Do you have your music collection on your PC?
 

I just put a music system together in my house that some of you might be interested in trying.

I used to work for a big music company, so i have about 800 CD's that are a pain in the butt to store in the house - a nice rack is expensive to buy especially if you want the cd's close to the main stereo which is in my living room so i can't buy some el cheapo cd rack, where do you put it, etc etc etc... Up until now I haven't really gotten into the mp3/ipod craze, don't know why either, i'm a pretty big gadget guy, but anyway, i finally decided to rip all of my CD's to my computer (converted to 192bit mp3's) and then I can store the cd's in a big box in the closet. The problem i ran into was how to play the cd's on my stereo/entertainment system in the living room when the computer is on the 3rd floor, and not have to buy a 60GB ipod and hook it into the stereo via a crappy apple stereo/rca cable or an fm adapter that will play through the tuner on the amp.

So here's how i did it:

outpost.com has 200GB hard drives for $69 (bought 2, 1 for primary storage, 1 as a backup for when the primary blows up)

bought 2 USB2.0 external hard disk enclosures from newegg.com for $29 each to house the drives and allow them to be connected to my computer via USB2 (almost every computer in the last 2 years has USB2 built in)

Bought a Linksys Media Adapter ($51) from newegg.com- this is the cool piece of equipment. This adapter connects to your computer (either via a network rj45 cable or wirless!) and then connects to your stereo and TV via RCA stereo jacks and/or S-Video. If you already have a linksys or some other wireless router you can connect the adapter via wireless, which lets you have the computer and stereo as far apart in your house/condo/apt as the signal will let you (you can also use a network cable if they're close by one another). The software that comes with this adapter allows the adapter to read the mp3 files off of your computer and and then play them out through the stereo. It can also read your digital pictures off of your computer and display them on your TV as a slide show or single pics.

The entire setup is going to cost less than $250, my cd collection will be conveniently at hand as will my digital pictures while the actual CD's are tucked away in a closet and not taking up space in my living room. Considering that the cost of a nice CD rack (i.e. one that you can put in your living room etc) for 800 cd's is probably going to cost more, and your entire collection of CD's is now readily accessable and playable on your stereo, this is a nice alternative.

Pretty slick idea you have there

Great write up, and I'm glad to see that you understand the value in having these files accessible at any time. I have a similar setup. I use 2 120 gig drives for the main files and 2 USB 2.0 external drives for the backups. The server and MP3's are available to every room via gigabit Ethernet or 802.11g. The server also has an audio feed to my audio closet where my whole-house audio amp is. So I can set up a playlist on the server and hear it in all rooms and the deck and garage. It is definitely my favorite part of my house... the music all over the place.

Another cool feature is integrating it with HAL automation and voice control. I can pick up the phone and say "play Ozzy on the deck", and immediately it starts playing. It will also wake you up with your favorite MP3s's or they can be triggered by events. The software is dirt cheap and allows total integration with your MP3 collection. Have you messed around with that yet?

Again, good summary and I am sure it will help some folks who have been considering a total MP3 system for their home. :thumbup:

My townhouse has audio wiring to every room in the house for recessed speakers, but I haven't installed the speakers in the ceilings of the 2nd and 3rd floors yet. It's also wired for remote control infra red relay so i can be in the loft on the 3rd floor and point the remote at the relay panel on the wall (every room has a relay panel by the light switch) and it will operate the components in the living room on the 1st floor.

I haven't gone beyond what i've described here so far, I'm still in "holy crap i just bought a newly built brand new house and need furniture, some light fixtures and paint and and and " mode... it's overwhelming some times. :)

Nice setup, Gresch...! :thumbup:

OR... if you're a Mac user:

1. Spend $99 on an Airport Express, and set it up. (It takes about 5 - 10 minutes.)
2. Hook up your stereo (or speakers) into the Airport Express hub.
3. Turn on Party Shuffle on your iTunes (or set up a playlist with your favorite party music).
4. Voila'! Spend 30 minutes explaining to your friends how you are wirelessly transmitting music from your laptop to your stereo. Watch as they drool, and say "wow...." :D

Juan

Mac user since 1991 :) I am using PC too :)

kaefer - nice alternative! my problem is that all of my music is still on cd so i have to rip it (i'm a firm believer in copyrite law, not that others aren't). if i had it all on my pc already i'ld be into this setup (linksys media adapter) for $51 and be done! Ripping all of that music is going to take awhile, i'm not looking forward to it, but it's the better alternative than having 800 cd's in my living room...

have a good weekend everyone, i'm off to Ocean City MD....

