Digital Music

[md.harvey]

I've read the latest issue but still have a few questions about playing digital music and maybe someone can help.

I've got my digital music on itunes and would like to be able to play it on my home cinema system without permanently having to have the PC turned on or docking the ipod. I don't know if this is possible using a NAS drive or any other device?

System:

amp - sont STRDA1200

speakers - monitor audio radius

ipod classic

Thanks

Mark

 

[duaplex]

If your Amp can read a seperate media storage device then you can have an external drive connected. Otherwise its a PC for best results. I have been asking myself this very question and I am about to built a Mini ITX PC that will sit on my shelf, queitly and send music over HDMI and watch Bluray rips.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I've got my digital music on itunes and would like to be able to play it on my home cinema system without permanently having to have the PC turned on or docking the ipod. I don't know if this is possible using a NAS drive or any other device?

OK, this is the very simple version - we can do the details later when we have more information.

That amp doesn't have any inherent ability to play music from a NAS drive or whatever, so you'll need to add some external hardware. Assuming you already have a wireless network router, the simplest way is probably to add a NAS drive to that, and then use something like the AppleTV to connect between your network and the Sony receiver.

The Apple TV will enable you to use your TV to browse your music library, and will output audio to the Sony amp.

An alternative would be to use the same approach with a device such as a Squeezebox Touch, which acts as the interface between the Sony and the network music, and has its own display. You load free software onto the NAS device to 'serve' to music to the Touch.

 

[md.harvey]

Thanks. If I use the sqeezebox, will it support the music on itunes or will i have to rip the CD's into another format? If i decide to change the AV receiver (for about £400) to try and reach my goal, which one would be most suitable and will i still need additional hardware?

Thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Thanks. If I use the sqeezebox, will it support the music on itunes or will i have to rip the CD's into another format?

Yes it will: click here

If i decide to change the AV receiver (for about £400) to try and reach my goal, which one would be most suitable and will i still need additional hardware

An obvious starting point would be the Onkyo TX-NR609, which lists at £500 but can be found for less. It will support streaming over a network, but you may need to tweak the software on a NAS drive to hijack your iTunes library and stream it on the network.

For example, the Western Digital MyBook World NAS drives will do this as standard – I only mention these because I have used them and know they work, but I am sure other brands/models do too.