das Monkey

First, I'll make an assumption: I'm not going to find a reasonably priced high-capacity player that does SACD or DVD-A or good enough DVD-Video to care about, so this will be just for CDs (and mp3 if possible).

Of course I want something of high audio quality, but my main need I think would be functionality and programmability. I have a wide range of musical interest and wouldn't want to just be hitting "shuffle" all the time. If the technology exists, I'd like to set up predefined programs (random from discs 1-10 or something simple like that). Also, I'd need to at the very least be able to name the discs and hopefully the tracks as well.

I am completely blind in this area -- I don't know anyone who owns one nor have I ever seen one in action -- so any help from the experts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

das

X

Get a minimal computer with a good soundcard and a large hard drive or two. Hook the soundcard's digital or analog out to your stereo. Rip the CDs to the hard drive(s) and set up playlists in your favorite player. Ripping the CDs provides the artist name, album name, and track name.

If you network you can simultaneously play different playlists on any other computer in the house too.

Mexican Menace

I'm building a wireless MP3 server using a Shuttle computer. It has the new nVidia n2 onboard audio, which is pretty good as it is, but you can add a seperate sound card if you like. Read the article for more.

I'm just going to slap a wireless NIC and a basic AGP card in it so I can hook it to the stereo and the TV. Toss in a 120GB harddrive and a DVD/CD-RW drive and you're set.

X

For high audio quality you'll definitely want to use a separate audio card.

I would also suggest a P3 system that requires minimal cooling. That way the machine can be made very quiet. I have a low profile black one one sitting in my stereo cabinet. Looks just like one more component.

das Monkey

I already have an mp3 server and an ungodly mp3 collection, but I'm specifically looking for a CD Player for this purpose. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

das

Blade

Never bought one myself, but a couple things to look for is the ability to daisy chain them (allows you to connect (and control) mulitple megachangers) and a keyboard interface of some kind.

das Monkey

• Quoth Blade •<HR SIZE=1>Never bought one myself, but a couple things to look for is the ability to daisy chain them (allows you to connect (and control) mulitple megachangers) and a keyboard interface of some kind. <HR SIZE=1>

Thanks. Didn't think about daisy chaining, but that's a good idea. I was wondering about a keyboard - good to know they make them with an interface for it.

das

Wolf Husky

I just bought the Sony DVP-CX875P.

It's a 300+1 disc CD/DVD/MP3/DVD-R/DVD+R/CDR/CDRW player. It plays just about every format BUT SACD.

It has a PS2 port so you can hook up any common PC keyboard to input your disc names, etc. It is also daisy-chainable.

Maybe you should consider one of these. You only mentioned CD capabilities, but add PROGRESSIVE DVD to this, and I can't imagine better. Again, no SACD, but with all the other features, I'm willing to sacrifice.

I spent around $400 for it, shipped. It will be here in a few days! Woohoo!

das Monkey

That sounds interesting. When you get it, do you mind posting your opinions of it? You mentioned SACD a couple of times, but does it do DVD-A?

I'll go do my own research as well and see what I can find out. Thanks for the suggestion. If you don't mind my asking, from where did you purchase it?

das

Wolf Husky

Sure, I'll post about it. Give me the weekend to load it. (I'm assuming loading and indexing 300 DVDs will take quite some time, even with the PS2 keyboard connector.

The specs on the Sony website say nothing about SACD or DVD-A, but it's a brand new model. For a retail price of $500, I can't imagine it wouldn't play one or the other, but if it doesn't I'm not too worried about it. I have over 700 CDs encoded to 256kbps MP3s on my hard drives. I haven't had a stereo to play any CDRs or MP3s for a long time. I'll be perfectly content and thrilled to death with the new capabilities of MP3 and CDR/W readability (that my Sony C660 didn't have) .

I'll let ya know who I bought from after it arrives, and is indeed 'A' model, not refurbished, etc. It's trackable, but who knows -- maybe I'm being shipped 22 lbs of bricks. I wouldn't want to lead someone to a bad seller.

But, I can tell you HOW I found him. Check out Yahoo Shopping, search for the DVD player, and you will find two companies that have them priced extremely low -- $400 shipped. They don't have them in stock, at least they didn't earlier in the week. I saw an established seller on eBay selling one, asked him if he had a few more and if he'd pricematch the other company. I told him if he got close, I'd buy from him direct through PayPal, otherwise I didn't mind waiting a month for the company to get them in stock. He quoted me the price, and I sent the PayPal payment. 16 hours later, I had a tracking number. The nice thing about this is that PayPal offers fantastic fraud protection. But, I don't think I have anything to worry about. He had feedback over 500.

I'll let you guys know early next week.

Wolf Husky

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...zQQRw&Dept=hav

Here's the link direct to the Sony site. I just cut/pasted it, so if it doesn't work, I'll delete the post.

das Monkey

Thanks for the information. Both the pictures and link worked fine.

das

Wolf Husky

Hey Monkey,

Check out this site.

http://store.yahoo.com/htessentials/sonydvpcx870d.html

That's the site I used to ask the eBay seller to price match. I have no idea if that site has decent customer service, ... and in my experience, I have only have 1 good experience out of 6 attempts with "Yahoo Stores." But, one never knows.