Best way to manage and play my music library

[admin_exported]

Hey all

I need some kind of hardware/gadget to manage my music, as i'm tired og changeing cd's everytime i want to listen to an other kind of music. I want something with a good menusystem, that i can place op my amplifier and plug directly into the aux input. I need at least 20 gb of harddisk space, and video playback would be nice too.

I'm considering an Ipod Classic, as the menusystem is nice, and because i has lots of capacity. The problem with it is that it dosn't suport a lot of format. I don't want to convert all my cd to both acc and wma, to be able to play it on other portable players too (and i don't like the mp3 format).

Any other ideas for a media center ??

 

[matthewpiano]

Any laptop, an external DAC with a USB input such as the Musical Fidelity V-DAC, Beresford, or DacMagic and your preferred software - probably either iTunes or Windows Media Player. This will give you the most flexibility and the best sound quality.

 

[Anonymous]

A laptop is too big and clumpsy

 

[Anonymous]

A netbook then? It limits you to USB DACs but very cheap and they're really quite handy.

 

[Anonymous]

Well actually it's my dad, who has made me try finding someting for the living room, and a laptop is too ugly, and my parrents are too eco-freakish it allow a laptop to be on all the time.

 

[True Blue]

Not cheap but a Naim HDX (2x400GB). Or an external NAS drive (buffalo terrastation (2x500GB)) and a Sonos system.

 

[JamesOK]

jnejne:A laptop is too big and clumpsy

Totally agree here - I cant imagine wanting to stick a laptop open all the time in my listening room and use it to play my music! Maybe its because by the end of the day I am sick of laptops after using one all day in work!

What about a creative zen or something like that? They play several types of file. Cant comment on how good or not they are - I am an apple fan myself, but a mate has one and he likes it.

 

[John Duncan]

Well if you only need 20gig of hard drive, a 160gig iPod Classic will allow you to use WAV, which will maintain compatibility.

Another alternative is the Brennan JB7, which is quite sweet...

 

[coolaboola]

How about an apple t.v.