Why would a NAS be querying MB?

[rwheaton1]

OK…I have a question…just curious since I have a NAS but mine is Synology. Why are QNAP having this problem?

[IvanDobsky]

Scroll up to the top of the thread…

Can't connect to Musicbrainz.org website and Picard doesn't check music on home network

That’s a long story, but basically QNAP devices are querying our webservice abusively, currently 70% of the incoming traffic is from such devices, but the bad thing is that most users aren’t aware of it, and it doesn’t serve any purpose (users don’t complain at all when we block those queries at http level). But we are now blocking at IP level, to spare more bandwidth, so only legit and regular users of MusicBrainz having a QNAP device actually complain, and we whitelist them. The whole story …

[rwheaton1]

@IvanDobsky

Scroll up to the top of the thread…

I did read the thread…guess I’m not getting why a NAS would be querying MB.

[jesus2099]

Maybe to display information about the music playing.

To speak in Synology terms, with the equivalent of Audio Station, when NAS is plugged to an amp through a USB DAC or by standard audio wires (was possible in Synology up to DSM 6, no longer possible with DSM 7).

Or maybe to automatically enrich data of the included audio library soft.

[IvanDobsky]

@rwheaton1

guess I’m not getting why a NAS would be querying MB.

Buggy code from the Media Player. Add @zas and @jesus2099 reply together, and multiple by some badly tested code that keeps making queries every few seconds. Multiply by many thousands of NAS sold. Total result = DoS style hit. It would be easy to make a mistake like that if the code is not properly tested.

That IRC discussion in Zas’ post is an interesting bit of detective work.

A decent Media Centre would keep a database of any MB lookup. A lazily coded one would keep making lookups of data it already knew.

[rwheaton1]

@jesus2099

Audio Station

Ahh…I never bothered with the included music programs. iTunes server I never bothered with since I’m really hating iTunes LOL

[jesus2099]

It’s not iTunes, it’s Audio Station, a simple player, that you can remote control and that plays sounds through the Synology USB output.*

I plugged there a very old clumsy cheap DAC** (equivalent of 10€ USB to mic+headset jack) between Synology USB and a mini/shelf hi-fi set (I don’t know the English name, a Sony CMT-something).

There is no need for a computer to keep the music playing.
You can remote control it from time to time with your smartphone (or computer or Synology Remote) to change the playlist.

* DSM 7 dropped USB support (except external HDD). So you cannot use a USB DAC if you don’t stay in DSM 6.

** I don’t use it much (it’s in where I work, not my good main hi-fi set where I listen to my music) and it sounds good enough but if someone wants to use it, it would be great to plug a better DAC, of course.

[rwheaton1]

@jesus2099

• DSM 7 dropped USB support

I don’t know why they did that!! I do have a SSD attached and have been using Roon over the past couple days. It’s a nice interface but I don’t think I will want to pay a monthly/yearly fee.

[jesus2099]

@rwheaton1

I do have a SSD attached and have been using Roon

Please read the full quote:

@jesus2099

DSM 7 dropped USB support (except external HDD)

So it’s okay for your (USB?) SSD.
Or is Roon a USB device?

If the only USB device you are using is a storage device, you should be fine with DSM 7.

They dropped support for all the other USB devices, most importantly DAC, but also speakers (same as DAC), printers, wi-fi, Bluetooth, etc.

[rwheaton1]

@jesus2099

So it’s okay for your (USB?) SSD.

Yeah, I added a SSD since Roon says you should run the DB on one for better performance. Roon is a music service that organizes your music library, has a lot of information, and connects to streaming services (if you have the membership). Here is the website:
Music Player App & Music Server Software (FREE Trial) | Roon Labs

I am already on the newest DSM software…just had another update this past week.