Info please
 

Hi Guys

Can I pick some expert brains please?

I am looking for a non portable HDD based MP3 player with a cd drive
included. The idea is that I can load all of my cds onto the system,
stick them in the loft and just use the files stored on the HDD going
forward.

I heard a rumour that Sony used to produce such a thing but it is no
longer available.

Thanks in advance

Adrian

Info please
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi Guys

Can I pick some expert brains please?

I am looking for a non portable HDD based MP3 player with a cd drive
included. The idea is that I can load all of my cds onto the system,
stick them in the loft and just use the files stored on the HDD going
forward.

I heard a rumour that Sony used to produce such a thing but it is no
longer available.

Thanks in advance

Adrian

http://www.cyberselect.co.uk/changer...logue=speakers

Bloody expensive though, build a PC with a rack mounted component that
accesses the shared directory. Much cheaper, and can expand as much as you
like (HD) also can use your own encodes types (just install codec) ie OGG,
FLAC etc.I wouldn't put a PC in the loft either, what about under the
stairs?

Info please
 

Nath wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Hi Guys

Can I pick some expert brains please?

I am looking for a non portable HDD based MP3 player with a cd drive
included. The idea is that I can load all of my cds onto the system,
stick them in the loft and just use the files stored on the HDD going
forward.

I heard a rumour that Sony used to produce such a thing but it is no
longer available.

Thanks in advance

Adrian


http://www.cyberselect.co.uk/changer...logue=speakers

Bloody expensive though, build a PC with a rack mounted component that
accesses the shared directory. Much cheaper, and can expand as much as you
like (HD) also can use your own encodes types (just install codec) ie OGG,
FLAC etc.I wouldn't put a PC in the loft either, what about under the
stairs?



You're right - that's a fair old price. I'm thinking off getting one of
these when they're out:

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/press_...io+Az ur+640H

I'm using a Yamaha 160Gb HD/CDR component which is good - but no mp3.

For the PC route I'd consider a laptop (275UKP ebay; 375UKP new) and
external USB soundcard (50UKP*) plus an external HDD (new 80UKP) if you
want more local space, and/or a wireless router/PC card (75UKP) for an
ADSL connected PC elsewhere. Advantage over build-yer-own is the screen,
low noise and portability.

Rob

* not sure which is best - my Creative NX is good but only works
properly when the laptop's running off batteries.

Info please
 

Info please
 

"Rob" wrote


You're right - that's a fair old price. I'm thinking off getting one of
these when they're out:

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/press_...io+Az ur+640H

I'm using a Yamaha 160Gb HD/CDR component which is good - but no mp3.

For the PC route I'd consider a laptop (275UKP ebay; 375UKP new) and
external USB soundcard (50UKP*) plus an external HDD (new 80UKP) if you
want more local space, and/or a wireless router/PC card (75UKP) for an
ADSL connected PC elsewhere. Advantage over build-yer-own is the screen,
low noise and portability.



Agree entirely, even with a 'normal' PC I'm using an external soundcard and
external 200 Gb HDDs nowadays.....

Info please
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
.. .

"Rob" wrote


You're right - that's a fair old price. I'm thinking off getting one of
these when they're out:

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/press_...io+Az ur+640H

I'm using a Yamaha 160Gb HD/CDR component which is good - but no mp3.

For the PC route I'd consider a laptop (275UKP ebay; 375UKP new) and
external USB soundcard (50UKP*) plus an external HDD (new 80UKP) if you
want more local space, and/or a wireless router/PC card (75UKP) for an
ADSL connected PC elsewhere. Advantage over build-yer-own is the screen,
low noise and portability.



Agree entirely, even with a 'normal' PC I'm using an external soundcard
and external 200 Gb HDDs nowadays.....

For around £1300 I can fit a PC with about 10 250GB HD's. :-D

Add another couple of hundred quid for a streamer box thingy in each
location. And that's it. Cheaper than a single Sound Server, and
considerably more storage and upgradability.

Info please
 

"Nath" wrote


Agree entirely, even with a 'normal' PC I'm using an external soundcard
and external 200 Gb HDDs nowadays.....

For around £1300 I can fit a PC with about 10 250GB HD's. :-D

Add another couple of hundred quid for a streamer box thingy in each
location. And that's it. Cheaper than a single Sound Server, and
considerably more storage and upgradability.



You've got too many bloody oggs then.....!!

Info please
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
.. .

"Nath" wrote


Agree entirely, even with a 'normal' PC I'm using an external soundcard
and external 200 Gb HDDs nowadays.....

