Life is but a stream

ERT editor Sean Hannam explores the world of audio streaming - his top tip for 2012.

At recent work-related social events, I have been asked the same questions again and again: what are the opportunities for independent dealers and what technology do you think will be big in 2012?

In this instalment of Hannam’s Half Hour, I will now try to offer up some of my views on those two topics.

Firstly, let’s deal with the technology issue, which, coincidentally, is linked to new opportunities in retail.

I believe that the big thing next year will be streaming – in particular, audio content.

My first experience of audio streaming was when I signed up to a premium Spotify account – I use the digital music streaming service to listen to songs on my iPhone when I’m on the move. 

In recent weeks we’ve had big announcements from brands such as Pure, which unveiled its Cloud-based streaming service Pure Music, while Apple launched its iCloud service.

Apple’s AirPlay wireless technology will also be incorporated into more audio devices in 2012, allowing users to stream music wirelessly in the home.

As Dan Fletcher, product manager for soundbar brand Orbitsound, told ERT  this month: “In short, in 2012, we will have our heads in the Cloud.”

Speaking at the launch of Pure Music, director of marketing Colin Crawford, said: “Pure Music is now at the heart of all our internet radios, making it child’s play to find and enjoy any music you want directly on your favourite listening device. Forget the hassle of downloading and ripping - just search and enjoy.”

Internet radio, with streaming capabilities, is certainly set to be a growth area in 2012 – and a good one for indies to explore, but there are other opportunities in the world of audio – particularly at the high-end.

For me, streaming is just an added benefit, it’s doesn’t replace my record collection.

I am in my late thirties and am a music junkie. I have amassed a CD collection of several thousand albums.

I don’t download whole albums from iTunes – just selected songs. If I like a song, I will then buy the album on CD - I still want to be able to own the physical format.

This, of course, creates certain problems – namely space. A huge CD collection takes up a lot of room. In my case, it actually takes up one whole room – the second bedroom in the small cottage that I share with my girlfriend. I also don’t want to clutter up our front room with piles of CDs when we want to listen to music.

Shortly after we moved into our new place this summer, I used Twitter to outline my dilemma - how to store - and access - my vast music collection in a small house, without having to dispense with all my CDs. I also didn’t want to have to keep searching through thousands of CDs to find the one I wanted.

At the time, I didn’t have a hi-fi set-up – but did have an Internet connection.

Luckily, someone came to my rescue. Steve Harris, PR representative of top-end hi-fi brand Naim, suggested that he knew the answer and could loan me a system in order to help educate me – and in turn, the readers of ERT – on the benefits of quality audio streaming.

Steve popped round to my house and installed a simple, but very high quality Naim streaming system in my lounge. The set-up consisted of:

Naim UnitiServe CD Ripper/ 1TB storage/UPnP server

Naim UnitiQute All in one Network player, with DAB/FM/UPnP Renderer/DAC/Amplifier and iPod dock

Neat Motive 2 floorstanding loudspeakers

Chord Company Odyssey speaker cable

He made the decision to use a pair of Ethernet over mains adapters to connect the system to the home network.

A simple mains four-way adapter, a Netgear GS105 Switch and three Belkin 0.5m Cat 6 cables completed the set up.

The UnitiQute can play music in 24bit/96kHz WAV or FLAC files.

I must say that the whole installation took a relatively short time to complete and I have now embraced the world of high-quality audio streaming – so much so, that it’s become the normal way in which I listen to music in the house.

Now, as soon as I buy a new album on CD, which, for me, is a weekly occurrence, I rip it straight onto the UnitiServe, which only takes a matter of minutes.

Over time, I’m also ripping my back catalogue of CDs to the system, constantly dipping into my collection to rediscover old albums, which is fun.

It’s going to take a while, but, eventually, I will be able to have my whole music collection easily available in my lounge, while the CDs are neatly stacked in the second bedroom.

And the other neat thing is that I can easily scroll through and access all the tracks and also control the system with the free Naim n-Stream app, which I’ve downloaded to my iPhone – thousands of songs are available from the comfort of my sofa.

It’s also a sure-fire talking point when we have friends round for dinner.

So, I’ve finally entered the world of proper, premium hi-fi – yikes, I’ve even bought some jazz albums!

Seriously though, the system is easy for a dealer to set-up and is a compact solution, which doesn’t clutter up the house.

To find out more about how Naim can work with independents to help them enter the world of audio streaming, I spoke to Naim’s international sales manager, Doug Graham, who told me: "The interest in streamed music is driving customers to audio specialists and Naim is providing retailers with not just world class, leading streaming products, but the training required for the retailer to properly implement these products on a network. Over the last year, we have been involved in hosting networking training at our facility in Salisbury and have introduced retailers and the public to our solution during five road shows over the summer. Ripped, stored and streamed music is incredibly exciting and managing your music has never been so easy.”

And, like me, Mr Graham highlights the joy of using streaming to rediscover songs or albums you’d forgotten about: “Rediscovering your music collection always throws up a few surprises… especially when you use ‘Random’ play. You then remember why you bought that neglected album.”

So, streaming will be big news next year, is easy to use and also delivers great consumer benefits.

And with the right support and education, the world of high quality, audio streaming offers good opportunities for independent retailers, who should be able to sell it with confidence. 

Soon we could all be, ahem, living the stream.

seanhannam@ERTgroup.co.uk