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I am using a product called cd3o, which allows a central server holding all my mp3s to stream to multiple mp3 receivers, which then plug into a stereo system in each room.

This is the best of all worlds.

1. I use 802.11g to transport the mp3 file from my server to the cd3o device without breaking the place (I rent)
2. My stereo is locally wired to the speakers, so it sounds good, and doesn't waste 802.11 bandwidth
3. I get a cool remote control with a good UI and I can play by artist, genre, album, ramdom, etc.
4. Unlike other mp3 devices, I don't need a TV on to select tracks - I hate TV.
5. If I want, I can get multiple cd3o devices for different rooms, and they can play different stuff from the same music source.

I think Slim Devices has a wonderful gadget here, but the price is on the high side of outrageous. You can buy a gigantic Sony 400 *DVD* changer for $400 standard retail, and it'll even support MP3 encoded CR-R discs and Super Audio CD's. Yeah, it's nice to be able to stream audio straight from your PC, but if you want to store uncompressed or losslessly compressed audio, that's going to take a lot of storage space if you have a 400 disc collection. I've ripped pretty much every disc I own to my hard drives, mostly uncompressed, and it consumes well in excess of 250 gigabytes. Factor the cost of that kind of storage into the equation, and getting a proper Squeezebox configuration going (including a wireless router) could add up to well over $500.

I went with cd3o's $200 wireless media receiver a few months ago, and I've been pretty happy with my decision. Does most of what the Squeezebox does plus a few things that it doesn't do and costs $100 less. It's also a Linux device like the Squeezebox, although their server software isn't currently available for Linux (though others have apparently written a Linux server for it - check their support forums).

I think these gadgets are certainly the wave of the future, though I suspect we'll see their functions rolled into standard receivers / preamps at some point.

>or $249 for the Sound Blaster Wireless Music which
>is a similar "wireless DAC," but the display is on
>the remote.

I like the display on the remote idea, but it looks like the Creative gadget only supports .mp3 and .wma. I've already ripped my entire collection as .wav files, and have no intention of compressing them (for home use, anyhow).

You also have to wonder how much power a remote like that takes, since I'm assuming it's both a transmitter and a receiver with a fairly large display. Must chew through the old batteries. Not much of a problem with good rechargeables, but you might have to cycle them pretty often. And while it's nice to have the display up close, it would have to be pretty high-res to display much information, as it's kinda small.

Also, it looks like Creative forces you to use their software to control playlists and the like. I don't think it supports standard Winamp playlists and the like, as many other media receivers do.

It's not worth the $150 premium over the cd3o, even if you can live with the fact it only supports compressed audio.

>Why bother spending the money on this box when you
>could take an old laptop, a WiFi network card, some
>audio and video cables and a cordless keyboard and
>mouse and get even more functionaltiy by hooking the
>laptop into your entertainment center?

I thought about taking this route myself a few months ago, before finally breaking down and purchasing a cd3o player. There are plenty of reasons why laptops and small PCs don't make a lot of sense as media players:

1) Interface. This is really a two-parter:

a) How are you going to get commands to the device, and
b) How is the device going to acknowledge the results of those commands

Getting commands to the device is fairly simple with a keyboard, but how are you going to see what the results of those keyboard commands are from across the room? You could plug the PC into a large display, but most of those make a nasty whining noise, and anyhow, who wants to have to leave the tee vee on just to listen to music? Laptops with displays large enough to be visible from across the room are still on the spendy side for the most part, and their look hardly blends into most living rooms. For that matter, most wireless keyboards would also stick out like a sore thumb.

There are dedicated wireless media remotes designed for PC's, but they tend to be somewhat expensive, and limited in what software they'll work with off the shelf. They're fine if you want to use Media Player as your jukebox software (gag), not so fine if you want to use other programs. Yeah, you can customize them in most cases, but that's a lot of effort to go thru for something so basic. And, there goes about $50.

2) Storage. Unless you have a laptop or small form factor PC with a gigantic hard drive inside of it, or can live with the idea of ripping your ENTIRE LIBRARY to lossy-compressed .mp3, you're going to need a lot of storage space to hold a decent-sized CD collection. Uncompressed, my collection currently consumes 200+ gigabytes. Yeah, I could have saved scads of space by storing them compressed, but:

a) Editing all the metadata that goes along with a huge library is a significant undertaking - one I never want to repeat, thank you very much and
b) I would have opted for the least compression possible, which is fine for home use, but would suck for portable use, meaning I'd have to recompress files for portable devices, and suffer additional quality loss as a result. Ick.

So I'm either going to need to hook a giant external hard drive up to the laptop (here's hoping that old laptop has USB2 or Firewire connections), or I'm going to need to network it into my main PC and use it as an audio server. So what exactly am I gaining by using the laptop over a cd3o, Audiotron or Slim Devices gadget, other than (possibly!) saving a couple of bucks? And will I really even save any money? Read on . . .
3) Audio Quality. In a word, the D/A converters and amps in most laptops SUCK. They typically transmit more than a bit of electronic noise from inside the laptop as well. Not an option for quality audio. And I've had laptops that sent a nasty popping sound to the speakers when the power cycled. Don't want that frying my stereo. You could always add on a halfway decent external sound option from Creative, but there goes another USB connection and at least another $50.