For around £1300 I can fit a PC with about 10 250GB HD's. :-D

Add another couple of hundred quid for a streamer box thingy in each
location. And that's it. Cheaper than a single Sound Server, and
considerably more storage and upgradability.



You've got too many bloody oggs then.....!!

My entire audio colletion encoded to OGG, with same MP3 is just under 40GB,
so EVERYTHING fits onto my iriver..in fact I have around 4.6GB free since I
delete duplicates or "alternative" versions...I mean do you really need 8
versions of the same song?? Also got compilations, best of's, Rock/Chart
show compilations some tracks duplicated. Also some sequential albums have
one track from another album (REM for instance)

I was just saying for the same price of the Sound Server I could outfit a
whopper PC server, and store everything as lossless, or even if lossy
highbitrate with thousands of albums (if you have that many)

Did you read the last message on the OGG v MP3 thread? (get latest Lame and
OGG encoder)

Info please
 

"Nath" wrote in message
.. .

"Keith G" wrote in message
.. .

"Nath" wrote


Agree entirely, even with a 'normal' PC I'm using an external soundcard
and external 200 Gb HDDs nowadays.....

For around £1300 I can fit a PC with about 10 250GB HD's. :-D

Add another couple of hundred quid for a streamer box thingy in each
location. And that's it. Cheaper than a single Sound Server, and
considerably more storage and upgradability.



You've got too many bloody oggs then.....!!

My entire audio colletion encoded to OGG, with same MP3 is just under
40GB, so EVERYTHING fits onto my iriver..in fact I have around 4.6GB free
since I delete duplicates or "alternative" versions...I mean do you really
need 8 versions of the same song??


I certainly don't, but I dread to think how many versions of 'Strangers In
The Night' I've got here and there....



Also got compilations, best of's, Rock/Chart show compilations some tracks
duplicated. Also some sequential albums have one track from another album
(REM for instance)

I was just saying for the same price of the Sound Server I could outfit a
whopper PC server, and store everything as lossless, or even if lossy
highbitrate with thousands of albums (if you have that many)


OK. Fair comment, in that case...



Did you read the last message on the OGG v MP3 thread? (get latest Lame
and OGG encoder)


Most jobs in my life seem to start with clearing out the garage, in this
case I've had to build me 'pot in a box' to get some *controlled* rips from
vinyl (otherwise any comparison is meaningless to me - digital's ****ed to
start off with!!). I'll record a 'standard' to both formats and try again
(shortly....) but bear in mind my 'auditioner' has already picked MP3s over
OGGs (over easy)....

Lame? I've already heard that it isn't all it's cracked up to be?

I keep an open mind.... :-)

Info please
 

Nath wrote:
"Keith G" wrote in message
.. .

"Nath" wrote

snip

I was just saying for the same price of the Sound Server I could outfit a
whopper PC server, and store everything as lossless, or even if lossy
highbitrate with thousands of albums (if you have that many)

Could you manage it for the price of the Cambridge (500UKP)? Or the
laptop combo (factor in a 15" TFT)?


Did you read the last message on the OGG v MP3 thread? (get latest Lame and
OGG encoder)




This is becoming increasingly tricky to call. Storage is becoming
cheaper, and I'd guess that codecs will become more efficient. For
future proof archiving surely the best way is just store wavs? 200Gb for
60UKP - what's that, about 15p per CD? When/if some bright spark comes
up with the 1000:1 lossless codec there you have it. To move with the
times you just keep encoding the wavs and replace your old compressed
files with the new compression technique (for your iRiver, WHY); save
time, optimal quality.

Just my thought for the day. Back to bed :-)

Rob

Info please
 

"Rob" wrote in message
...
Nath wrote:
"Keith G" wrote in message
.. .

"Nath" wrote

snip

I was just saying for the same price of the Sound Server I could outfit a
whopper PC server, and store everything as lossless, or even if lossy
highbitrate with thousands of albums (if you have that many)

Could you manage it for the price of the Cambridge (500UKP)? Or the laptop
combo (factor in a 15" TFT)?

If you've got a old PC, the yes...just add a couple of HD's and away you go.
Basically a server. Don't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse either...either
on 24/7 or perhaps flick it on remotely.



Did you read the last message on the OGG v MP3 thread? (get latest Lame
and OGG encoder)



This is becoming increasingly tricky to call. Storage is becoming cheaper,
and I'd guess that codecs will become more efficient. For future proof
archiving surely the best way is just store wavs?

