have been playing around with the new Vanatoo active bookshelf speakers, in my bedroom, and then in my office. I've formed a very favorable impression. (I also have a couple of minor quibbles, but I will leave them for the end.) Briefly, these are smallish (~10" high) speakers that can sit on a desk flanking your monitor, or sit unobtrusively in the house (eg: my bedroom, where I am intolerant of clutter and electronic junk). I opted for the red cherry finish, which adds a touch of elegance for an extra $50. (An ugly set of speakers in the house would buy me a quick trip to divorce court.) Their sound quality is quite good. They are a very clear step up from my $600 Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin, my equally over-priced B&W MM-1 speakers, and even my Audioengine A2's paired with a Dragonfly DAC. (Perhaps A5's with a Dragonfly would be more of a fair fight). If you are a bass-head, supplementing these with a competent subwoofer can certainly help. Like the B&W products and some others in this class, Vanatoo speakers employ digital signal processing. To the audiophile purist, this might appear to be off-putting, but even a brief listen made me less skeptical. DSP technology can be deployed for good or evil. At the latter extreme, we have Bose. Vanatoo's DSP is used for the greater good, i.e., to flatten the response curve, thus correcting limitations inherent to the speakers (imposed by their small size, crossovers, etc): <p><a href="/monthly_2014_08/Response.jpg.c76795a9680d688315a1a1add546fe02.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28277" src="/monthly_2014_08/Response.jpg.c76795a9680d688315a1a1add546fe02.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> The result is a completely neutral speaker down to about 49 Hz. That is quite impressive, if you stop to think about it. Equally important is what the DSP does not do, which seems to be a manifestation of the overall design ethos: do something well, or don't do it at all. Whereas the B&W and Bose systems use DSP to augment the bass, artificially compensating for the physical limitations of small speakers, Vanatoo just doesn't go there. The result is authentic bass reproduction down to 49 Hz. When I first compared the Vanatoo speakers to my Zeppelin, I thought the bass sounded a bit thin, but as I listened more carefully, I realized what we have here is very competent, articulate bass reproduction that doesn't pretend to be deep. The Zeppelin, on the other hand, pretends to be a subwoofer, with the net result that you have something rather more thick, muddy and inarticulate that can, nonetheless, dislodge the fillings from your teeth. In other words, DSP used to fake the lowest frequencies may initially sound better, but after a few minutes of listening and comparing the two, you will realize that you are being had. Vanatoo's approach to DSP and bass reproduction is simply more honest. If you really need that lower bass, the Vanatoo active speakers are designed to mesh rather seemlessly with subwoofers. I tried it with my Velodyne microvee, which I currently use in conjunction with my A2's (which really need it). Although it is a bit of an improvement to the Vanatoos, I could easily live without it. One of the truly pleasant surprises for me is that the Vanatoo active speakers are direct digital technology, meaning that the class-D-like amp is also the DAC. (If you require analogue input, there is a small subsidiary ADC that first digitizes the input.) This guarantees the shortest signal path between digital source and the speakers, and this enables the speakers to live up to the name "Transparent Ones". I've been playing around with the NAD C390DD, which is built on the same idea, and am now convinced that those who truly embrace digital music playback without reservations or romantic notions about tube warmth and vinyl analogue sound will be rewarded richly from a direct digital playback route. You won't find this in their advertising , but they told me about it over the phone. I asked why they didn't make more of a point about this, and they said they didn't want people to get bogged down in technical details. That certainly is a judgement call, and although I am no advertising executive, I am a bit of an audio geek, and these are precisely the details that speak to me. This is one of several examples that lead me to the conclusion that their advertising is a bit under-stated, something that is rather refreshing relief from the sea of bullshyte that the audio world can sometimes seem awash in. <p><a href="/monthly_2014_08/original-2-4-t1c-1.jpg.c7f1af83ab516c0237e2379e65208269.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28279" src="/monthly_2014_08/original-2-4-t1c-1.jpg.c7f1af83ab516c0237e2379e65208269.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> The speakers are rather well-built, with a lot of nice thoughts to detail. I've already mentioned the red cherry finish on the speakers I have been listening to. A left-right switch allows you to select which side the powered speaker will be on. Three digital input options (USB, coax and optical) means that I can use this with a computer, an airport express, Apple TV, or just about anything else you can think of. Although the ATV was my default input option, it doesn't really do the Vanatoo justice, since it is a 24/96 capable DAC. It also has an "optional" subwoofer out, and connecting such a beast automatically activates this and the circuitry that handles the crossover seamlessly. The amp is essentially a 60 W Class D, which limits its utility for cooking eggs, but is truly welcome for those of us concerned with energy conservation and not having a spurious room heater. I could not even detect its power consumption when left on and idle, which is good since the direct digital circuitry is dead quiet, and the only indication that you have left the thing turned on is the blue LED at the back that screams out for a little piece of black electrical tape. In fact, the only significant design oversight that I found is the lack of a remote control. With an ATV input in "zone player" (rather than streaming) mode, there is no way to control the volume, apart from getting up off your fat arse