OK, so here's the deal: I've got seven computers here in my business/home, but they're not networked. I DO have a wireless router that's providing internet to two laptops, but no network has been setup. My main business computer is left on anytime I'm home and awake.
I have two, 400-disc jukeboxes that sit in my HT rack, empty and unused and I'm considering getting a
Squeezebox or a
Roku Soundbridge to replace them. My intentions are mostly to listen to my own, ripped discs but might also enjoy internet radio or Pandora. I ditched XM last month because I'm tired of their poor quality, but will miss the variety of music. This move will ease the loss.
Unfortunately, I'm a novice on this particular type of item, so I have some real "dumb guy" questions:
1- Am I correct that the squeezebox, in general, seems to be the favored model? I did research the recent thread on it and that seems to be the case…
2- I have a series 2 TiVo that isn't connected for any networking capabilities. Is it worth trying before purchasing a unit like those above, or do they have advantages over the TiVo system? Any particular advantages/disadvantages to the TiVo system for this?
3- Ditto the above for an Xbox 360. I have the 20 gig hard drive on it, but wish it had a 300 gig HD option so I could just rip all my discs to it directly. It's not networked either. Any particular advantages/disadvantages to the XBOX system for this?
4- Bear with me for the following in terms of how it gets used:
I rip all my discs to a HD on my host computer Do I just use, say, Windows Media Player to rip the music and gather track info, or do each of the options above use proprietary software?. Now that I've got the tracks ripped into my computer, what are my options for choosing music in my HT? I've read that the Soundbridge, for example, has a good display. But I assume that only the TiVo and XBOX can display track info, etc..on my DLP??. I also assume that I can sit on my couch and choose particular artists or "albums"; but can I also, for example, shuffle just Blues music or Christmas music for a Holiday party?? Search out songs with the word Purple in case, for example, Craig ever visits?
I get the feeling that moving to "networked" music will be much like when I got my first TiVo years ago: it will change the way I listen to music, I'll wonder how I ever lived without it, and I won't be able to explain it to someone who hasn't just used it for a week to fully understand how much better it is….!
I spend my day on computers and high-tech stuff, but networking is a weakness for me and I just don't "do" MP3s so am not too experienced with compressing music formats in anything other than Adobe Audition. I'll be researching all of this on my own as well, but thought I'd throw it out here in these early stages, in case someone can save me a lot of time researching, for example, the TiVo method because "it can't do X and X, so it's not worth bothering with"…etc…
Any and all help appreciated!!
