Disklavier

Hey Mark,

I think what you have said makes complete sense as it would be a simple software update to make it access other drives etc.

Not to speak for Yamaha at all, but I have been involved various system developments for other companies and take a personal interest in how products evolve and can see sometimes reasons for "why" things were not "done" etc... But I also get really pis-ed off when a company releases a product and if they just bothered to add a few more trivial things it would be 10x better!

But anyway, I think the 'challenge' for Yamaha with the MARK4 is to keep it a 'simple' to use system, as it is many people don't want the bother or worry about networking and anything technicial.. they just want to press the "on" and choose a song and hit play.. So imagine an 'ordarany person' trying to network/connect their external HD and trying to play ANY old file...ie .mp3's or even a wave file that is not supported with the piano, plus other various formats... The other problem, have you noticed,  the FromToPC folder is so sluggish and clunky... the reason is, all the files need to be added to a 'database' and it only supports 1 directory level... when you copy one simple 12k midi you have to 'refresh' the entire thing for it to 'update'....  I think Yamaha have good reason for this, they want neat files and the system to read the actual midi data for the song name rather than the file name if possible. Plus it is 'indexing' to make searching fast. 
So if they add the features you ask, then people still want more and more options that are "a quick easy update" so before you know it, the whole MARK4 system will have tons of updates, tons of support issues, tons of versions and weakness's will begin to surface such as the small internal drive and the lack of ram and the mobile lowpower low heat CPU that they use...

I know that I was one to have a bit list of things, but I suppose I can see their reasons.

It would be good if they had a downloadable 'system setup disk' that means that a 'tech' could simply put in a 500gb or 1tb HDD that are cheap as chips these days. The system would simply install a fresh system and be ready to go. This would reduce the need to bother with external drives. It also will save the day when peoples 80gb drives start to fail :)

But on the other hand :) :) it's a bloody computer system NOT a hardware bick like previous Disklaviers so anyone tech minded knows that more can be done... I just updated my HD drive myself to a 500gb so I could store all my Disklavier CD's and normal Audio CDs on the system. I also upgraded the RAM but it made no difference as it's hard set for 128 meg...

hmm.

Philip






________________________________
From: mjburby <mark.burby@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, 21 October, 2009 3:49:52 AM
Subject: [disklavier] Request for better network functionality

  
Hi

Not sure if this has been posted about before, but one feature I would LOVE to see implemented on a future version of software is the ability for the Disklavier to be able to access files from a networked hard drive. Having access to networked hard drives offers many benefits including elimination of storage limitations, stream music direct from the remote storage to the piano over the network, cleaner backup of the internal hard drive, ability to manage files better, no need to physically attach anything (USB stick USB hard drive or CD) to the Disklavier other than the network cable which nearly all of us have already.

Currently, the PRC has been programmed so that you don't get to chose which locations it looks in, the PRC has these preset; you click on CD to access the CD drive, USB for the USB port, and FromToPC to access the FromToPC folder on the Disklavier hard drive. I appreciate that this is to enhance usability and make things less complex but access to a directory list of music locations accessible to the disklavier would not phase too many people out. If necessary, this could be tucked away in the Setup section.

Firstly I would like to be able to list drives such as the CD, floppy, USB, and hard disk as a list, and drill into the directory structure of each.

Secondly, I'd like the ability to add network drives to this list.

Thirdly, I'd like to be able to have the facility to move/copy files from one location to another e.g. from my disklavier hard drive to my network drive or vice versa

Fourthly (and most importantly) , to have the ability to play music stored on a network drive directly, streaming it real time over the network (this could be buffered in the disklavier much as the internet radio streams do) to basically obviate the need for the attached hard drive.

I don't think I'm asking for too much - the functionality is there but the UI on the PRC doesn't give you access to it.

Providing this functionality effectively eliminates the issue of the built in hard disk space limitation and provides a cleaner way to ensure that the disklavier hard drive is backed up.

Please please Yamaha implement this high value, low effort facility.


   


      __________________________________________________________________________________
Get more done like never before with Yahoo!7 Mail.
Learn more: http://au.overview.mail.yahoo.com/