Cheap media streamers for TV are everywhere....but not for music. How come?

[River757]

I've been looking for an basic internet tuner so I can listen to music via my receiver without plugging my laptop into it (a hassle) and the cheapest I've found are brands I've never heard e.g. Grace Digital and Aluratek, going for @$100. Then the price shoots up to @$250 and much higher for brands I am familiar with.....but I cannot afford those prices. BTW I am not that concerned about DAC quality etc because the lossy music streams I listen to most are only 128kbps and several (usually community stations) are as low as 64kbps or 32kbps.

But!.....I noticed while searching there's all kinds of TV streamers from major companies like Netgear and even RCA and Magnavox going for just $50, regular price.

I would think a component that has to deal with hi-def video, the HDMI connectivity standard, wi-fi that can handle 1080P resolution etc would cost more than something dealing with just music and its relatively low-density data requirements.

What's happening here?

Second question if you've read this far :

Can any of those many Blu-ray players that can stream Pandora, Rhapsody, etc also handle non-music-service internet streams like those provided by colleges and the many listener-supported "stations" like luxuriamusic.com (lounge/bachelor pad/60s pop) and somafm.com (chillout/indie rock & pop)?

Thanks for any help with this - the last few years have been improved music-wise for me because of the discovery of all the quality music, many accompanied by interesting/knowledgeable DJs, available via the net, and would like to access it in an improved manner.

[KyleinCowichan]

Perhaps someone will do something interesting with the Raspberry Pi?

KM

[River757]

Originally Posted by KyleinCowichan

Perhaps someone will do something interesting with the Raspberry Pi?

KM

Unfortunately I don't have nearly the skills, hardware but especially software-wise to deal handle such a project (the most sophisticated electronic project I completed before my interest turned to other hobbies [astronomy at the time] was a shortwave radio).

I know the name of this site includes the acronym "DIY", but I thought someone would know a bit about the question I posted about wi-fi Blu-ray players.........

[SoNic_real_one]

WDTV Live has Pandora, ShoutCast Radio, Media Fly, Live 365, TuneIn access. And others.

[KyleinCowichan]

I see that there will be a version of XBMC for the raspberry Pi, just load on an SD card and go, no developing.

Not sure on BluRay players. Look for something that will let you just point it at a stream. Most BluRay players I have looked at just have stations as apps with no option to add others.

KM

[River757]

Originally Posted by KyleinCowichan

Not sure on BluRay players. Look for something that will let you just point it at a stream. Most BluRay players I have looked at just have stations as apps with no option to add others.

I've been looking around and found the same thing. Oh well. Maybe I'll sell a kidney and buy this Yamaha. Seriously though, a nice streamer would be nice to own if most of my favorite stations used at least a 320kbps MP3 stream. But for me to cough up more than say, $250 for a streamer it would have to be CD quality, and I only know of one station that does this, and that would be University of Washington's campus station (though for some reason it's only offered in the .wma format - could it be this stream is paid for, or partly paid for, by Microsoft?).

BTW while most streamers can handle music from a computer's hard drive, to listen to my own music collection I use my turntable, dvd-audio or CD player as the source.