DIY a digital music server WITHOUT the PC???

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Like the Brennan JB7??

Revolutionary HiFi - Brennan

What I really want is an "iPod Maximus" :D A nice simple user interface, quick start up & everything I have in music in a lossless format. I am currently using a dell mini hackintosh as my iPod Maximus, but it requires a tedious start up. A touch screen like the iPad would be nice,too. :D I'm asking for a lot, aren't I ;)

Anyone DIY something similar--a computer music box without having to deal with the OS each time you use it???

Thanks,
jazzzspazzz
 
Thanks--

Thanks--Squeezebox Touch looks really interesting. The Transporter looks interesting, too, but on the high side $2K USD, it is out of my range!

Logictech is kinda loose with it's descriptions of music quality. I did find a reference to 24 bit/96 kHz DAC. I need to do some reading to understand what this really means.

Thanks,
jazzzspazzz
 
If this helps, CDs are 16bit, 44KHz. Current Squeezebox (Touch not yet available) except Transporter are 24bit, 48KHz (i.e better than CD if the source is 24/48).

Thanks--Squeezebox Touch looks really interesting. The Transporter looks interesting, too, but on the high side $2K USD, it is out of my range!

Logictech is kinda loose with it's descriptions of music quality. I did find a reference to 24 bit/96 kHz DAC. I need to do some reading to understand what this really means.

Thanks,
jazzzspazzz
 
I have tried Linux (Ubuntu) & feel that it is not quite ready for primetime yet.

Besides, I really want to avoid using any "computer" OS. I want basically a big ole iPod!

Thanks,
jazzzspazzz

Sounds like you want the as yet unreleased Squeezebox Touch. Plug in a USB drive and you have a digital transport with a touch screen.

Vortexbox isn't a full linux installation, but a modified specialized version just for an audio NAS that uses slimserver. You can run it without a monitor, put a CD in the drive, and it will extract to FLAC and download track information automatically. Apparently you can also run a USB dac with it, and use a web browser on the same network to control it. It can also be used as a NAS. Overall, it is a pretty interesting product, and the closest to what you are looking for, especially when combined with the Squeezebox touch.
 
Thanks--I'll have to have a second look at that.

The Squeezebox touch sounds like what I'm after.

Thanks,
jazzzspazzz

Sounds like you want the as yet unreleased Squeezebox Touch. Plug in a USB drive and you have a digital transport with a touch screen.

Vortexbox isn't a full linux installation, but a modified specialized version just for an audio NAS that uses slimserver. You can run it without a monitor, put a CD in the drive, and it will extract to FLAC and download track information automatically. Apparently you can also run a USB dac with it, and use a web browser on the same network to control it. It can also be used as a NAS. Overall, it is a pretty interesting product, and the closest to what you are looking for, especially when combined with the Squeezebox touch.
 
I know you don't have Tesco in the US, or not much, but they're just a big supermarket. They've started to sell all kinds of things here, e.g. Iomega Screenplay, which is a 500G drive with built-in media player, plus I'm fairly sure they had some kind of player to which you could add the storage of your choice.

Have a look on dealextreme... I found this DealExtreme: $32.39 DiyoMate 720p HD Media Center RM/RMVB/AVI/MPEG4 TV Player with 2*USB Host and SDHC 'Media Player with USB host'

...basically you can plug in a USB hard drive and play back stuff off it, they have 1080 HDTV models, you can get the audio out of the HDMI, it may not play uncompressed and who knows what DAC is in it, but it might be OK...

w
 
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