MP3 Music Storage Jukebox System

ADDS

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Hi There

I am looking into buying a Music Jukebox, basically I have 500+ CD's and as you can imagine they take up a lot of room, I am wanting to ideally put them all on to one system/jukebox, and access them whenever I want too. I do not want it to be an iPod, or a MP3 portable player but something that will stand alone, and plug into my Home Theatre Surround Sound.

Basically like the PHILIPS 80GB Wireless Music Center , but I don't need the wireless streaming to every room in the house, but compatable with the Gracenote CDDB stuff would be lovely, make life alot easier when putting my CD's on.

Any of you any idea if such a sytem is in existance? Have searched all afternoon online and can't find anything for less than £700... My budget is the small side of £500 really.

Please? Anyone?
 
Bit of a different approach...Superfi have Sony 300 disc capacity CD players at £169.95 each. No Gracenote but keyboard entry. the advantage is you keep your CDs ready for when something better than MP3 comes along.

SONY CDPCX355 300 DISC CD PLAYER







View all Multi Disc CD Players
View all Sony products RRP: £199.95
INTERNET OFFER: £169.95
Save: £30.00





The Sony CDP-CX355 can be used to store up to 300 CD, CD-R and CD-RW discs which can be easily and speedily accessed using the large disc shuttle wheel at the front of the player. CD text display and a PS2 socket for easy keyboard connection and disc labeling complete the picture
 
The PixelMagic HD-MB200 is an excellent device - the sound quality is as good as a comparably-priced CD player, and it can play HD video as well.

There are a couple of compromises, though.
You can stream to it from a PC, but you can't copy files to it over a network - you have to connect it to your PC using a USB cable. Once the files are on it, you don't need a PC connection.
You need to use a TV (or monitor) to navigate the menus, as it doesn't have a built-in display.
 
Thanks guys

That PixelMagic Media Box does look quite interesting, further research is needed but great advice and help. Will let you know the outcome - but my Bank Manager urges me after the xmas festivities.

Cheers
 
Have you thought about something like a Roku Soundbridge or Squeezebox and a small form factor PC running as a Music Server?

Should work out a fare bit cheaper and is probably more flexible
 
Hi

Actually, no, it never crossed my mind. To be honest I know nothing about Form Factor PC's, being a Mac man I tend to leave PC's well alone. But have done a quick search on the web and it does seem quite interesting.

Excuse my lack of knowledge here but just to understand...

I would buy a small Form Factor PC, copy all my CD's on to this, then purchase something like a 'Soundbridge' connect it to the Form Factor PC, and then to my surround system and hey presto... from the remote control I can then access all my music?

Is that about right?
 
Have a look at the Logitech wireless DJ system. Cheap and very neat.

cookie
 
Yes, thats exactly right, you could even use a Mac Mini if you prefer to use OSX

Simply rip your music (I have a pre-configured CDex installer here http://www.audiofi.co.uk/Setup.exe )

Then install the appropriate server software for the player (Slimserver for the Squeezebox, Firefly for the Soundbridge, Twonkyvision for the others)
 
Hi Andrew, Thanks for your help there. Have taken a look at your site and would be interested to know how much your Music Servers are. I no nothing about coding and having never used a PC wouldn't really no where to start with putting CDex on this PC. I noticed on your site you sell Music Servers that don't need any programming just 'Plug and Play' which sounds great to me. Can you give me any ideas on prices for these?
 
Hi

Actually, no, it never crossed my mind. To be honest I know nothing about Form Factor PC's, being a Mac man I tend to leave PC's well alone. But have done a quick search on the web and it does seem quite interesting.

Excuse my lack of knowledge here but just to understand...

I would buy a small Form Factor PC, copy all my CD's on to this, then purchase something like a 'Soundbridge' connect it to the Form Factor PC, and then to my surround system and hey presto... from the remote control I can then access all my music?

Is that about right?

If you're going to invest in something like a Mac-mini and have it sitting under your TV, just connect it straight to your TV and Receiver/Amp. No need to go the streaming route.

The only advantage of something like a soundbridge would be if the computer is going to be in a different room, and you need to wirelessly stream music around the house, but this would also entail you setting up a wi-fi network.
 
A Mac Mini would, indeed, make a good "jukebox", but it's limited by the size of the disk drive. You could always add an external USB disk.

A "silent" SFF PC can be expensive.

A Squeezebox or similar network player allows you to tuck the PC away somewhere (so the noise doesn't annoy you!), but means leaving the PC on all the time, wasting electricity.

A dedicated media player (such as the PixelMagic) can give the best sound quality, uses less electricity, and is easy to use.

An iPod, with a remote controllable dock, is the cheapest and simplest, but disk size is limited.

There really isn't an ideal solution, you need to decide your priorities (sound quality, price, running costs, storage capacity, ease of use) and make some compromises.
 
A "silent" SFF PC can be expensive.

A Squeezebox or similar network player allows you to tuck the PC away somewhere (so the noise doesn't annoy you!), but means leaving the PC on all the time, wasting electricity.

.

