Forgive the nutty title, but everyone that makes one of these things seems to have a different name for the concept. I’ve seen them called media players, media adapters, MP3 transmitters, digital audio receivers, etc.
Most of them use a LAN connection - either wired or wireless and some use proprietary radio links.
The basic function is to take MP3 files off your PC and play them on the stereo system. Some of these go a step farther and can play AVI and other videos, display JPG pictures and such on the TV, and possibly even take video streams and play “ripped” DVDs off the computer.
You can keep the video functions. I simply want a device to take the 400 CDs I’ve ripped to my PC and play them on the stereo. I still have the CDs, but they’re now in storage. I want them to play well. So far, the top pick on my list is the Slim Devices Squeezebox. Their SliMP3 was well-regarded, and the Squeezebox is the latest evolution.
I’ve heard horror stories about some players’ inability to play a disc in track order, and instead playing tracks in alphabetic order. To me, that’s some crazed variant of shuffle play, and is just plain wrong. Would an opera make sense scrambled up? Would Pink Floyd’s The Wall?
My top priority is audio quality, followed by ability to play CDs in track order, ease of use, and wireless connection. “G” wireless is preferred.
Anyone out there have one of these critters? Care to share your experiences?
Check to see if your audio card has a LINE OUT port. Check to see if your stereo has a LINE IN. Grab a set of audio cables from Radio Shack, and you’re all set.
Seriously, this is probably the best way to go if you don’t have to have wireless. It’s cheap, should sound as good as your computer’s soundcard + your stereo’s speakers can allow, and it’s simple to set up. Just use winamp or something similar, and you can make playlists in any order you want.
I happen to have a player that uses the alphabetical playing order and it is quite annoying. I mean, the MP3s have the track number encoded in the file so why isn’t it used? The workaround that I’ve seen is to have the track number at the beginning of the track name, so for The Wall you would have:
01 - In the Flesh?
02 - The Thin Ice
03 - Another brick in the Wall, Part 1
and so on. It makes the track names a little cumbersome, but it does let you play them in track order.
This is how I do it. I chose a card with digital out just so I could use my computer for this. If you don’t have that capability, it’s not a big deal as long as you make sure you’re not trying to cover too much distance between your computer and your stereo–the sound difference probably wouldn’t be too great on most equipment. I think too much distance in this case is…10 feet, I believe?
If I could connect my PC and stereo with a 10-foot audio cable from RadioShack, I wouldn’t be asking this question - the two aren’t in the same room.
There’d be about 100+ feet of cable between the two if I ran the cable nicely and out of sight. Workable for Ethernet, not good for audio. Straight-line, it’s about 35-40 feet if I could pull up all the carpet and lay the cable underneath, but Ethernet cable wouldn’t last long with being walked on. Also, my landlord wouldn’t appreciate it if I pulled up carpet that was laid just five months ago tolay a 35-foot long lump.
Wireless is a must-have. I’ve already got a “G” wi-fi net running, and the laptops work OK in the living room, which is where the stereo is. I’d prefer the media thingie to be a “G” device as running any “B” devices will pull the whole net down to “B” speed.
And re-naming tracks to add 01, 02, etc to them? There’s around 13,000 tracks in my collection. Care to come over and help me rename them? There’s not much point in spending untold hours re-naming them to makeup for stupid design, when there are devices that do understand track order.
So back to the main question - Anybody here have one of these devices? Like I said before, the Squeezebox is on my short list, but the only thing keeping it from being a no-brainer is that it’s a “B” wi-fi device, and it’ll hurt the performance of my network.
The Jan 15th edition of the Wall Street Journal had a review, and it seems perfect for your proposed use. It comes with a slim wireless port looking thing that connects to your stereo, software for the computer, and a really cool remote that you use (with a largish screen like an iPod) to chose albums, playlists, individual songs, etc. It works with 802.11b or 802.11g. Here’s a link to the WSJ article (you may need a subscription to access): http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107411729558053000,00.html?mod=Personal+Technology
By the way, I am looking to put my 500+ cds into storage as well – how much hard drive space do 500 cds take up? At what kind of bit rate?
Alas, the reviews on the Creative device are troubling. The two main problems are it’s slow when handling large collections and playlists, and that it’s apparently not friendly with iTunes and corrupts the iTunes database. All of my music is cataloged by iTunes, so it looks like I’ll keep looking.
**shelbo - ** As for space occupied, I’ve got ~26 GB of MP3s - 4200 files. They were recorded at 192k and live in an 80GB partition, so I have lots of room for expansion. I’m not sure where that 13,000 file number came from earlier, but I was right about the # of CDs - iTunes reports 395 albums. I probably could have had them in less space if I used Apple’s AAC format, but I wanted to keep full compatability with other things. An iPod will play MP3, but not much else plays AAC.
I could be wrong, but I don’t see that a “B” wireless connection would be that different from a “G” wireless connection if you’re just playing MP3’s over it. Even with high bitrates, a “B” wireless connection is more than enough to get the information to the receiver at a seamless rate.
There are wireless audio transmitters that’ll let you connect devices across your house. I use a transmitter and a remote control extender to listen to my Sirius tuner (downstairs) on my stereo (upstairs). You might be able to do the same if you got a remote control for your PC.