4) Mechanical Noise. Laptops are quieter than most desktops, but they still aren't silent. When I'm listening to music, I do not want to hear hard drives clicking and whining or the whirr of a fan. These dedicated media receivers are all perfectly silent - a huge advantage.

5) OS License. This isn't such a problem if you happen to have a laptop sitting around, but if you're trying to assemble a small form factor PC from scratch and want to use Windows, kiss another $100 goodbye. Yeah, you can use Linux, but there's less support for formats like Windows

>Yeah but cd3o's software only runs on winxp or 2000.

Not quite. Someone has written a Linux server for the cd3o. They've also added on Ogg Vorbis support.

It isn't controllable from a web browser on another computer, but I believe you could access the Windows PC remotely and control the server that way. There might be other methods outlined in the Support forum. It's not of any interest to me - I only own one computer. I was going to build a separate media PC for streaming audio, but the cd3o eliminated that need. I just added a couple of 160GB drives to my Windows PC, and kept the PC (and its noisy fans) in my bedroom, far from the living room stereo.

>cd3o is $199 now with special pricing, looks like it was
>240 or 250 without it.

They've been selling it at the price for months now. It might as well be the list price.

I'm not sure how you're "freeing up" your Windows box by tossing a huge drive in your Linux box. I'd rather have the giant drive in a Windows system - they're more likely to need that kind of storage, and Windows seems to still have better media management tools than Linux.

The cd3o media receiver itself runs Linux, BTW.

I believe someone has written a Linux server for the cd3o. Check out their support message board.

Looks like they're finally catching up to where cd3o has already been for the past year - a wireless media receiver that can play uncompressed streams. I like the fact the Squeezebox can apparently transcode to uncompressed PCM from other formats (like .ogg) on the fly - cd3o doesn't support that feature yet - but it also costs $100 more than the cd3o.

Worse, it apparently doesn't support any kind of tagging for .WAV files or other uncompressed files. The cd3o supports MusicMatch's .WAV tagging abilities, allowing you to seamlessly integrate both compressed and uncompressed files into your library. And the cd3o also sports a better remote and their "voice guide", which eliminates the need for any kind of physical display. The Squeezebox has a nice little display, but the keyword here is little. There's no way you'd be able to read that from across a large room without a telescope, and managing playlists on it would be impossible.

As it stands, I'd still give the edge to cd3o, provided they get their act together concerning the ability to transcode other formats to uncompressed PCM for streaming to the receiver. But it is nice to see their design approach being validated by their competitors.

cd3o has had a similar product with wifi capabilities on the market for a little while now. Also features a neat text-to-speech option so you can have it speak the artist, title, etc. to you.

How much were VCR's when they frst came out? $1000. Today, $50.
Calculators? $120. Today? Mostly free.

Yeah, but this Yamaha gadget *isn't* the first of its kind. People have been streaming audio using a PC or Mac as a server for several years now. Apple already has a PORTABLE music server that better-leverages the power of the average home PC. Yamaha's simply selling a dedicated, stripped-down, undersized (80GB is a joke) audio server for a whopping $2200. It's a rip-off.

For $2200, you could buy one of those new desk lamp iMacs and a 300 gigabyte external Firewire hard drive, and rip a sizeable CD library *uncompressed* to your drive, using the iMac as your "dedicated" audio server. And the iMac has its own silent LCD display - you don't have to use a noisy, power-sucking television as your display. There are wireless USB remotes available as well, and most Mac media rippers/players are simple to use. In fact, they look simpler than Yamaha's solution, yet they have greater flexibility. For example, an iMac CD burner won't force you to use the more expensive "audio" CD's, the way Yamaha's audio "server" does.

Of course, if you already have a PC, devices like the cd3o make even more sense, at 1/10th the price of Yamaha's gadget.

Dedicated *storage* devices like this aren't going to make it in the marketplace - too many disparate interfaces to use, too much proprietary crap, too difficult to update the software to keep up with changing standards, and too much media is starting to flow into the home through the PC (mp3's, Divx video, and now iTunes purchases). Home media libraries are exploding in size - 80GB isn't going to cut it. The future belongs to simple client devices that harness the growing storage and processing power of the average desktop PC, making it easy to access your media in other locations in (and out) of your home. The iPod is a good example of the "out of your home" variety, a client when connected to your PC, a server when you're on the go. The cd3o, SliMP3 and AudioTron are good examples of the "around your home" variety. I'm sure a Tivo-like device is coming soon for video too, now that home wireless bandwidth is sufficient to support compressed a/v streams. Yamaha is *way* behind the curve on this one.

