An mp3 player for the living room?

mattb_3

Thats a good suggestion lipidicman. I have thought about the iPod route. Well designed and easy to use, so I believe. So I wouldn't be too bothered about the lack of a remote (with display) for it, as the unit itself is likely to be easy to use. Personally I stick music on and don't flip around like I do with the telly, so a remote isn't so important.

The only thing bothering me about the iPod is capacity and expandability. I believe the standard size is 60GB - not really enough. Do you know if the hard disc can be upgraded to a larger size?

mattb_3

Having spent the last 1/2 hour feverishly surfing for whether an iPod can be expanded with a larger disc, it appears that it can't. 60GB is the maximum. This would probably be enough for my current collection and it's certainly enough for portable music, but it's not really enough capacity for something that's going to go in the lounge and hold my entire (growing) music collections.... oh well.... I'll have to look out for 2nd hand Freecom devices on ebay...

gorilla

mattb, can I ask just how big is your music collection? If 60 gb isn't enough you much have one hell of a collection, and "growing" too. Man you must appreciate music.

lipidicman

OK. The item you listen on doesnt have to hold everything. I assume you will keep the original CDs as Hard Disks are not designed for long term storage.

I assume you have a PC. Buy a cheap and very large HD for it - say 300Gb, or maybe a couple. Then you can shift 60Gb over to the IPOD and make changes as and when.

simes

What about buying a cheap second hand laptop. You can plug in an external usb hard drive into it for as much storage as you like. Tis gives you the added advantage of easily moving your music collection in the future ( your collection will be on the external hard disc )
You don't need a high spec model just to play MP3. You don't need USB2 , the old USB1 standard will be easily quick enough for playing MP3 from the hard disc. Just buy some decent speakers for it.

I am going to use my old P2 366 laptop for this purpose. Its nice to have a decent display screen to choose tracks from.

padzster

I was kind of looking for a similar thing but gave up on the whole media centre idea - I think they'll come eventually. So instead I opted for a SoundDock (by Bose) for my iPod and it's fantastic. Sound quality is excellent (considering it's just a single speaker).

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/90401/wo/1K68od7CmJey2HXY6WPrYJjAbgH/3.0.0.11.1.0.6.9.3.19.0.1.0.1.1.2.1.0.1

There are cheaper speaker options for the iPod but I don't really know anything about them.
Even if you don't already have an iPod the total cost isn't that bad.

Good luck!

bestyman

I had the same problem a few months ago and hada few options that I looked in to .
1. Ipod , ok but apparently sound not brilliant when connected to amp and no way to display playlist on the tele.
2. Someone on this site was raving about using an xbox, they said easy to set up and use , large HDD, playlist on tele, fairly cheap. I would have gone down this road but xbox in living room not wife friendly, so lacking approval I had to sack this idea.
3. Argos do a HDD player for £200, its made by acoustic solutions . I found this after I came up with my system so never researched it more, this might be a winner.

4. So my system is .
An old PC, think its a 500mhz proccesor (got it free)and I stuck 256mb ram in it ( cost £25) . To view it on the tele I bought a graphics card with TV out (£35) . A pc connected to a tele will never display brilliantly but its readable and does the job.
For the all important sound I got a USB sound blaster for £80 and all I can say about this is fantastic, the sound is amazing. It also comes with a remote control which limited functions ( next song etc, but no full search)
Next I got a small microsoft optical mouse(£15) and a doodey small lit up keyboard(£30) to play music in the dark.
For storage came a 160gb usb HDD ( about £90) which plugs in main pc too for transfering music.
To get wife approval its all housed in a wicker basket ( looks ok actually) . It runs on normal XP ( lol, car boot here i come)

I know you said you didnt wanna build anything, but apart from the graphics card everything is USB.

So, in my opinion you have 4 options. Do a search and you will find my similar thread. If you do get the argos thing let me know how it is.

Bestyman
ps you have a PM

tryingtosave_3

If you have all of your existing music on a pc, just not in the right room, have you thought about just streaming it (over wifi) into the right room.

Apple AirPort Express pretty simply streams stuff from your main computer to another system, i.e. a stereo in the living room. I think it works on pcs as well, but you'd have to check.

You can also get more advance versions, which look essentially like a small stereo but actually stream over wifi. These would (or should) include remotes, and displays, so it would be like having the system in the room.

If you don't already have a pc/mac with all the music on, and given the size of your collection, I'd suggest your only option is really a media centre type pc.

However streaming would be cheaper! I'm sure someone posted links to these devices a couple of months ago - I think they were £70-100 ish.

Just seen that you do say you don't want a networked player in your post ... still, I think it's worth considering!!

lipidicman

The laptop idea isn't bad. But you will need a USB optical digital connection and a hifi with a digital in to get any kind of 'hi-fi' quality sound. The analogue outputs on laptops are pretty ropey and I would be surprised if any of them came close to the aux output on a IPOD even.

webhamster

If you already have a wireless network , or wired network , get an xbox and posiibly the wireless addon.

A modded xbox and a 120g hd would be great for that very thing I use one for it , plus you can use it as a divx player on the network streaming data from network shares , and 120g is a lot of mp3/divx space.Plus you can use dvdr , cdr , dependant on the internal dvd drive.

For more info on it try xbox scene org.