You’ll probably have a hard time finding an 802.11g audio device, simply because the extra speed of G is useless for playing music. The alleged 11 Mbps you can get from 802.11b is way more than enough. Having a B device on your G network might slow it down, but I think you can avoid that with some routers… my Linksys has a “CTS Protection Mode” setting that affects the performance of hybrid B/G networks.
Would it not be less hassle and no more expensive to buy a cheap, mid-range, small cased computer and locate it next to your stereo system? If your stereo is close to your TV, then get a TV video card as well and you won’t even need another monitor.
Viola; an instant multimedia centre with all the flexibility of a computer. No worries about playlists or strange track ordering. No need to set up a wireless network (unless you really must!). It also means your other computer isn’t bogged down with the disk and memory hogging usual with MP3s.
As for renaming with numbers at the start of file names: I did this very thing not so long ago in order to get my car MP3 player to play things in the correct order. I used a MP3 tagging utility that did it all pretty much automatically.
I wrote to Creative, and they’re not aware of any issues with their software corrupting iTunes. Side note - their execution of the concept involves way too many separate applications - one for managing the device, one for communicating with it, one for wrangling files, and one or two others.
The killer for me though is that they do not support AAC format. The workaround would be to burn all my AAC files to CD, then rip them back in as MP3. Bleah. For comparison, the Squeezebox supports on-the-fly transcoding from AAC to MP3.
As for a full PC in the living room? You must live alone or have a very tolerant spouse. The only way I was able to get an MP3 receiver in the plans was to have it wireless and unobtrusive. Besides, a separate PC would still need a connection, wired or not, to the network either for connecting to iTunes if I want to get more music, or to the main box where all the files live and new ones are created from time to time. Also, by the time I bought a small PC for the living room and a UPS to power it with (our power is rather fidgety, so UPS is required) I could have bought several MP3 receivers and not been nagged at for adding two more boxes and a bunch of wires to the living room.
I got a Squeezebox. It’s fantastic. It’s small and it displays the correct time when it’s turned off - it picks up the time from the host PC, and if you’ve got XP, odds are, you have the correct time. I was not expecting this to be the “Spouse-wowing feature” but apparently showing the time is more important to some folks than playing music. I’ve been playing with it for about two weeks now and it’s speedy and the sound is great.
What finally pushed me to get the Squeezebox was Maximum PC magazine gave it their highest and most coveted rating - the “KICK ASS” award.
I’ve had a SlimP3, the predecessor of the Squeezebox, for about a year and a half now. I have virtually nothing but praise for it. I’m thinking of getting a Squeezebox for the living room.
If it weren’t for my car, I’d probably have my CDs packed away somewhere. And once Alpine releases their Car stereo that can control an iPod directly, I may do just that.
FWIW, I don’t think anything other than iTunes and the iPod can play AAC files from the iTunes store. Which is why I have yet to buy anything from there yet.
Correct, with a “but” there. It is possible to use something called LAME to “transcode” AAC music files on the fly with SlimServer to play on a SliMP3 or Squeezebox. But, LAME won’t be able to handle AAC files with the iTunes DRM bits. The workaround is easy, at least:
Burn the files you bought from iTunes to a CD. They are now Red Book CD-Audio files that will play on essentially any CD player on the planet. Pop that disc back into the drive and iTunes will be more than happy to rip the music as MP3 files. It’s entirely legit, since you’re using Apple’s software to do the burn and rip. IIRC, they allow unlimited burning of CDs from whatever you’ve bought from them. They just get hinky over how many devices (iPods or other computers) you try to put and play the AAC files on - think they limit that to three. Easiest way to keep track of what you’ve bought and need to convert is to use the “Purchased Music” playlist. After you burn them to CD, delete them from the playlist. The purchased files will remain in your collection.
It’s not a trivially simple workaround, but it is pretty danged simple. Possible side benefit is having a “hard copy” (so to speak) of the music you paid for. Or, if you have faith in your hard drive, toss the disc once you’ve ripped it.
Yeah, you’re right. I should have touched on that option. It’s not good enough for me, I’m afraid. I want to be able to play the iTunes store AAC files directly in any player. I don’t want to jump through such hoops.
If I do what you outline I have two choices for most players:
[ul]
[li]Rip the CD to WAV or AIFF files. This maintains the sound quality of the original AAC file, but at a file size up to ten times larger.[/li][li]Re-encode the CD to MP3. While this results in a file size comperable to the original AAC, the act of re-encoding reduces sound quality.[/li][/ul]
With my SlimP3 I really have only the latter choice, because even if I keep the files as WAVs or AIFFs they must be transcoded on-the-fly to MP3 via LAME for the player to be able to use it. This would be true with iTunes store AAC as well, but at least the hoops would be gone.
Rereading another of your posts you mention transcoding AAC (non-iTunes store I’m guessing) to MP3 for your Squeezebox. Unless you are using wireless this isn’t the best option. SlimServer can transcode AAC (as well as Ogg, FLAC, etc.) to raw PCM instead. This means no additional loss of quality.
I’m not sure where that 13,000 file number came from earlier, but I was right about the # of CDs - iTunes reports 395 albums. I probably could have had them in less space if I used Apple’s AAC format, but I wanted to keep full compatability with other things. An iPod will play MP3, but not much else plays AAC.
I’ve been playing with it for about two weeks now and it’s speedy and the sound is great.