and walking to the speaker and turning it down using the volume knob at the back. I guess most people don't use it in this way, but I found it was a shortcoming, especially while recovering from a broken ankle. Overall, I give this a five star rating (out of five). Although it is tempting to ding it for a lack of remote control, that seems a bit unfair, given how much you get for your $500. I think this is an absolutely ideal system for a desktop, for a bedroom, or a college dormitory room, especially when paired with an Apple TV or Airport Express, although high-res audiophiles will find direct connection to a computer or other high-res capable playback device even more rewarding. For a mid to large size living room, it probably isn't quite enough, but for any of those other applications, it seems ideal. Supplemented with a reasonable quality sub, it would even make a great main system in a smaller room. Apparently, I am not alone in arriving at this conclusion. I just looked on Amazon, and of 20 reviews, 19 give it five stars. (The other apparently dinged it because they don't include an optical "cord"). In summary, this is a nice, conservative, honest, good-looking and exceptionally neutral and highly competent audio system that won't set you back much more than $500. They will even give you a 30 day audition.<p><a href="/monthly_2014_08/Response.jpg.c33896c77ad285c283dca48afd92094e.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28527" src="/monthly_2014_08/Response.jpg.c33896c77ad285c283dca48afd92094e.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p><p><a href="/monthly_2014_08/cherry-finish.jpg.a627948ad27fb447f5e3fcec8a80160b.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28528" src="/monthly_2014_08/cherry-finish.jpg.a627948ad27fb447f5e3fcec8a80160b.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p><p><a href="/monthly_2014_08/original-2-4-t1c-1.jpg.dbe4bb3fda5c5c829ad7751f1bc9dae5.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28529" src="/monthly_2014_08/original-2-4-t1c-1.jpg.dbe4bb3fda5c5c829ad7751f1bc9dae5.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>

After messing with a number of different remote control options, including the functionally similar Logitech Harmony Link, the details of which I have blogged previously, I decided to get the RedEye Remote, based in part on Chris's Review of The RedEye Remote, and also because I can run things from the comfort of a desktop web browser. I've sunk some time into this now, so I am creating a new blog page here to log my experiences, in the unlikely chance they might be of use to others. I'll try to make this complementary to what Chris wrote, rather than a repeat. (I have however repeated my initial assessment from Part I just to keep this self-contained.) Here is what I would like to be able to do with the ideal remote control: Run the interface from an iPad (and iPod, iPhone) Run the interface from my computer desktop, either as a stand-alone application or within a web browser. Control all of my IR stereo and AV equipment with standard IR codes, and learn those unavailable Allow limitless customization of interface Scriptability, for programming Control anything that can be controlled via IP Every controller can remember or assess the current on/off state Work in conjunction with hand-held IR remote controllers (like my Harmony 650) Although the RedEye doesn't do everything on this list, it comes as close as any of the options I have encountered. It cannot, for example, work "intelligently" with my Harmony Remote. It would be ideal if it could, or if RedEye made their own physical remote control. The sad reality is no one else in my family wants to use their iPod as a remote control device, so the Harmony 650 is here to stay. Fortunately, they can co-exist, albeit unaware of each other's existence (and therefore activity states). My primary use for this thing is to turn off all the other crap in my living room, if necessary, and then turn on the stereo and control it, along with my iTunes/Audirvana Plus playback software. I also considered iRule and Roomie. Both seem to have a slicker software interface, and both use the open-hardware standard GlobalCache boxes, so I really would have preferred one of those. But the deal breaker for me is both of these software options confine the interface to an iPad/iPod/iPhone/iOS device. I really want the ability to run this on a laptop or desktop computer, in addition to being able to use an iOS device for a remote. So that ultimately lead me to buy this instead. Initial Assessment Overall, the RedEye is sort of what I had wished that the Harmony Link would have been. I got it on Amazon.com for $167. This is $67 more than the Harmony Link (which I returned long ago now, because it would not permit me to put pauses of user-determined length between the commands like the rest of the Harmony family does, which ruined its functionality for me). So, a comparison to Harmony Link seems appropriate. 1. Practically speaking, the IR functionality of this and the Harmony Remote are very similar. The main difference is that the RedEye emitter is a little linux box running apache2, and interaction with the emitter over IP (from iOS, android and desktop browser) is via http. This has some advantages. One of these advantages is that you can make your own web page of commands, stick it on a server (local or otherwise) and immediately have access to it from any device that runs a web browser. The Redeye control software gives you the URLs explicitly, so you can embed them. Here is a screen-shot, below, of an example of a page I made to run my Peachtree Nova from my laptop or desktop or other browser. If I want to turn the volume down, turn the tube buffer off, or mute it, or turn the power to the unit off, I just click on the appropriate part of the image (which I sliced up in Adobe Photoshop), and this activates the appropriate link. On an iOS device, you can save web pages as iOS applications, so I have in essence just created a very small lightweight Nova controller app for my iPad, iPod, etc. Of course I can do all this from Redeye's own software, but this is faster, fully customized to my needs, and loads much more quickly. <p><a href="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bc27887a_ScreenShot2012-07-21at1_33_14PM.png.40584f5450f86fb05f2114b7a82a6493.png" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28117" src="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bc27887a_ScreenShot2012-07-21at1_33_14PM.png.40584f5450f86fb05f2114b7a82a6493.