Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo budget receiver ,,

Whoohoo! Another Maritimer!!!! Well, Atlantic anyways. I always get corrected by the Newfoundlanders if I say "The Maritimes", when referring to all four Atlantic provinces.

You can absolutely hook an iPOD or any other MP3 player to your receiver if it supports a cradle or a direct USB connection. Worst case, you can simply use the output of your MP3 player plugged into one of the Analog In jacks on your receiver.

Some receivers are built to actually control the iPod from the receiver including with it's remote remote control. However, they don't always allow control over other types of MP3 players. In those cases, you have to use the MP3 player itself to change songs and such.

Some receivers will allow wireless streaming from a PC, as mentioned above. If you had one and a wireless router, it wouldn't matter if your PC was in another room and then there are lots of solutions to control the music on your PC wirelessly as well.

What I do, is I have a product called a "Squeezebox." It's basically a device that you put beside your receiver and it picks up the music from your PC either via your wireless LAN or through good 'old fashioned' Ethernet cable. You can control everything music wise from it and it does other things like Internet Radio as well, which I enjoy. Mine is an older model that came with a basic LCD screen and an IR remote (gotta stare across the room to read the screen and point it) but the newer ones come with RF remotes and color screens built right into the remote itself. That way you can be sitting out on your deck and use the remote without getting up and spilling your beer. Right now, I'm using an app on my iPod touch to do the above. Works great. Saved me from upgrading.

Edit: if it matters...
The other advantage of the Squeezebox is that it sends the music digitally through your network as opposed to applying a 'streaming' protocol. That means if you ripped your music to your PC in lossless format, it stays that way all the way to your receiver. That may or not be a big thing for you.