UMusic

* uMusic
* uMusic+

## History

Introduced with Lifestyle 38 & 48 and 321 GSX & GSXL home theater systems in June of 2004. This technology allowed the ability to store CD's. The Lifestyle 38 & 321 GSX models stored upto 200 hours of music while the Lifestyle 48 & 321 GSXL stored 340 hours of music.

uMusic was claimed by Bose to be "an intelligent playback system" because it ranks the music stored on the system by one's listening habits, and is supposed to learn one's musical tastes.

This is influenced by utilizing the +/- buttons on the remote, or just by skipping and listening to tracks stored on the system. uMusic also makes connections between different artists using built-in databases called *Gracenote CD Database* and *AllMusic Guide*, by mood, instrument, or artist collaborations. Through these steps it "learns" one's musical tastes quickly, and chooses music accordingly.

## Features

In 2006 Bose stated that "*This proprietary system digitally stores thousands of songs in the media center, freeing you from managing a cumbersome CD collection. The uMusic system actually listens to your music and learns your preferences to select tracks based on what you like. No menus, no playlists, no computer.*" Trying to emphasise ease of use without a computer.

### Storing a CD

The following instructions are taken directly from the uMusic system guide:

When storing a CD the media center. Follow these steps for each CD:

1. Press Open/Close on the media center.
2. Place a CD in the tray and press Open/Close again.
3. Press **Store** on the media center. While the CD is being stored, the media center displays STORING and shows the progress of this task.
4. When STORING no longer appears on the display, you can remove the CD and repeat the process with another CD.

Press on your remote. The uMusic system automatically starts selecting songs for you. Listen to the songs you like and skip the songs you don’t want to hear. It’s that simple.

### 9 Presets

The following instructions are taken directly from the uMusic system guide:

At first, the uMusic system doesn’t know what you like, so it selects songs from your entire collection. It notices which songs you listen to and which ones you skip. Using its catalog of music information, the uMusic system identifies up to 30 characteristics of the songs you seem to like, including genre, artist, style and tone. Then the system selects songs related to the ones you like. The more you listen, the better the uMusic system gets to know your musical taste.

### uMusic+ Update

    At the start of 2009, Bose released uMusic+ with firmware 05.01.01 for 321 and Lifestyle uMusic systems. This update added the ability to store MP3 CD's, the ability to create upto 9 playlists (expanding from a single one previously), & updated the interface.

### Remote Functions

The following instructions are taken directly from the uMusic & uMusic+ system guides:

* **Stored**: *select Stored music as the audio source.* This starts the uMusic playback system.
* Press **Library**. A screen appears on the TV where you can search through your collection by genre, artist, album or track. Use the navigation buttons to search. You can also browse the Library using the media center display.
* Press the **Guide** button to see the list of actions you can take.
* **Info** : *Find out more about the track now playing.* Press Info. A screen appears on your TV showing information about the track that is playing. Press Exit to close the screen.
* **uMusic**: *return to uMusic playback.* Press this button to return to uMusic playback from Encore, CD#, Whole CD or Playlist.
* **–**: *indicate dislike of a song and skip it.* This will make this song (and songs like it) less likely to play in the current preset. (Pressing – does not delete the song or completely exclude it from playing in this preset.)
* **+** : *indicate that you really like a song.* This will make this song (and songs like it) more likely to play in the current preset.
* **Encore**: *If a song really captures your mood.* If a song is just right for the moment, press Encore. Encore will create a focused listening session built around this particular song. When the Encore session is done, uMusic playback resumes.
* **CD #**: *Play a particular CD.* Press CD# and immediately enter the CD number. You can also find and play CDs in the music Library, When the CD finishes playing, the uMusic system again selects songs for you.
* **Playlist**: press to play the Playlist.
	+ Press and hold to add a song to the **Playlist**.
	+ While the song that you want to delete is playing (in Playlist), press and hold **Playlist**.
	+ Add a track, album, artist or genre to the Playlist Press **Library**. The library screen appears. Use the navigation buttons to browse through your music collection. When you find a track, album artist or genre that you want to add to the Playlist, select, then press and hold **Playlist** until the media center shows Track >> Playlist or Album >> Playlist. The Library screen on the TV also indicates that a track, or one or more albums have been added to the Playlist.
* **Whole CD**: *Play the whole CD of the song now playing.* The whole CD will play, starting with track 1. Whole CD appears on the media center display. When the CD finishes playing, the uMusic system again selects songs for you.

### Download files

 **AV3-2-1II GSXLAV3-2-1III GSXL** | 321 GSXL series I321 GSXL series III

### uMusic update DVD's

    uMusic used a licenced a copy of the Gracenote CD database to recognise and import CD information into its system.

Bose mailed a DVD free of charge to registered users with an updated "Gracenote CD database", *typically*, on a biannual schedule, from 2004 until 2014, ending with version 01.02.01. These updates allowed for the uMusic system to identify newly released CD's.

The uMusic update also included all other updates found on uMusic Lifestyle & 321 Update CD's. Keeping those systems fully up-to-date.

#### Release Notes

Only known releases where dates have been confirmed are bolded in the table below. Release dates have been taken from the file dates on the DVD.

## References

1. ↑ Bose uMusic Intelligent Playback System Flash Media Player Animation
2. ↑ Bose.com Lifestyle 48 April 2006
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 uMusic system guide
4. ↑ uMusic+ system guide