You are absolutely right. Ripping all that music would be a serious pain! The setup I described works only AFTER you've ripped all your music, obviously.

Juan

Sweeet! you are set... so many things you can do. I know what you mean about furniture and paint. Two years in this house and I still have rooms untouched. :o

I agree that the airport express and various media adaptors (like Linksys) are cool devices, however, the wireless concection degrades an already compressed MP3 file. An easy solution is to simply plug you iPod (or other MP3 device) into your preamp with stereo RCA cables. Works great. :)

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=318
another option.

Well, after about 2 months i'm done ripping (with some help from friends who had already ripped some of the same albums so i just copied them) and the grand total is 82.3 GB :)

The linksys adapter works great, and I've got it hooked to the network via ethernet not via wirless so there's no compression degradation.

Project done.

Now to find a 60GB MP3 player to put all of the greatest hits albums on :)

I was just getting ready to write the same thing, but bit my tongue for a second to see if anyone else had mentioned it.... I love it... I use it all the time... EveryoneI show it to think's it is really cool too...

<cough!> iPod <cough> :D

Wow, I wouldn't have expected you to suggest that! :rolleyes:

you might want to have that cough checked by your family physician :)

:genius:

I think an X5world MP3 server is in order. You know, for 'sampling' music between members so we can then go buy what we like. :D

I have 60-70+gig to offer.

I like these as an option as well. Not anywhere as good as technical
as some of the others but works well also.

http://tinyurl.com/cke8g

Sounds like iTunes to me

That is a nice option and is recommended by most home automation installers.

if you were a musician trying to provide for you family you would feel differently :mad:

No stealing music please.

I have something similar except I'm storing the stuff on my xbox that's running Xecuter 2.0. I have 1TB of disk on it so music, movies everything is going thru there and also piped straight into my LAN. It's currently hooked straight up into the receiver and playing through my HT. I also just got ahold of a NS502 NAS box.. 2 datamover, 2 trays of 15 146gb FC disks... not sure if I should continue playing with it.. that thing is loud and draws a ton of power since it's enterprise level storage solution but will serve up files fast as hell even with my crappy network..

There goes my PG&E bill... I'm outta control... LOL!

you have that NAS at home? why? or am i confused?

I'm using EMC CX700's at the office, the FC disks are dirt cheap ($13k for 5TB raw) but the supporting equipment like the Cisco 9216A FC switches are very very expensive....

That is ridiculous. WMA format sucks as does copy protection that requires downloading of licenses when you move a song from machine to machine. I OWN the CDs for EVERY MP3 in my collection. Hearing new music is why we buy go out and buy new CDs. WTF is wrong with you? No lectures about MP3's please, that is old, tired, nonsense. Before you thought it was cool to be an MP3 cop, you shared albums, cassettes and CDs and went out and bought new music based on what your friends shared with you.

wtf are YOU talking about? You clearly suggested that a server be put up so that we could *wink *wink *nudge *nudge "sample" music ... yeah, ok, "sample"

there is NOTHING wrong with me, what's wrong with YOU is that you're self-righteous rationalization of "sampling" doesn't financially hurt the copyrite owner of the music you "wink *wink "sample" with your friends.

i don't know how old you are, but back "in the day" when people shared tapes and albums with others, the number of "others" was limited to your local neighborhood group of friends, not a server that is accessible by anyone in the WORLD, pause, WORLD, with an internet connection. you can do the comparison math between your local group of friends and everhyone in THE WORLD. got it?

For the record, the 3 major music publishing companies' policy right now is that if you buy a CD, you are entitled to make 5 copies for friends/family/backup, but no one is entitled to share a copy from a copy. And that's a fact. but *wink *wink let's put up a server for X5world so that we can all *sample *wink *wink *sample your 60GB of music.

my original statement stands. if you were a professional musician you would feel differently.

A server accessible by the world?!?!?! Where did that come from? What does age have to do with this?

