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Redirecting Audio from PC to PC?
Atlantis-Rising asks: "I have two PCs in my standard setup- one is a 1U server (Running windows XP), and the other is a Windows XP Media Center PC. When I purchased the server, I didn't think I'd need a soundcard, and so I made no provisions for this when I was planning my system, and so it has no audio. After buying the server, my main desktop died and I decided to use the server as my main desktop machine, and I'd really like audio. However, my Media Center PC is hooked up to a wonderful speaker set, one that I'd not like to duplicate. I therefore wonder if anyone on Slashdot knows of a way to play the audio from one PC on another? I know about buying a USB sound-card, and I'd rather not do that. I also know that I can use RDP to connect the media center PC to the server, but I'd rather not do that either, for graphical performance reasons. Are there any other solutions out there, Slashdot?"
iTunes (the version that runs on your own PC, not the download shop) uses the DAAP protocol to act as a music server. Fire up iTunes with your music collection on one PC, then fire up iTunes on another PC on the same network and you can see and play each other's music across the network from within iTunes.
Better yet, there's DAAP servers available that mean you don't need a GUI based tool such as iTunes to share the music around. I run mt-daapd on a cheapy Linksys NSLU2 disc server (which runs Linux under the covers), and it works perfectly - every PC in the house can see every piece of music in the house, by running either iTunes or another DAAP client such as GetItTogether. Next purchase is a Roku SoundBridge, which is a hardware box that can attach to the main stereo system to play DAAP-sourced music. All up, it's a simple, powerful, elegant solution that's been rock solid in my experience.
Unlike a lot of other household IT projects, this definitely merits the Spousal Seal of Approval - all the household music CDs (~700 at present, give or take) get ripped once, copied to the NSLU2, then filed away in crates under the house. No clutter, no empty CD cases or orphaned CDs left out to get scratched, no furniture needed to store purchased CDs beyond 1 x $5 plastic crate per ~100 CDs. The NSLU2 and attached 2 disc drives actually sit on top of a kitchen cupboard, and is shown off by my SO as a tribute to my "IT genius" to both her friends and my geek buddies - you can't top that!!!