GregY

New MP3 (component) products (for connecting to Receiver)?

I'm talking about products like the Audiotron which allow you to pipe all you digital music to you receiver.

I like the idea of a stereo component and running from the PC via the home network.

I've read about the Audiotron and the RIO (don't like the RIO because of the looks), but was wondering when more companies will get into the mix (and drive the price down).

Where are the components from Samsung, Sony, Pioneer? Are they coming soon? Are they even in the works?

Ryan Spaight

Haven't heard much, apart from the boxes coming out from HP and so forth with hard drives built in for $1000, which sort of miss the point, I think. I believe Panasonic might be coming out with a similar device. As far as "thin" clients like the Audiotron, though, not much beyond that and the Rio.

I have an Audiotron and love it.

Ryan

Anthony Hom

Samsung and Panasonic make DVD players that will play MP3 CDs. That might be good enough for some people, but I can understand if you want some large hard drive with all your songs. Of course, that may be difficult if the record companies consider it a copyright violation. Maybe they'll make these new boxes like Tivo, where you have to have an internet connection so they can keep track of what you have on your player is legal or illegally copied.

GregY

I just grabbed my box of CDs that I had stored at my parents in the basement (about 200 CDs) and decided to rip them onto my practically unused harddrive (60GB). That way I can actually listen to them.

It works fine now because I have a stereo right next to the PC, but when I move I'd like to be able to play them on my main system in the living room.

I can see Sony and Panasonic having some problems with it since they have a large hand in the music recording industry, but I'm sure some of the smaller electronics people (Apex, etc..) will get involved because there are probably a lot of legit people like myself that would be willing to pay for a component like this.

imported_Buzz Vinard

I love my Audiotron. I'm almost finished with encoding my 500+ CD collection to VBR Mp3s (CDex 160kbps - 320kbps VBR, using LAME). It is so convenient to be able to listen in the living room over the network.

I suspect that this capability will be built into some future recievers. There is a micro system that has it, already.

I'm really excited about the possibility of a wireless ethernet connection built into these micro systems and recievers. I'd love to put a small system in my dining room, but I'm hesitant to actually climb up into the attic and run the CAT5. If a micro system had a wireless connection, I would have already bought one.

AndrewVital

I bought an Audiotron, but the cable that was ran through the wall during our home theater addition isn't working. (i've re-crimped it about 10 times, because they didn't run me a seperate cat 5 for phone and data, i've been trying to use the cat 5 they ran for phone)
I know phone only needs 2 wires, and data needs 4. So i took 4 wires, crimped them on pins 1,2,3 and 6 but so far after trying different sets of 4 wires, to ruleout a dead wire, i can only get 3 or the 4 to work.

I have 802.11b wireless in my house, is there an adaptor i can plug into the ethernet port on the audiotron that will essentially make the audiotron wireless?

Thanks,
Andrew

Todd_B

^I haven't looked but I'm sure you could connect w/a patch cable and a WiFi bridge (like the Wet11 from Linksys).

Todd B

Darmok and Jilad, at Tanagra.

imported_Dave Berthiaume

These players also look interesting:

D-Link: http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=318
Linksys: http://www.linksys.com/press/press.asp?prid=149

Todd_B

The D-Link unit looks pretty solid. Anyone out there have this?

Todd B

Darmok and Jilad, at Tanagra.

Ken_WI

The Squeezebox from Slim Devices is an elegant solution. The wired model is $199 and the wireless one is $279. The great thing about it is it handles any size collection, is extremely responsive and easy to use, the server runs on all platforms, and the player itself is slick, small and quiet, with no moving parts. It has a digital output and handles uncompressed audio, so you can have full CD quality if you choose. It will also transcode from other other formats on the fly, so you can play FLAC or OGG files, too.

The software is constantly being improved, and the customer service is tops.

You can even put them in several rooms, and play different music in each room, or you can synchronize them to play the same music all through the house.

Perhaps most importantly, it is easy for spouses and other non-geeks to find and play the music they want.