Yamaha MusicCAST Wireless PCM/MP3 Server

HawKe7 writes "Wireless MP3 in your home? You betcha! Audioholics recently reviewed Yamaha's new MusicCAST Digital Music Server. The MusicCAST can store your entire CD collection in PCM/MP3 formats and stream it wirelessly to clients stationed throughout your home (track, genre and artist info are provided automatically via on-board Gracenote CDDB). Use your imagination... wireless audio throughout the home from a centralized server, digital PCM storage of your entire CD collection, creation of customized playlist CDs with the included CD-R drive... lots of valid uses for this type of tech. The unit is apparently a solid performer (not to mention a FAST CD ripper - just under 5 minutes), with excellent MP3 and PCM audio playback and compatibility with existing 802.11b networks. Though the unit is priced out of reach for some with an MSRP of $2800, it is an impressive system for those who want the latest and the best."

Comments

Why not just build an FM transmitter?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can buy a kit for a stereo FM transmitter for about $30 at a store like Fry's. (If you buy the components separately, it'll be even cheaper.) Just hook the thing up to the output of the sound card on your friendly little linux box.

Competition

[poptones]

If there is ANY market for this type of thing, unemployed geeks across the nation need to head down to the local hifi hut and make their presence known. For $2800 I would come to someone's home, setup a mini PC that could do all of this (more efficiently, too, using shns or apes), and even throw in an extra mini system for the bedroom.

$2800 is a LOT of money for something so limited in functionality. And Yamaha can't compete with 1:1 personalized service. $1000 for hardware and $1500 profit on an afternoon of work seems like a decent business opportunity to me.

Analog Recording?

[gamartin]

Why do none of these digital music appliances offer capabilities for analog recording? The PC is a noisy electrical environment and trying to record high-quality audio with a sound card gives poor quality. Why don't these appliances offer high-quality A/D for creating digital content for later streaming (radio, records, TV, etc)? Sounds really useful to me, and none of them do it.

Wow

[TheSpoom]

I didn't know that my old laptop with a decent hard drive and a wireless router was worth $2800!

This is not new

[Jesrad]

I have been doing this with my 1999 iMac DV for some time now. Airport card + iTunes 4 + 45 GB HD holding all my music, it also doubles as a filesharing server, WiFi router, and webserver (and many more uncommon usages, too). For a total price of half the $2800 of the Yamaha gizmo.

I agree, though, that my music is digitalized as 192 kbps MP3, not PCM.

Not that expensive

[DOsinga]

It seems a lot for a computer playing mp3s. But if you compare it to what most multi-room stereo systems cost, it is quite ok. We seem to be heading towards a situation where specific devices with limited capabilities are more expensive than pc's that do the same.

- - - - - - - - - -
sample my google hacks

Prismiq

[dpoolman]

Check out Prismiq. Supports audio and video (lots of formats - yes divx). Its also extremely hackable, based on Linux - lots of support from the developers on how to hack it, including publishing the communication protocol between the server software and the hardware device.

What a rip-off

[sunspot42]

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?).

Re:$2800?

[sunspot42]

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.