I'll echo everything mike said. I'm fixin' to rerip everything to flac with db poweramp and am looking forward to having art.
Inconsistant metadata will really screw with you later if you don't get it right when you rip, so pay close attention to that.

An altenative to itunes I use is anapod explorer

I really want one of those. I'm going to buy one after I build my new computer. I wonder when they'll have a new version.

They just released one a few months back. We have it at the office. It's pretty good, but it does run a fair amount of HP crapware--some of which does stuff you might want. We also have a virtual one that's much more lightweight.

What does the HP media server do that a computer with the right hardware and software can't?

Heck Charles, why not make sure your new PC can do all the media serving you need when you build it?

Not a whole lot. In fact, nothing. It also has no monitor, no keyboard, and no mouse, so the only way to hit it is via RDP. It has handy removable hard drive bays, and it probably uses a lot less power, but that's about it.

Being able to get to a machine via RDP is nice; being required is a pain. My home computer has handy removable hard drive bays, 8 of them, which take SATA or SAS. Know what uses less power? Not having a second machine at all. So it's neat, and has a market, but for someone who's at least a little computer savvy: not much point.

Well, I don't necessarily want my computer on all of the time, and it would be nice to automatically back up my computer to it, as well as my parents' Macs, which are on the network. It seems like it would be a lot easier for me to get one of these than to try to en-savvy myself.

Oh, you turn your computer off? How do you deal with the wait when you need to come post here? But yeah, if you don't leave your PC on all the time, having a low-power server would be nice. Also the central back-up is a plus when multiple machines are involved (I try not to involve myself that way at home--get enough of that at work). Still, I'd put together a purpose-built machine before I'd buy this, but that's me.

I'm not so confident in my ability to do that, and the price doesn't seem outlandish with how much pain it saves me. I'm still curious, though. Off the top of your head, what would your purpose-built machine consist of?

I went with the server because I do not want to have to use my office PC to enable the use of the Duet Controller / Squeezcenter. In fact, I do not want my stereo system(s) to have anything to do with my PC. My PC is for work related stuff, screwing off on the internet and photo processing. The server just sits there humming all day, every day, 24 hours a day with Squeeze Center running in the background waiting for me (or anyone else) to grab the controller and hit play. We can select my music collection, internet radio, Pandora, Rhapsody or any of the other music services I have. The Duet, by far, is the coolest Audio toy I have. Every time I show it to someone, they want me to right down everything they need to buy. I can not recommend this set up enough. I seriously doubt you will find many folks who have done this who wouldn’t.

I am not PC literate. It is a means to an end and I swap them out every two years. I want it to be disposable. To be perfectly honest, I hate the damn things. I hate software, I hate constantly having to screw with updates, worry about viruses, deal with ‘issues’ that come up…… I just hate them. However, I am aware that they are a necessary thing in every day life and I try to adapt. But – I refuse to keep the PC as my center of life and the server assists with that small piece of mind, although it’s mostly illusionary.

One other advantage with the server is it has lots of space. I have an older generation that came with two, 500 gig drives. I have since bought two additional 1T drives, so now I have 3T storage on the server. All my music is on it, and I back up all my photos to the server, which are on their own external drive. I really like the idea that the only files on the server are my music and photos, which just happen to be the mot important files I have. (and I have one drive that backs up the other drives for double redundancy).