[simon wagstaff]

I am using an old Mac Mini core solo as a music server. Hooked up to my system via the optical out on the Mac Mini.  Using COG as playback software.

What is the difference, if any, between this set up and one of those dedicated music servers?  Some of them seem to be quite expensive. Is there any advantage, I am not really sure.

Seems to me the main difference is just the convenience factor. I am able to do anything I want with the Mac Mini, I have three separate hard drives hooked up and everything sorted already. I don't need to create playlists or any of that stuff.

BTW, with COG when I drag the files into the playlist section the time shows up and everything plays just fine, I just can't see the songs in the playlist. Am I doing something wrong?

[NekoAudio]

Dedicated music server systems usually have two main benefits over a computer:
1. Simpler and nicer user interface (for ripping and playback).
2. Better analog audio quality.

Since you are using the optical output, #2 doesn't really apply to you. Whether or not the usability of #1 would be worth the cost of a dedicated server device is up to you.

There's a potential third benefit, which is a cleaner digital output signal. This may not be true in all cases. And the receiving circuit of your DAC may not care anyway.

Obviously the negatives of a specialized device are all those associated with not being able to do the normal computer stuff you might want to do, including installation of alternate playback software that could be used to apply digital signal processing.