Topic: CD Jukeboxes

[blu666z]

Tired of only having a single disc player.  Gotta have the random.  Been wanting to get a CD/DVD/SACD Jukebox, but not real sure what features are important to look for.  FYI, only running a Sony amp right now.  Once I get out of this apt, I'll be in a house where I can benefit from an amp upgrade also.  Point being, I don't mind getting something a little nicer if it will benefit me once I start building the rest of my playback.

-Kevin

[blu666z]

Nobody?

-Kevin

[taylorc]

Anyone know if the 300/400-disc changers are reliable?  I've never owned one, and they apparently never took off...considering the only manufacturer you can find is Sony.  I've used others' briefly, and they seem like flaky machines waiting to give you problems.

[dnsacks]

I'm SERIOUSLY considering one of the squeezeboxes at http://www.slimdevices.com/

this allows you to store all of your music on your pc (in wav or flac formats), create playlists, etc. and access and play music over your stereo.  It's supposed to have a nice-sounding analog output, but the real "killer" app to me is using its spdif digital out to feed a d>a convertor (or the sony strda3000es) -- as a digital device it's been said to rival expensive cd transports.

With hard drive prices dropping to the sub $100 range for 200gb of space, it's even a CHEAP way to go.  Note, however, I've read that it's best for wav/flac playback to use a wired (vs wireless) network

[taylorc]

dnsacks, thanks for posting the squeezebox.  anyone know how ethernet connections perform over 25, 50, or even 75 feet of cable?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

dnsacks, thanks for posting the squeezebox.  anyone know how ethernet connections perform over 25, 50, or even 75 feet of cable?

just fine.  we had 200ft runs in the plenum of our building.

[taylorc]

Any idea what the minnimum level of ethernet card would be needed to support a squeezebox efficiently?

[caymanreview]

dnsacks, thanks for posting the squeezebox.  anyone know how ethernet connections perform over 25, 50, or even 75 feet of cable?

in ethernet wire there is no noticeable difference for up to either 250 or 300ft. i cant remember the exact specs, but anythign inside an apt/house would probably be more than ok

[dnsacks]

minimum level of ethernet card -- NOT an issue.  Any card should work fine, the lower spec 10mb/s protocol should be fine too.  The issue with wireless on this unit is that it only supports the older, slower standard which some reading indicated was SLIGHTLY too slow for totally latency-free playback. 

[MattD]

24/96 support? I don't see it on their page.

[dnsacks]

no, looks like it only supports 16/48 at this point (which keeps me on the fence).  But, it's open source -- so who knows how it could be tweaked in the future.  Not yet the be-all, end-all, but imho definitely a worthy alternative to a cd jukebox and would make it EASY to play the vast majority of the material that circulates today.

[taylorc]

Anyone aware of any other options for displaying "what's playing"? 

...have always thought it would be an entertaining addition to have the band, song, etc. info displayed while listening...especially if there were a way to do it for all sources, not just from a PC, but to have any input programmed (through an I/O device).  Even if it simply displayed the show date & location, or artist & album name.  Surely this technology is out there somewhere.  ...not necessarily something that could communicate directly with a DAT or CD, but in some way could be quickly loaded and displayed.