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Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

Re: Ripped cd's to HD, now what????

First things first....think about how you are going to BACKUP all of your newly ripped files. You don't want to go through that again!!

Squeezebox is a network device. Think of it as an external soundcard that gets the information from the computer either by a network cable or wirelessly. It then can output the signal in two different ways: 1) as a digital output so you can use a DAC of your choice which in turn hooks up to your stereo or 2) use the built in DAC and hook directly to your stereo. You can have a bunch of these in the house hooked up to different stereos. Each member of the family can use one, even play the same file at the same time. The Squeezebox is one of a few products that does this. Roku (sp?), Sonos are others (there may be more, the Squeeze seems most popular (and has a built in FLAC decoder). Note that some folks don't like the Squeezebox software when accessing their music directly from the computer. You can download it free and check it out ahead of time. My thought… why get a SB if you plan to access the music directly from the computer? For that, you might be better off with the highly suggested Foobar player. I said to think of the SB as an external soundcard. This is true for outgoing music files only. You can't output sound from a video game or other application so the SB is a music playback device only. If you want to do any recording with your PC (cassette or LP transfers, for example), then you will need a soundcard that allows that. So you have to decide exactly what you want to do.

Other than that, you can use a soundcard, either internal (connected via PCI slot) or external (connected via USB or Firewire). An external soundcard tends to be more recommended than an internal one. These will have analog outs to go to your stereo directly, though some will have digital outs if you want to use a DAC of your choice.

You really need to decide where the computer will be in relation to your stereo. Many PC's are physically noisy, so getting it away from the stereo room is best (this is where products like the Squeezebox really help). Some folks use a quiet laptop next to the stereo with a USB DAC and store the music files on a server, meaning another computer somewhere else in the house. The laptop is typically linked to the other PC through a wireless network. Once you decide how you want to hook things up, you can then concentrate on which products will work/sound best for you. Hope that helps.

PS - there's something called AISO (something like that) which allows your music to bypass the Windows volume control and is supposed to render better sound. I believe it's a moot point if using a product like Squeezebox as the music is still in data form until it gets to the SB, but useful if using a software player like Foobar. Other knowledgeable folks can expand on this.


marc g. - audiophile by day, music lover by night


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