I just bought this cd3o device c300. It allows me to stream multiple formats to my stereo system wirelessly (802.11b), which the device converts to PCM for transmission via Toslink or coaxial. The only drawback is that it only runs on Windows, but I thought I saw some folks working on a Linux solution using the same hardware.... Of course, your music collection can still exist on a Linux box. Just share it out to the Windows box via Samba. There are some minor physical design issues, but nothing I wasn't able to deal with. So far so good. Sven

Why would anyone with a PC buy one of these spendy Yamaha units when they could buy something like this for $200 and use their computer as a massive MP3 server? It's wireless, supports playlists, and doesn't even require a display (which is a huge plus - who wants to hear the whine of a television set while they're trying to listen to music?).

Check out the cd3o. It utilizes Microsoft's speech synth doodad for Windows to provide a voice guide. Using the guide, it's easy to navigate through your library using your remote to punch in the first few letters of an artist's name or album or track title, or to flip through your pre-defined playlists. And you don't need to squint at some fluoroscopic display halfway across the room.

The Audiotron is also EXPENSIVE compared to the alternatives (particularly the cd3o), its D/A converters are said to be pretty poor (the cd3o and Slimp3 both have better specs), and it takes it forever to scan your drives initially.

While the display seems like a cool idea, in reality you can't see it well from across the room, and it's of little use for managing playlists. I think cd3o has the right idea with their client service / control panel on the server PC and voice guide on the client device. Doesn't require a television (with its inherent whine), doesn't require you to squint at a fluorescent display halfway across the room, and it knocks enough in the way of cost off the price of the unit to allow it to come with built-in WiFi reception.

I'd been toying with the idea of creating my own .WAV/.MP3 server for some time, to use as part of my audio system. In part it's because I'm lazy - I hate having to get up, drag CD's out of their storage cube, open the 5-disc changer, and plop 'em in.

I suppose I could have just bought one of those carousel changers - they can be had on eBay for a couple hundred bucks - and load all of my discs into that. But they're bulky and will be a dead-end if we move to non-CD based music distribution (which seems likely, at least at some point). And I don't want to be stuck burning CD's to load into my carousel down the road. Ick.

My original plan was to build a small Windows XP PC to function as an independent audio server. I'd get a mini-ITX motherboard with built in CPU (one of the VIA EPIA units), a big hard drive, a quiet or silent power supply, a remote and software to drive it, a CD ROM drive, and possibly an LCD display of some sort. It would require quite a bit of effort, but would be tres cool.

Problem is, it would also be tres expensive. A tiny case with a silent power supply would run at least $70 alone. Win XP and the motherboard would cost about the same or more each. Now we're talking $210, not including taxes, shipping, a hard drive, a remote or a display of any kind. Sure, I could use the television as a display, but what about that 15kHz whine? And maybe I could use a smaller drive - one just big enough for XP - and use my PC as a server. But then I'd need a bigger drive for my PC, and I'd need to network the two, and since they're in different rooms I'd be shelling out for wireless networking . . . and suddenly the cost explodes into the $700 range. More than I'm willing to spend.

I did look into a few devices designed to function as networked MP3 players, but they all have problems. The Slimp3 looks promising, with its large bright display, but it only plays MP3 compressed files (WAV's are transcoded into MP3 on your computer before being transmitted - so you get sucky mp3 quality and your PC slows down when WAVs are played) and would require an external wireless receiver. I want to play uncompressed or lossless compressed files, too. In fact, I want to have my entire CD collection available (or at the least, the tracks I'd be likely to listen to now and again). HP makes a device with similar restrictions (it adds on WMA lossy-compressed files) that's even more expensive ($300), but at least has a built-in wireless receiver. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a display. Turtle Beach's Audiotron looks the most promising, but it's expensive ($300 - $350), isn't wireless, and according to what I've read, has a shitty D/A converter. Of course, it also has digital out, but my H/K receiver is fidgety about digital sources, and tends to take a moment to "pickup the phone" when the line is dropped, cutting off the first few seconds of each track when fed a digital signal. So unfortunately, I probably need something that can feed my receiver a decent analog signal.

The Prismiq is probably the best alternative, but it requires the use of a television, which rules it out for use in my audio system. The video features strike me as being of little use - as an apartment dweller, I'll be relying on WiFi, and only the lowest-quality video can be streamed over WiFi (particularly in this high rise, steel framed, steel walled apartment building). The D/A converter is also said to be not the best. And of course, it doesn't support WiFi out of the box, so tack a good $40 onto the price of each unit.

Finally I found a device that's a respectable compromise & won't bust the old budget. It's called a cd3o, and it costs just $200. The website is here. It isn't perfect, but it scores on a lot of points. It's wireless (802.11b) or wired, with its own built-in receiver. It supports Winamp playlists. It doesn't have its own drive - it's just a player that uses your PC as its server. It doesn't just beam the ou