Music capabilities of PS3

[solomr2]

Calling on PS3 owners, I need your input about the PS3's musical capabilities.

Specifically, I need to know the following:

1. Does it support variable or high res MP3 or WMA files (300 to 500K)?
2. What options do you have for loading MP3 or WMA files, can it copy from an external HDD or over a network?
3. Can you rip directly from a commercial CD, and if so, can it rip in high-res variable bit format?

The reason for these questions is for a while now, I've known that I'm going to need a high capacity storage device to store my music library. But I'm still undecided if I'm going to get an iPod, or a portable HDD MP3 player, and now I'm starting to lean towards the PS3. In the literature it says the PS3 can store and play MP3 and WMA files, but I can't seem to find any details on how it creates or loads those files and what resolution it can handle.

At the moment, whenever I buy a new CD I usually rip it to my ext. 160GB HDD using the highest setting variable-bit format, which typically results in 360-500khz resolution, and takes about 150-180MB per CD. This comes in handy when I want to listen to music in a less than audiophile setting, such as when we're entertaining guests or if I'm out in the back yard smoking a cigar and relaxing. It's just a convenience thing. But plugging in the laptop through the earphone jack, and not having remote control capabilty is a pain in the neck.

But from what I have found so far, the PS3 apparently has a pretty decent interface for this purpose, and there is an optional remote control for it, plus with the user upgradable 60GB HDD it might just be the solution I've been looking for.

So, if I can use the PS3 to store and play high resolution music files, then I won't need to buy an iPod, and I can truly utilize the PS3 as a multi-purpose device to play Blue ray DVDs, save and play media files, and occasionally to actually play video games.

 

[solomr2]

Any PS3 owners out there want to comment?

Is this thread misplaced?

 

[j_garcia]

You can rip directly from CDs, but the max is 320k. It allows MP3, MP4 and AAC, have not tried others, and I don't know if it will support higher rates or not, I would guess it would. How you get them on there is a different story - I have not seen a way on it to browse to or even connect an external HD or files on a network, but I have been wondering about this as well.

I would actually think you would be a candidate for something more like a Roku Soundbridge or something similar, unless you are looking for BluRay capability as well for sure.

 

[Fabrikator]

yea u can only transfer to the PS3s HD thru removeable media, or connecting a USB Device.

theres 3rd party software available for running a "media center like" fuction on the PS3.. but it can only stream the media from your computer. Does not support File Transfer.

 

[solomr2]

Is this some form of copy protection against piracy, or just an oversight on Sony's behalf? File transfers from other devices, particularly over a network or even over the internet should be a no-brainer with its broadband internet connectivity.

You would also think an external HDD over USB should be a no-brainer too, after all, it is a computer at its core.

Am I missing something here?

 

[solomr2]

I've continued to search the forums and www for answers and I think I have found the answer to my biggest concenr; Can the PS3 connect external USB HDDs? And the answer appears to be YES! The only glitch is that the drive must be formatted as FAT32, but otherwise it seems to work for music playback and for ripping.

So, now I think I will simply reformat my external 160GB drive from NTFS to FAT32 and I'll be in business. Now I can basically skip the iPod and go for the PS3 as a media server, Blu-ray disc player, and a decent game console to boot.

I hope this proves helpful for anyone else considering the PS3.

 

[MACCA350]

I've continued to search the forums and www for answers and I think I have found the answer to my biggest concenr; Can the PS3 connect external USB HDDs? And the answer appears to be YES! The only glitch is that the drive must be formatted as FAT32, but otherwise it seems to work for music playback and for ripping.

So, now I think I will simply reformat my external 160GB drive from NTFS to FAT32 and I'll be in business. Now I can basically skip the iPod and go for the PS3 as a media server, Blu-ray disc player, and a decent game console to boot.

I hope this proves helpful for anyone else considering the PS3.

Let us know how that works out for you, have you got some links to where you learned this. Does this work with a HDD on a network? Or just one with a direct USB connection to the PS3

cheers

 

[solomr2]

Let us know how that works out for you, have you got some links to where you learned this. Does this work with a HDD on a network? Or just one with a direct USB connection to the PS3

cheers

Well, you can do both, but I was more specifically looking for direct USB connectivity to my existing external HDD.

Here's a couple of links that discuss it; link-1 and link-2

This next link talks about accessing your PC over the network as a web server; link-3

 

[Josh784]

Keep in mind that with FAT32 you'll be limited to a maximum file size of 4GB. Shouldn't be a problem if you're only loading music on there.

 

[solomr2]

Keep in mind that with FAT32 you'll be limited to a maximum file size of 4GB. Shouldn't be a problem if you're only loading music on there.

Ah, good to know. Thanks.

 

[kzook19]

DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)

Are you guys referring to the PS3's DLNA capability?

How is the user interface for browsing music stored on a PC? Can you use playlists created on Windows Media Player?

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

Keep in mind that with FAT32 you'll be limited to a maximum file size of 4GB. Shouldn't be a problem if you're only loading music on there.

I formatted my 320G FAT32 no problem and it works perfectly with my PS3.

How is the user interface for browsing music stored on a PC? Can you use playlists created on Windows Media Player?

As of firmware 2.0, you now have playlists, though I haven't actually tried them out. The interface is pretty much just a browser at this point, you can sort by song, album or artist.

 

[solomr2]

I haven't tried the PS3, however, I have tried this with my XBox 360 Elite. Unfortunately, this is not a very pleasant way to serve music in my personal opinion. With XBox there are a couple of different ways to do it. One is if you have media center on your PC you can run the media center interface on your XBox... very bad idea, it is extremely slow and cumbersome and I had a lot of problems with it since much of my music is in FLAC format. The other is to scan for music files on your PC and use the standard media interface in the Xbox... better, but still painfully slow and cumbersome. Finally, you can rip music to your XBox and store them in your XBox media library... this is better in terms of navigation, but damn I don't envy the idea of going through and ripping my CD collection yet again.

I'd be curious to hear how PS3 handles this.

 

[j_garcia]

You don't have to run anything with the PS3 - as long as the PC is on, you can browse to the shared files via an application (Media Player for example) and you can browse and play whatever is there with the PS3s interface (OK, not great either). All that has to be done is fire up the system, share Media Player with the PS3, restart the PS3 and that's it. I've done this with both my laptop and the desktop in my office.