I'm currently running a bank of CD changers controlled by the WinTrax software from CD Control . This software is great in many ways, but requires a lot of work. Once you've got the data into the database and downloaded cover art, you have a lovely jukebox interface that will play songs of your choice and display the album cover art on your monitor. But I'm going to be moving soon and I'm installing a Crestron system in my new house. WinTrax isn't really compatible with Crestron and I'd like to get something more modern because cd changers are just too clunky.
I've looked at MP3 servers from Audio Request, Arrakis and Lansonic, and I think that I'm leaning towards the ARQ because it seems to interface the best with the Crestron(though if anyone has any thoughts about the other systems, I'd love to hear them). But I have a few questions.
(1) Lansonic have a lossless compression option. Is there any chance that Audio Request will have this feature at any time. If yes, could it be retrofitted to existing players?
(2) One problem I had with WinTrax was that it worked like a true jukebox. Thus if you selected all of the tracks on an album it would not just play the CD but instead select each individual track. Thus if a CD has a segue where one track runs directly into another, there would be a pause between the two songs while the player selected a new song. This is a big problem with classical music where a single piece may be broken up into many individual tracks. I realize that with MP3s the gap would be shorter, but I'm told that the ARQ does insert a short space between tracks. Is this true? How does the ARQ handle tracks with segues? One thing I've done to solve this problem with WinTrax is to burn custom CDs where the segued tracks are combined into a single track. Is there a way to force this with the ARQ's compressed files (other than ripping them from one of my custom CDs)?
(3) Is there a way to get the ARQ to display the album cover art related to each individual track?
(4) Currently, I have 900 CDs online in WinTrax. What is the maximum disk capacity of the ARQ? Can it be augmented with an external disk array? Are there any plans for increasing disk capacity in the future?
I've looked at MP3 servers from Audio Request, Arrakis and Lansonic, and I think that I'm leaning towards the ARQ because it seems to interface the best with the Crestron(though if anyone has any thoughts about the other systems, I'd love to hear them). But I have a few questions.
(1) Lansonic have a lossless compression option. Is there any chance that Audio Request will have this feature at any time. If yes, could it be retrofitted to existing players?
(2) One problem I had with WinTrax was that it worked like a true jukebox. Thus if you selected all of the tracks on an album it would not just play the CD but instead select each individual track. Thus if a CD has a segue where one track runs directly into another, there would be a pause between the two songs while the player selected a new song. This is a big problem with classical music where a single piece may be broken up into many individual tracks. I realize that with MP3s the gap would be shorter, but I'm told that the ARQ does insert a short space between tracks. Is this true? How does the ARQ handle tracks with segues? One thing I've done to solve this problem with WinTrax is to burn custom CDs where the segued tracks are combined into a single track. Is there a way to force this with the ARQ's compressed files (other than ripping them from one of my custom CDs)?
(3) Is there a way to get the ARQ to display the album cover art related to each individual track?
(4) Currently, I have 900 CDs online in WinTrax. What is the maximum disk capacity of the ARQ? Can it be augmented with an external disk array? Are there any plans for increasing disk capacity in the future?