[KCI-JohnP]

I'm a noob when it comes to this digital stuff, have ignored it long enough but now I don't know chit! So can you guys please tell me if this would work and is a good way to go about this? Thanks for your help here.

We have about 3-400 cds or so and I would like to start storing them on a hard drive as well as playing them from the hd. What I wanted was something along the lines of the Olive Musica but seems they are lacking in a few departments and for the money it seems I could get a modded Squeezebox III and a Mac-mini and have that dude put all my cds on the Mac for about the same price. I figured the Mac is small enough to put right there on the shelf with the SBIII. So, would this be a good route to take? Any draw backs or anything I need to know?

Regards,
John

[KCI-JohnP]

Ok, now I haven't ruled out the Olive completely, just don't know enough to pull the trigger. I sure would like one simple do-it-all box to be honest.

[Nick B]

If you do a modded Squeezebox with a good power supply, you will not be disappointed. A modded SB with the stock switching power supply is really hard on the ears IMHO. I go direct into the amp and the sound is very good, especially for the money. That's only 2 boxes, although I think one of the guys here on AC put his SB and PS in one box and it looked great.

Also, Tim did a very nice job on the ripping and album art. I use Media Monkey to organize and do corrections on all the errors that come out of freedb. 

Nick

[KCI-JohnP]

Oops sorry, what I meant by "one box" was like the Musica, I don't want to bypass my preamp(just got it, Cary SLP-98).

I use Media Monkey to organize and do corrections on all the errors that come out of freedb. 

Ya lost me there, you got a real pc dumb dumb here.

[Nick B]

Oops sorry, what I meant by "one box" was like the Musica, I don't want to bypass my preamp(just got it, Cary SLP-98).

I use Media Monkey to organize and do corrections on all the errors that come out of freedb. 

Ya lost me there, you got a real pc dumb dumb here.

John
You and I are pretty close on the pc dumb dumb scale...
If you get a SB2 or 3, you will use the Slim Devices software to navigate through your music collection. But there are many software programs that will, IMO, better categorize and display your music collection than Slim Devices. As I said previously, after the CD's are ripped, there are also tagging errors to correct via the data received from freedb.org for example. When I make changes or fix things via the Media Monkey software, the changes show up in the Media Monkey library and, if I want, also in explorer on my computer. I use my SB 2 for my audiophile 2 channel application and Media Monkey for audio via my computer speakers. I've done a poor job explaining this and maybe sometime can chime in and do a better job. Are you more confused now??
Nick
   

[avta]

John:
I use a system similar to the one you're thinking about. I've got a stock SB2, a Mac Mini (G4), an external hard drive, a tubed preamp and Nuforce 9.02 amps and Magnepan 1.6 speakers. I use a free program called Max to rip cd's to the external drive. The Squeezebox runs wireless via a Netgear Rangemax router which is located a floor below my audio system. The sound is quite nice certainly better than a few mid priced cd players I've had. I plan to add a dac at some point. One additional advantage to the Squeezebox is that you can access hundreds of online music sites located around the world. I have found this to be very enjoyable. I use the software that is provided by the company that makes the Squeezebox..it's called Slim Server. The company upgrades the software often and the upgrade process is very easy to do. For the costs involved I think this type of system is hard to beat.
Guy

[KCI-JohnP]

Nick,
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I need to read up on all this some more, try to get myself an ed-u-ma-kation on this new fangled stuff!

Guy,
That is pretty much the type of system I'm talking about, thanks for the info. I really want to check out those internet radio sites, have heard there is all kinds of good free music to hear!

Regards,
John