McIntosh Music Server

madmax

Been thinking this is pretty cool since reading about it in stereophile. A music server, holds 2700 CD's, just looks like it would be a cool thing.
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mcprod/shopdisplayproducts.asp?hid=&id=19&cat=Sources&prodid=1163&product=MS750

venomclan

It looks cool, but if I remember correctly from the article, it said that a sqeezebox with a decent dac will do the same thing for about $5K less. Think about how many more cd's you can buy for the price of this storage and playback unit. But if you have the coinage then go for it. I think independent music servers are the future once they come down in price.
Venom

woofiepaws

My Squeezebox is very satisfying and hard disks are cheap. I'm fiddling with a Network Attatched Storage (NAS) box that will hold 2 terabytes! When that fills up, I'll just by another one.

The SB is not the best source but I listen to music more often because it's so damn easy to get to whatever I feel like listening to.

wingnut4772

A Squeezebox with a good DAC is excellent.

RuSsMaN

Chuck, I like the idea too, especially staring at the racks of CD's mounted to the wall in the living room. The big issue for me is the interface - is it as easy as looking at the rack, pulling something out, and putting in the player? (I don't know) That's my big hang up.

The 5K less thing doesn't hold water for me. Not all audio junkies are going to have the 2K laptop with another $500 in external drives, all setup wirelessly. A simple solution, for the not so techy audiophile.

That being said, the SB is something on my short list, at the cost, how can you not try it?

Cheers,
Russ

Normanality

That being said, the SB is something on my short list, at the cost, how can you not try it?

Agreed. Even with mods to the analog output stage, the SB is still a good deal.
And it's easy.

I just ran a cat5 cable rather than fuss with wireless.
350+ cds take only about 80 GB of storage. A 160GB harddrive cost me $80 at the Egg.
No additional laptop needed. The supplied remote works just fine.

Still, I'm sure more and more companies will develop music server hardware, and the costs will come down.

Texas42

I went round and round with music servers in trying to find the one that would give me the functionality I wanted without being overly expensive (as 'digital gear' has a HUGE depreciation curve, being mostly computers really). My solution was to just get an Apple TV and stream my music from iTunes (which I've loaded with CDs) and store it on the hard drive in the Apple TV. Works like a champ with the added benefits of showing album art. And that doesn't even touch on all the video stuff it does as well (which I didn't get it for anyway).

I'm sure the Mac is much nicer and probably has enough storage to record at full bit rates. Just another option to consider..

Face

The only advantage I see to the music server is it being quieter than a PC.

unc2701

Face wrote: »

The only advantage I see to the music server is it being quieter than a PC.

Yeah, but you can put the PC anywhere in the house, and the squeeze box w/ your stereo. With a good DAC & lossless ripping, it's better than most entry CD players. Big drawback is the ripping process, but like they said in stereophile, teenagers are great cheap labor.

bikezappa

I think a Music server is the best idea and the future. I can see them in car cd players. Play you friends cd in the car and you also rip it and if you have a big screen nav system you can easily scan through the list of ripped cds and play any one.

The issue is cost right now. In 3 years they will cost $500.

Revox and another company in CA make them also, but they are all big $.

The space you save is incredable, no racks of cds and all the time looking for that next cd.

I have 3 sony jukeboxes so I have saved space for 800 cds.

All my cds are listed on 4 sheets of papaer in order so it is very easy to find a cd and hit play. You can list the cds by A B C D... or by group. The system works but the future is music servers because those sonys are big in size.

sucks2beme

The prices will fall. Right now, it's either expensive dedicated software/hardware or a
standard pc/laptop with shareware. The whole SB thing is the third.
My server is a quiet MM pc with and external usb dac. There's a little
fan noise, but here in Dallas, there's almost always fan noise(ac runs 90% of the time).
If I had to do it over, I'd go laptop. I found a cheap Acer laptop in a pawn
shop for $300 out the door that I passed on, but it would get the job done.
It was loaded with Vista and 512 mb ram, which meant it was slow as hell.
Add 512mb ram, load XP,some free software, add a usb dac and external drive. DONE!
Get a bluetooth presentation mouse to swap tunes. Now you've got a
fairly mobile setup up that didn't break the bank. You don't need a $2k laptop to do this.

madmax

Lots of great feedback here. I'll have to look into the SB thingy. I'm in no hurry.
madmax

hoosier21

Love my squeeze box thru my DAC

Face

I use my DLP as a computer monitor also, so I need the PC nearby, otherwise I'd be all over the squeezebox.

Music Joe

loading discs to drives as I post this...nearing 1500th disk! Wow...I have so much good *new* music in my unwieldy collection. Playlists + selection on a whim has very much improved my listening enjoyment.

Several disks that had missing liner notes,played poorly if at all are now delivering...yay!

Key is hearing a song or artist when the name or title pops into your head. Coupled to that the ability to mix on the fly and save in a favorites file all via remote. I hear a next generation SB with some kind of album art interface may be nearing

Playlists = fun.