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> 2. The RedEye setup process really sucks, compared to that for Logitech Harmony remote controls. It made me appreciate all the more what Logitech has done. Of the 7 devices I loaded, I got a total of two working out of the box on the first try. With Logitech's setup software, which many people bitch about, everything worked, the first time. 3. RedEye's own controller software is slow and a bit buggy, and even crashes sometimes. Now that I am making my own control pages, this isn't such a big problem... 4. You can customize pause times, and the setup software inserts these between commands in activities automatically. All you have to do is set the time. This part is vastly better than what logitech does (or in the case of the Harmony Link, fatally failed to provide for). 5. The command = URL property is actually quite powerful. Here is a screenshot of how I just turned the volume down on my Nova via a unix command in the Terminal. (Not that you would want to, but what it does show is that you can bind these commands to buttons easily in an Applescript or any application creator mechanism, so the possibilities are quite enormous and powerful). Making a Custom Web-Based Interface 1. Query the web server to extract the information you need Because everything interesting happens within the RedEye unit itself, you can interact with it via its built-in web-server, and obtain all the configuration information you need. For example, I want to obtain a list of all the devices I have entered in the database, and the unique numerical "deviceId" that is associated with each. I can do so via command-line (as above) using curl or wget, or simply use a web browser, and paste within it a URL of the form http://redeye_f0102-58934.local:8080/redeye/rooms/0/devices where f0102-58934 is the unique serial number for the RedEye unit. (I've changed it from mine, BTW). Either approach returns the information formatted in XML, as shown in the browser screen shot below: <p><a href="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bc27e797_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_41_08PM.png.b230ad0b5b688ec1deef36e8d038fb44.png" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28118" src="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bc27e797_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_41_08PM.png.b230ad0b5b688ec1deef36e8d038fb44.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> The penultimate line contains the information I need for my Peachtree Nova: <device manufacturerName="Peachtree Audio" description="" portType="infrared" deviceType="6" modelName="" displayName="Peachtree" deviceId="71"/> All I really need is this: modelName="" displayName="Peachtree" deviceId="71" Now I can extract a listing of all the commands I have programmed in for the Peachtree Nova, deviceId 71, simply by going to this URL: http://redeye_f0102-58934.local:8080/redeye/rooms/0/devices/71/commands The output, again in XML, looks like this: <p><a href="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bc284a7a_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_46_59PM.png.68ffebdfd37623ca2ae48033d4d881e7.png" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28119" src="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bc284a7a_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_46_59PM.png.68ffebdfd37623ca2ae48033d4d881e7.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> Note, that in addition to the standard Peachtree commands, I have also put in a few Apple IR remote commands (play, pause, ff, rw, etc) using the "learning" capabilities of the RedEye unit. I find this convenient, because I treat the Nova and the playback software abstractly as a single "Device". (It is a good thing when software permits you to do stuff in a way that you want to do it, rather than rigidly confining you to how they think you should want to do stuff.) 2. A unique URL for every command lets you customize your own web interface So now I have a listing of all of my commands, along with the RedEye internal "commandId" number, so I know the URL for each of these commands. For example, look at the "mute" command, which has commandId=66. This tells me that simply putting a URL into my browser of the form "http://redeye_f0102-58934.local:8080/redeye/rooms/0/devices/71/commands/send?commandId=66" or issuing a command like curl "http://redeye_f0102-58934.local:8080/redeye/rooms/0/devices/71/commands/send?commandId=66" I can control the mute function. That enables me to make a standard web page, and link a mute button to the above URL.<p><a href="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bca955b4_ScreenShot2012-07-21at1_33_14PM.png.0815bbe7a2e8e3de448cc1550c214bff.png" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28367" src="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bca955b4_ScreenShot2012-07-21at1_33_14PM.png.0815bbe7a2e8e3de448cc1550c214bff.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p><p><a href="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bca9a6ff_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_41_08PM.png.3563e46536819955f4e3c39f8ef043a0.png" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28368" src="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bca9a6ff_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_41_08PM.png.3563e46536819955f4e3c39f8ef043a0.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p><p><a href="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bca9ff1d_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_46_59PM.png.bb13009c4bc8036ee2119170dcf97b72.png" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="28369" src="/monthly_2012_07/58cd9bca9ff1d_ScreenShot2012-07-21at2_46_59PM.png.bb13009c4bc8036ee2119170dcf97b72.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>