hi,

i want to make a dedicated music server for my home, and am pulling hair trying to come up with a final option, and just going with it.

in a nutshell. my main computer would probably act as the brain/server. i cn attach either USB drives to it, or an NAS server and a couple drives. i'm leaning towards the portable drives.

as far as music ripping, i want to rip all my cds (over 700) to some lossless format (FLAC or ALAC). i have been using itunes already and am used to it, bu no FLAC for it, just he proprietary format.

now is where it gets tricky. i have been using my laptop in my living room to play tunes through my stereo, since itunes will let me share from the main computer's library. i like that, and i don'!!!

i like the ease, but i'd like to know if i can get a better signal to the RCA ins of the stereo. I am using a 3.5mm to two RCA cord to connect it, bu am using the laptop's native soundcard for the DAC (sblaster).

i'm thinking i can do better at that point, even if it is their PCMCIA expansion sound card (24/96). or something that would guarantee a good sound, without breaking the bank.

then there's the need for a remote!! it gets crazier the further i get into this.

any suggestions to all i have mentioned to this point would be great.

i have looked into the squeeze box, but don't know if that would be good for me.

thanks,
d

The first thing I would do is get an external USB DAC. How much to you want to spend on a remote? An iPod Touch is a great option and I recommend it all the time.

If you are going to spend countless hours ripping your music collection, you do NOT want to trust it to some uncooled external drives.

Get yourself a nice, well-cooled case, and put some decent drives in that.

As far as getting the sound into your machine goes... I don't see a separate card as being necessarily better than what is in your laptop already.

SirWired

As far as getting the sound into your machine goes... I don't see a separate card as being necessarily better than what is in your laptop already.

SirWired

I have to disagree 100%. An internal DAC on a laptop v. something like a Benchmark DAC1 USB is no contest. The external DAC is far and away better and worth the cost.

I have to disagree 100%. An internal DAC on a laptop v. something like a Benchmark DAC1 USB is no contest. The external DAC is far and away better and worth the cost.

For $1200 it sure as he11 should sound better than a laptop, or any other onboard soundcard. While the reviews show it's a great device, I think this is in a different class than what the original poster intended.

I have to disagree 100%. An internal DAC on a laptop v. something like a Benchmark DAC1 USB is no contest. The external DAC is far and away better and worth the cost.

I was referring to the OP's suggestion of a PCMCIA card. I didn't say anything about an external DAC either way. I could certainly imagine a MegaBux DAC being better than some 50-cent chip on a SoundBlaster...

SirWired

Creative Labs XMod got a really good review in a magazine a few months ago. They're priced pretty reasonably and I've seen them on sale at Fry's as low as $30 after rebate.

On the other hand, I'd make the case for a dedicated solution. I do like the squeezebox for this.

The other solution I'd consider is an XBMC xbox. It's inexpensive (can be found for $60 or less all day). It sounds good (IMHO). It can be controlled remotely by any web enabled device on your network, or with any universal IR remote (the latter would obviously require it be connected to a TV). And it can even handle ripping, although I don't think it supports ripping to flac, but it will play them. Finally you could even load it up with a 750GB HDD and possibly meet your storage requirements. It may not meet your needs, but it seems worth considering.

Windows home server can be built for as little as $400 if you have a suitable donor PC.

I just built one of these and am more than pleased with my 1TB of storage (that can be easily expanded). All PC's in the house have free access to it as well as the xbox 360. Not to mention I can login and stream my collection from work.

I'm right pleased with it.

I'm curious about Windows Home Server. What feature(s) does it have that make it useful over, say, a NAS, or a shared folder on your regular computer? I'm sure I must be missing something.

I'm curious about Windows Home Server. What feature(s) does it have that make it useful over, say, a NAS, or a shared folder on your regular computer? I'm sure I must be missing something.

this probably isn't detailed enough to really answer your question but google will find you more than you probably desire to really know ;)

How is Windows Home Server better than home Network Attached Storage (NAS) products?

Windows Home Server provides unprecedented simplicity for home users and it was designed to solve problems for households with multiple PCs.

More than just storage, Windows Home Server uniquely provides a single pool of storage for your content and pre-defined shared folders, such as "Music" or "Photos," making it easier to organize and find your files. Windows Home Server also makes it easy to add more storage, provides built-in search capabilities, monitors the health of your home computers and allows you to stream content to other devices in the home, such as Xbox 360.

In addition, as a development platform, Windows Home Server offers partners great opportunities to create solutions for the digital home. This means that a wide range of applications and tools that integrate with and take advantage of Windows Home Server will be available.

Windows Home Server provides unprecedented simplicity for home users and it was designed to solve problems for households with multiple PCs.

More than just storage, Windows Home Server uniquely provides a single pool of storage for your content and pre-defined shared folders, such as "Music" or "Photos," making it easier to organize and find your files. Windows Home Server also makes it easy to add more storage, provides built-in search capabilities, monitors the health of your home computers and allows you to stream content to other devices in the home, such as Xbox 360.

In addition, as a development platform, Windows Home Server offers partners great opportunities to create solutions for the digital home. This means that a wide range of applications and tools that integrate with and take advantage of Windows Home Server will be available.

Don't take this the wrong way, I WANT to want this. But I just can't find one real benefit to this over a shared HD on my regular PC. I'm not a windows hater, and I'm certainly not a Luddite. I'm still hopeful that there's more to this... some feature I haven't heard of besides a central shared storage depot with ready-named folders.

Don't take this the wrong way, I WANT to want this. But I just can't find one real benefit to this over a shared HD on my regular PC. I'm not a windows hater, and I'm certainly not a Luddite. I'm still hopeful that there's more to this... some feature I haven't heard of besides a central shared storage depot with ready-named folders.

it's a bit more robust than a NAS. this is a pretty good write up on it

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/whs_preview.asp

I think what I like most about it is the automatic back-ups of all PC's in the house (with easy restore tools), remote access, you can quickly set up web interfaces to share your data, there is many add-ins that anyone can write to add specific functionality www.wegotserved.co.uk

I have really enjoyed the fact that my xbox 360 located the server without any prompting of me and easily provided me access to all my music and pictures.

I had a few hurdles in installing everything, but now its all up and running it is really a cool tool. And since it only cost $400 for the software and 2 500G drives...plus a donor PC it's really a cost effective back up tool.