coreyc Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 How decent is the LinkSys Wireless-B Media Adapter? It retails for fairly cheap, its what I call a student-friendly price I know it doesnt play FLAC or ogg, or even internet radio. Is it worth the $69.99 or so? It gets the job done. I've never heard a hickup from it while it's running. On occasion, I have to re-start the server process on my PC to get the LinkSys & my PC talking. You also have to be using Win XP, nothing older. You can browse your PC's music folders on your TV screen, and play by folder, artist, genre, or playlist; all options with both random and/or repeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdrazek Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I haven't played my CD changer more than twice in the last 2 years. If you haven't either digitize the collection. That way you might actually listen to your music instead of letting it sit idle. My CD's are getting ripped at 320kbp AAC and played through an Ipod and Ifi with RSX4's. It's great for what it is, and I think a lot of people would be happy with it. It stomps on Bose and other lower end alternatives, including the IGroove. 2 full weekends of ripping and my 400+ CD's will be done. Sending them to a professional is about $1 - 1.50 per disk. My plan long term is to do lossless compression (FLAC or Apple) and the Slim Devices Squeezebox www.slimdevices.com, storing the music on an external drive. At $300 the Squeezebox is more expensive than the Linksys but it has high grade parts, great user support and lots of tweaks if you're into that. With lossless conversion it then becomes worth it to invest in good quality audio components. I don't know if I'd invest in good audio at 320kbp and I would definitely not at 128 kbp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomer9911 Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 buy\get a turntable, you'd be surprised.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pythagore Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Is it worth buying longer cables, etc to connect my 300 disc cd changer that I hardly listen to, or is it time to just buy an ipod and connect it to my receiver? I like to idea of getting the klipsch ipod station for another room... I would vote for none of the above. Ditch the CD changer that is so 1990s [] Forget the ipod that is so high tech geek [8-|] but no high brow hi-fi.[6] What you need to do is rip all of your CDs to various formats. MP3 for portability and small file size. FLAC for lossless compression for critical listening and WAV just so you have them in the total original format for future use. Once you have those 3 formats covered you are set IMO. The real pain is the actual ripping of the CD if you have hundreds like I do. Fortunately there is a program called MAREO that when used in conjunction with EAC you can put your CD in once and rip to a dozen or so formats. I am in the process of doing that right now. With Gigabytes and Gigabytes of numerous formats of music on your HDD, all you need to do is set up a music server. Something like an Audiotron or Squeezbox will do nicely. You also might look into a Windows media PC. Just be sure and back up your music once you have it digitized. I did not and had a HDD failure. So now I am ripping all my CDs AGAIN![] Why would you want to rip in both a lossless format and Wave? It's like saving a zipped and an unzipped copy of the same file. APE, FLAC or Apple Lossless are actually a compressed version of the wave file. When needed, You can always decompress the lossless format into it's original wave format without losing any information. It's a waste of space to save in both formats. I will challenge any one who tell me they can hear a difference between a lossless compressed audio file and the original CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pythagore Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 My 2 cents: Build yourself a decent HTPC, and rip all your CDs into a lossless format (APE, FLAC etc....). If you have a decent receiver or Pre/pro with excellent DAC, simply buy a soundcard with bit perfect digital out. Connect the digital out of the card to the digital in of your receiver/Pre/Pro and enjoy excellent sound at the tip of your mouse. If you don't have a decent Receiver/Pre/Pro, then buy a pro grade sound card such as (Creative emu 1820m) and a cheap/expensive (depending on your budget) 7 channel amplifier. This combination will outclass any mid priced Pre/pro, receiver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffy06 Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 You could buy a network music player, like the squeezebox. www.slimdevices.com Then you just put all of your music on your computer's hard drive. It supports multiple file formats including lossless formats. I have had one for about 6 months and I love it. I have had no problems with it other than the remote control, but they replaced that for free. Its great not having to constantly change CDs, or worry about them getting damaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.