'Seperate' MP3 Player

[Minwah]

Is there such a thing as an audio seperate MP3 (& other format) player?  What I mean is like a CD player which you can hook up to an amp with a digital or phono cable and control with a remote.

I think I saw one once but it had to be connected to a PC all the time to work.  I'm thinking more like one with a built in hard drive so you would transfer your music files to from the PC.

I like CD's are they're better quality, but lately I would find it handy to be able to access all my tunes without swapping discs.  And using a PC for music is just  imo!

[GadgetGeek]

Not sure exactly what you are looking for here, but my DVD player also plays MP3.  Granted, a CD full of MP3 is only about 10 hours worth, not a whole collection.  Some will play mp3 stored on a DVD.  If you had a DVD changer with 5+ DVD full of MP3, that is quite a bit of music, and it would be accessible via remote.  Also, several companies now have wireless "appliances" that allow you to stream your music from an mp3 server to your stereo.  Some examples can be found at http://www.dlink.com/products/category.asp?cid=75&sec=1
There are others similar to that and do research on these.  I think you can also get iPod docs that connect to your stereo and they might have some with remotes.

[SirPoonga]

iPod sounds like what you need.  There's more than enough third party hardware for the ipod.
http://thinkdifferentstore.com/product_info.php/products_id/996
http://www.playerblog.com/archives/000576.shtml
http://www.ahernstore.com/ijet.html

[Minwah]

iPod sounds like what you need.  There's more than enough third party hardware for the ipod.

Nah I have a Creative jukebox...I want a big seperates sized unit (so it can be stacked with my cd player, dvd player & receiver).

GadgetGeek: well I already have a cd player & dvd audio/video player which I'm happy with (they can't play mp3's tho).  Plus I just like the idea of never having to swap discs and leaving my cd/dvd players ready for other discs.  I don't like the other idea as it requires a pc.

I can't believe someone hasn't made something like this yet.

[Lave Laar]

What about a DVD-recorder with a hard drive ?
Most DVD players support MP3.

[NinjaEpisode]

You're looking for something like this:

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/requestmm.html

There are others, although, their popularity didn't really take off but they are out there and their price range isn't the greatest.

[Minwah]

You're looking for something like this:

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/requestmm.html

There are others, although, their popularity didn't really take off but they are out there and their price range isn't the greatest.

That's exactly what I mean, thanks.  I'll have a good look around, I need something which supports wma's and probably needs a bigger drive than that one as I use the highest quality possible (without going lossless).

[NinjaEpisode]

Here's another example:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-2p2QcFGSynz/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=105800&I=613ENTRE

and one more:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000C6J5Q/104-8783797-4470345?v=glance

Do a search on Digital Audio Server to find what you're looking for.

[Minwah]

Do a search on Digital Audio Server to find what you're looking for.

Great, thanks .  My searches were all just turning up Ipod type devices.

[SirPoonga]

Ok, I get what you mean.
I have two mp3 decoder boards that were made for a set-top box.  They just need AT power.  I think I only have one LCD for them though, but it is a standard 2x40 lcd.  Just need to wire 5 buttons, volume, the LCD, AT power, and IDE CD and Hard drive.  I am trying to think if it will rip songs from cd to to hard drive, I think it only supports copying mp3s from cd to harddrive.  It has RCA in and out, along with speaker connectors.

I currently don't have mine working because 1) AT power supply is too loud 2) Old cd drive in there is too loud 3) 2gig HD in there is too loud.  I wonder if I have all the schematics and docs for it....

[Minwah]

That's the idea Sirp.

Trouble is with these examples is they have too many features really.  I don't want to broadcast anything, and don't even need a cd drive, just an audio output (preferably digital) and some way of getting files on there (USB2 or whatever).

The Yamaha one looks nice tho, just a bit too expensive!

[SirPoonga]

Do you just want to broadcast music from your computer to your stereo?  If so that's easy.  Heck, Best Buy in the states has several units that stream audio either wired or wirelessly.

[Minwah]

Do you just want to broadcast music from your computer to your stereo?  If so that's easy.  Heck, Best Buy in the states has several units that stream audio either wired or wirelessly.

No I don't want to have my pc on.  Just plug the mp3 player into my amp.  Pretty simple really, dunno why there seems to be not a lot available.

[NinjaEpisode]

Mostly because you can take your average portable mp3 player, buy the proper cable to go from earphone to rca jacks and hook it up to your stereo.

[Barry Barcrest]

Likewise virtually all DVD players support mp3 as mentioned above adn as these are normally hooked up to home cinema sound systems there is little need for another device that offers the same functionality. If people have so many mp3's a DVD/CD cannot hold enough they are normally quite pc savvy and will go with a PC based soultion.

[SirPoonga]

http://www.olive.us/p_bin/

[Minwah]

http://www.olive.us/p_bin/

Looks pretty good...again, I don't need the wireless networking but that's probably the closest I'll get.

Pretty pricey tho, I'll probably end up sticking with CD's.

BTW I already have the proper cable to hookup my mp3 player to my stereo but I don't want to do it like that because; I want a permanent installation, a non-portable device would almost certainly sound better, I don't want to use the portable players interface and I don't want a trailing wire.  I don't want to use a PC because they are noisy, bad quality (audio-wise), require a mouse, require a monitor etc. etc....

[NinjaEpisode]

Well yes and no regarding the PC idea.

I'm using this:

http://www.omnifimedia.com/products/omnifi_details.jsp?productId=12542&partner=

It has the ability to do hardwired or wireless.  The wireless was piss poor at best, but once I hooked it into a switch in the house (house is wired with cat5 throughout), I get no problems at all.

The box comes with a piece of software that serves as an interface on a PC, in the basement, that does it job well enough with the exception of it's 10,000 song limitation.

To fix that, I use Twonkyvision MediaServer:

http://twonkyvision.de/

There is no limitation of songs on this pc side software.  Thus, I can now serve up the 28000 songs I have over 100 mbit connection at 192 kbit sound quality without any problem.

The wife digs it! 

[Silver]

A friend of mine has the exact things you are talking about with no extras - catch is he built it.

He used an old p2 or p3, a broken sony cd seperate. Gutted the seperate, installed motherboard, HD, and silent psu (designed for a mini-itx orginally I think). Last I saw he was using Dos or Freedos - boots up in seconds, instant power off like any other seperate.

He had to do his ripping on the pc and transfer (on board ethernet port - if it was plugged in the system mapped the HD as a network drive on bootup), and he installed a small LCD and infra red unit for interface.

I'm tempted to do something similar, but will probably go for a windows solution, simply so if i use a LCD or anything, theres already loads of software/plugins that will drive it etc...

[Minwah]

A friend of mine has the exact things you are talking about with no extras - catch is he built it.

Cool

Don't think I'm up for building one...I should finish my cabinet first!