Or Lossless FLAC, that way can re-rip to lossy. However I would probably
just re-rip my faviourate albums as with the "newer higher quality lossy" so
inserting the CD isn't a big deal. I've ripped/encoded 1000 albums and that
is very time consuming, however my encodes are OGG ~180kps I doubt a newer
lossy codec will improve some of the recordings, considering quality (ie
Nirvana, thrash etc

200Gb for 60UKP - what's that, about 15p per CD? When/if some bright spark
comes up with the 1000:1 lossless codec there you have it. To move with the
times you just keep encoding the wavs and replace your old compressed files
with the new compression technique (for your iRiver, WHY); save time,
optimal quality.

Yeah, use FLAC as the source, re-encode. Iriver is a great sounding portable
DAP, OGG support, and now flashed Rockbox. So it should have FLAC, as well
as MOD, MID etc etc :-D

Info please
 

Nath wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message
...

Nath wrote:

"Keith G" wrote in message
m...


"Nath" wrote


snip

I was just saying for the same price of the Sound Server I could outfit a
whopper PC server, and store everything as lossless, or even if lossy
highbitrate with thousands of albums (if you have that many)

Could you manage it for the price of the Cambridge (500UKP)? Or the laptop
combo (factor in a 15" TFT)?


If you've got a old PC, the yes...just add a couple of HD's and away you go.
Basically a server. Don't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse either...either
on 24/7 or perhaps flick it on remotely.

Yes - but the point is that with either of my options you have an entire
front end. Either can 'suck'/'spit' music from/to any source - the main
hifi, a pc/mac or the internet. As can your option but not, I would
suggest, as easily. You simply dial in at the Cambridge or laptop
interface, which can sit (fairly) unobtrusively by the hifi. You could
easily site a pc near the hifi - but then you've got
cables/monitor/noise etc. And if you don't want a pc near the hifi,
those frontend things only serve - they don't allow playback/recording
*from* the hifi source. For additional storage you could daisy chain USB
HDs.

Mind you, the OT only wants playback of existing files (I think) so your
option, plus say a:

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_overview.html could well fit the bill.





Did you read the last message on the OGG v MP3 thread? (get latest Lame
and OGG encoder)



This is becoming increasingly tricky to call. Storage is becoming cheaper,
and I'd guess that codecs will become more efficient. For future proof
archiving surely the best way is just store wavs?


Or Lossless FLAC, that way can re-rip to lossy. However I would probably
just re-rip my faviourate albums as with the "newer higher quality lossy" so
inserting the CD isn't a big deal. I've ripped/encoded 1000 albums and that
is very time consuming, however my encodes are OGG ~180kps I doubt a newer
lossy codec will improve some of the recordings, considering quality (ie
Nirvana, thrash etc


200Gb for 60UKP - what's that, about 15p per CD? When/if some bright spark
comes up with the 1000:1 lossless codec there you have it. To move with the
times you just keep encoding the wavs and replace your old compressed files
with the new compression technique (for your iRiver, WHY); save time,
optimal quality.


Yeah, use FLAC as the source, re-encode. Iriver is a great sounding portable
DAP, OGG support, and now flashed Rockbox. So it should have FLAC, as well
as MOD, MID etc etc :-D


Quite - I suspect I'd be as satisfied as you with that. However it is
possible - even likely - that different methods of storing music will
arise. Perhaps it's just that I'd *feel* better knowing that I had a
perfect copy of the original - even if I couldn't reliably tell the
difference. As it is I've got 1000s of 128/192/320 kbps mp3s - I can't
be bothered to rerip them, but any new stuff gets wavd and, for now,
320kbps ripped. Those iRiver things are the nuts if you like portables
tho but.

Rob

Info please
 

Rob wrote:

... You simply dial in at the Cambridge or
laptop interface, which can sit (fairly) unobtrusively by the hifi.
You could easily site a pc near the hifi - but then you've got
cables/monitor/noise etc.

My video card has an s-video output - the computer's display goes to the
(cheapie) wide screen TV, and I use a wireless keyboard and mouse to drive
the computer while slobbing back on the sofa. A long USB cable goes to the
keyboard/mouse receiver which is under the sofa - the cable goes under a rug
and isn't in the way. The mouse and keyboard are just treated as (yet) more
remotes that get piled in a drawer in the coffee table. (It's a
smallish-footprint keyboard.)


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com/FiatPandaRally/index.htm
www.wally.myby.co.uk