External Hard Disk Drives with inbuilt MediaPlayer

[ellamfin]

Hi, am interested in streaming music and would like to know (1) Does one have to buy a HDD with media player (eg the Neo Keops or the QNAP turbostation) or can one simply buy a good sized and branded HDD and install the appropriate mediaplayer software (if so, which software) and (2) Can the artist and song title info be displayed anywhere and will these sorts of mediaplayers have the functionality to create playlists and, importantly, "shuffle play"? I ask all this because I want to be able to simply play a very large music collection which will be ripped onto a suitable HDD and played back via a hi fi system so no need for a pc and wireless network. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.

[amcluesent]

>I want to be able to simply play a very large music collection which will be ripped onto a suitable HDD and played back via a hi fi system so no need for a pc and wireless network<

A music server like the Cambridge 640H may suite your needs for no PC and no wifi. Other system like Qnap/Squeezebox will require a PC to rip the CDs and tag the music. I think the Neo Keops will need a TV connected so you can navigate the music.

[lazymatt]

There are devices like that, but they are not necessarily the best in terms of sound quality, or indeed ease of use.

Generally the easiest way is to use a Squeezebox 3 (www.slimdevices.com) with your tunes stored on a NAS device.

Otherwise there are solutions like the Hifidelio, but they come with relatively small HDD sizes.