My Compaq EVO music server cost me £70 from Ebay with a copy of WinXP :smashin:

has a 125w PSU and i don't even have a monitor connected so uses very little power
 
Okay, I think I am just beginning to understand this...

I am currently looking into buying a Compaq EVO - with around 40Gb Hard Drive, use this as my Music Server. Put my music collection as MP3 on the Compaq, then will look at buying a Squeezebox or equivalent hook it all up to my home theatre and... Bobs your Uncle?

Call me stupid though - I guess I would need some additional software on the Compaq to enable the mp3's to be located and played through the squeezebox. Also how noisy is this PC going to be, or is the idea to locate this else where in the home? If so - how do I then connect it to Squeezebox...

To be honest, perhaps I better take a trip to my local independant Hi-Fi store and see it in action or at least understand how it all works.
 
Okay, I think I am just beginning to understand this...

I am currently looking into buying a Compaq EVO - with around 40Gb Hard Drive, use this as my Music Server. Put my music collection as MP3 on the Compaq, then will look at buying a Squeezebox or equivalent hook it all up to my home theatre and... Bobs your Uncle?

Call me stupid though - I guess I would need some additional software on the Compaq to enable the mp3's to be located and played through the squeezebox. Also how noisy is this PC going to be, or is the idea to locate this else where in the home? If so - how do I then connect it to Squeezebox...

To be honest, perhaps I better take a trip to my local independant Hi-Fi store and see it in action or at least understand how it all works.

Yes, but you'll need more than 40Gb for 500 CD's, especially in decent quality, I would look at minimum of 250Gb, probably more still

You have to have slimserver running on the PC, if you send the PC to me, I'll sort all of that out as part of the install process though

If you locate it elsewhere, a wireless network, or homeplug system would be best

You might struggle to find one at the hi-fi dealer (I'm guessing Practical Hifi), there are very few stores who stock them
 
Just to give an idea of storage capacity:

500 CD's in MP3 at 320 kbps (highest bit rate for MP3) will take up around 100 Gb of storage.

500 CD's in FLAC (recommended for home use) will take up around 230 Gb of storage.

I would therefore agree with Andrew, that you will need a larger HDD. You could quite easily supplement what you're going to get on the laptop, with a USB Drive.

If you go the route of using a laptop, you will need to either set up a wireless network (there's a couple of ways of doing this) or use the Homeplug solution, which turns your electrical wiring in your house into an ethernet network. You can then hardwire your Squeezebox (or whatever). It is a good solution becuase you don't have to worry about wireless signal strength, and the non-wireless SB is cheaper:thumbsup:

Have a read through this;

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?NetworkDesign

which has some diagrams which explain how to set up the SB. Other streaming music servers are similar if that's the route you've decided to go for.

Or there's the option of the Logitech DJ, as previously mentioned, which is a bit simpler as it sets up it's own network. Sound quality isn't quite as good, but if you use lossless files, it's wtill a very good product (and the remote is quite cool)

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2653,CONTENTID=11828
 
Just as an alternative (a much cheaper alternative) anybody know anything about the Acoustic Solutions SP150 Jukebox?

80Gb & only £199?

Seems to have Okay reviews, okay not got all that much capacity but for the money it doesn't seem all that bad?
 
I've not heard it myself, but it does look interesting, and is certainly a cheaper and easier solution.

Just be careful when you're buying it, as some places state 40Gb capacity, and some state 80 Gb.
 
I was digging around some old issues of Computer Shopper (think 2005) and found one describing how to build an MP3 server for under 300 quid. Using a Mini-ITX case etc, copy of Linux and some free software they had it all connected up etc.

One bit of software was Edna : http://edna.sourceforge.net/

Using a web server etc it's controllable / playable on all machines in your network....

I was trying to look for an updated article with a view to having a go....

I can if anyone wants scan the article and post.....
 
I was digging around some old issues of Computer Shopper (think 2005) and found one describing how to build an MP3 server for under 300 quid. Using a Mini-ITX case etc, copy of Linux and some free software they had it all connected up etc.

One bit of software was Edna : http://edna.sourceforge.net/

Using a web server etc it's controllable / playable on all machines in your network....

I was trying to look for an updated article with a view to having a go....

I can if anyone wants scan the article and post.....

Most NAS products offer this as standard or with free customised software/firmware. In 2005 these were not available, 2 years later and they're quite common.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the NAS...... excuse my ignorance but would have a mini fanless ITX box outweigh the NAS as you can only access the NAS from another machine......I am hoping (in my mind) to be able to connect it into my Amp....
 
Thanks for the heads up on the NAS...... excuse my ignorance but would have a mini fanless ITX box outweigh the NAS as you can only access the NAS from another machine......I am hoping (in my mind) to be able to connect it into my Amp....

If you are connecting to an amp, the ITX box is acting as the server and the client. In this case the ITX box is a better solution. I would also consider a Mac Mini or the new Apple TV (still requires a PC/Mac to sync but will also work standalone).

For a true media server a NAS product is probably the cheapest option. Have a look at Twonky http://www.twonkyvision.de/Products/TwonkyMedia/index.html for information on the NAS servers and clients it supports.
 

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