Every artist I OWN on CD is a friggin millionaire many times over. Why? because me and the rest of the world PAY A LOT FOR CDS! That is why I have 4 racks full of these plastic discs. CD's sound infinitely better than MP3's and I prefer to listen to CD's for that reason. MP3's are a convenience and an easy way to share a new band's song with your friends. If that bothers you, too bad. But I buy a ton of music and it is most often on the recommendations of my dearest friends and family. I spent a month ripping my collection, that ain't stealing bud. Get real. If you don't like it, just ignore my post, no reason to get so argumentative.

Man, you never know what is going to set someone off with a light hearted sentence. Suggestion: Try some decaff, and DROP IT? I refuse to get into a debate with you over something so stupid as a song file. :dunno:

You're response is typical of someone rationalizing stealing music:
- musicias are millionaires many times over, so i don't care
- i own all of my CD's, i can give the music to anyone i like.
- sharing with other people promotes the band

all of those statements are complete and utter bullsh*t.

can you steal a ferrari because the CEO of Ferrari is a bilionaire and his product is expensive? nope.
if you were an author and i gave 100,000 copies of your book to MY friends would you still feel that I hvae the right to do so because i bought a copy of your book? i doubt it.
"sharing" music via the internet as compared to sharing music with your family or limited number of friends are 2 completely different things, the sheer number of people who can "share" your music from a server on the internet dwarfs the quantity of people you call friends or family.


funny how you're throwing around phrases like "wtf is wrong with you" and "try the decaf" yet you tell me to relax... seems like you've got a real nice case of "internet tough guy" going on because you were made to look foolish. :dunno:

do what you want with "your" music, i hope no one ever steals from you in your profession, it might keep you from becoming a millionaire many times over.

have a nice night tough guy.

Whatever made you become so agitated and personal, I hope you have it resolved. Perhaps you were lonely or bored. For 25 years I have shared my new music with friends. The best music in my collection came from direct recommendations. We are blessed with the resources to buy lots of music on a regular basis, and we'll continue to do so. Guess what.. when I let my coworker borrow my Windows OS CD, I didn't call Bill Gates and let him know. Plenty of those posts here. If you don't like someone's ideas just simply move on, you do not have to argue and attempt to prove your mastery of the topic. That is not helpful to anyone.

To be clear, I would share any of my music with friends or family. You say you would not. Two different opinions. So be it. This is not a debate forum on music.

Once again, and for the sake of the others, please drop it. :thumbup:

Dontate to the Red Cross

sweet! Nice setup. isn't technology wonderful! I've got gigabyte running to every room in our house. The server closet downstairs has 5 machines. Two machine are dedicated to recording timeshifting TV via 8 Hauppauge tuners (5 PVR250s anf 3 PVR500s) recording up to 11 channels at the same time (5 people in our house there's always conflicts). The thrid machine is a terabyte server with 1.7TB of storage (for the video). The fourth machine stores (and serves) mp3s via 4 200GB Seagate 10K drives. The last machine serves video into our home theatre and controls the lights, curtains, shakers etc. The kitchen can a Vaio all-in-one, and each bedroom has a PC. Each PC can watch time shifted TV at any time, simultaneously. They can also look up the programming schedule and decide what to record (SageTV). The living room also has a gigabyte feed with a Media MVP which feeds the 64" TV, again for timeshifted TV, movies and mp3s. I'm pretty happy with the setup, it's taken a year to design it and get it all working nicely :)

Now that's what you call a setup!! :thumbup:

I'm not agitated or annoyed, i'm just responding in like kind to your "wtf's", "what's wrong with you" and "try some decaf" ridiculousness. Your propensity to lecture is a little annoying, but nothing I can't deal with.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

have a good weekend.

now THAT'S one hell of a setup. maybe you can spare some time to come help me with our new broadcast center and master control ! :) :thumbup:

WOW that was an interesting exchange. Here's some information that may clear things up a bit. Truth be told if we share or swap music files on non-licensed Internet sites X5world or others (sometimes called P2P), or burn music onto blank CDs and give them away or sell them, then as a rule of thumb - it's not legal. (For more info on what's legal and what's not, check out our FAQ.) Even better yet here's the downloading 101 resource http://tinyurl.com/4rjg5. Now we do want to obey the law right? Right.
OBTW I thought the info would be useful so I'm not interested in debating weather the law is right or not. Till it's changed it's the law and that good enough for me.