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MP3 Jukebox That Rox
One of the really cool things I saw at Comdex was a very cool MP3 Jukebox that Y2Brand was showing. The system allows for sharing throughout a network, but the other cool feature is that if you assign your box an IP, it shares with all other boxes that have IPs - kinda of a hardware Napster type thing. Expected ship date is 1/15/00 - click below to get some more details.
Press Release from Y2MP#
Y2Brand announces they are accepting pre orders for Y2MP3, The Worlds first MP3 Community JukeBoX Server.
- The Y2MP3 JukeBoX MP3 server is
a turnkey solution for groups that want to share their favorite music. Y2MP3
JukeBoX allows listeners to add their favorite music via a web page interface
served from the Y2MP3 system. The web interface extends the system to allow
songs to be added to a que, display latest additions to the database, or see
the top 10 requested songs. Everything is administrated from a browser over
the LAN.
- Sharing is a key feature of Y2MP3.
For systems that have their own IP address, users will be able to turn on
JukeBoX Sharing. Jukeboxes that have sharing enabled will be able to download
music from all other Y2MP3 systems online, much like Napster or Mp3 Fury.
- Users with administration privileges
can add and remove songs from the database, stop the current songs playback,
and change volume via web page. Y2MP3 stores an amazing 100 CDs worth of music
(average based on mp3s encoded 128 kbps, 44 kHz), all in a system that
weighs only four pounds. An optional 10 GB second hard drive adds an additional
166 hours of playback for a nonstop weeks worth of music.
- Setting up Y2MP3 is a snap, simply
plug audio out from Y2MP3 into a stereo or PA system, and plug a network cable
into your LAN.
- For areas larger than an office,
an optional low power FM transmitter turns Y2MP3 into a radio station! This
"Internet radio station" turns the current model inside out, instead of just
playing commercial radio stations on the Internet, now the Internet and the
Y2MP3 server becomes an automated radio station with studio, record player,
and interactive talk show host applications built in and automated. Users
on the Internet can gather the content from people around the world, and then
post it to the local radio server which then rebroadcasts that server content
via radio to those people that are not connected to the Internet but do have
radios.
- The Y2MP3 JukeBoX system is designed
to be small and portable yet provide superior quality. It is also designed
to be very easy to install and operate. With options the Y2MP3 JukeBoX gets
mobile - take it with you on the road.
Y2MP3 is Powered by Linux, Apache, & MySQL
Hardware: Base MP3 JukeboX (AMD K-6 266 MHz CPU, 32 MB RAM, 4.3 GB Hard Disk, Full Duplex Audio, Internal Speakers) AC Power Supply (battery option for UPS) PCMCIA Network Adapter
Options Include: NiMH Battery - Car adapter Removable 2nd 2.5" IDE hard drive up to 10GB (Provides an extra 166 hours of playback) FM transmitter Keyboard / mouse / video display Carrying case
Expected shipping date is 1-15-00
I know Napster will try suing them, since they claim a patent on this kind of stuff. Personally I think it's another "obvious" application of technology.. but eh, IANABSL (I am not a blood- sucking lawyer)
I am running a similar set up. I have a computer that sits here and does exactly what that computer does. It really doesn't take that much to do what that computer does. Anyone that pays any more than $200 or $300 (USD) for that thing is crazy. It does have a nice feature being like Napster and being able to "share" files with other boxes. But then, I am doing that now too. Just run Napster in that directory, or run an FTP server into your mp3 directory. It's a nice set up. I like it a lot. It saves my main computer system a lot of disk space.. Then that web interface is kind of neat, but personally it would annoy me more than it would be a help to me. You could easily write a program similar to what they are describing that can keep a playlist, search songs, tell top 10 songs, updates playlaylist so a song that somone wants to hear is played before a song taht no one wants to hear.
But for thoes people who don't want to find the time to set up a file server, FTP.. etc. I guess it would be a good thing. And probably not somthing most of the Slashdot crowd would jump all over. But it is kind of neat, if I had one I would play with it a bit, have a good time.. And it's somewhat portable.
"I couldn't give him (Bill Gates) advice in business and he couldn't give me advice in technology." Linus Torvalds
And two minutes later, someone told me of Gnap, a GNOME client for Napster which apparently the Napster people doesn't really like. I mirrored it here for those interested. Looks pretty okay.
That looks pretty neat, but... I don't see how a 4.3GB HD is supposed to hold 100 CD's worth of music, unless you rely on the CD's being rather not full... It seems like they're off by 2GB or so.
The FM transmitter sounded like a really cool idea, tho.
Okay, so it's a low-powered Linux box, I couldn't find a price, and their ordering page and screenshots were all very dead.
Why not just make a little add-on kit, or a distribution, to turn people's old Linux boxes into dedicated mp3 servers? I've got an old P133 I could use, when I get a new computer I could put my old (newer) HD in there, and serve some mp3's...
---
pb Reply or e-mail rather than vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
- A.P.
--
"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
and $1300 for the low-end. Roughly on par with another Linux based specially computer, Cobalt's Qube. Here's a link
+&x
These guys must be kidding. $1300 for the minimal system? $1800 for the high end? Puhleaze - you could just get another computer to do all this and at less than half the cost too.
Davo -- Free speech, free software, AND free beer.
Actually, the writer (ryan dahl (four) of gnap, was asked to take gnap offline because of issues with 'flooding'. However, gnap cannot yet even chat (a function I do not even like in the first place). After much deliberation, Ryan decided to keep the project open source rather than keep as binaries until the issues were resolved. IMPORTANT NOTE: gnap is in pre-alpha release form. Do not use it unless you want it to crash far more than what is acceptable. It will be, however, in the future, a really well written gnome napster client.
becuase the normal village idiot can't figure out how to get samba to work with 9X/NT. Their $1200 loss.
-d9
Right now there are two major mp3 cd players which are "in the making." However, there are doubts about when their actual release date is, and if they will be actually materialize.
As someone else stated, Pine appears to be the most notable project as of now, though it has been delayed for quite a long time, and promises a release around February with a price of $200-300. However, I'm not sure whether it will actually ship by then.
Another option is Mambo X, which claims it will be released around December with a price of $179. It sounds great, but again I remain skeptical, as the site seems more intent on hip advertising than on actually going into detail about the specs of the player.
But basically, though mp3 cd players are the best option for portable mp3 listening, and are supposedly not too hard to make (decoder chip + lcd display?), you wont be seeing much around because of RIAA pressure (theyve sorta settled the other mp3 players, like the rio and the lyra, with their threats because now almost all mp3 players are being made SDMI compliant *shudder*.) Also, Sony, a big cd player manufacturer, won't go near it because they have a record company branch and because they are too busy pushing their minidisc crap. But hopefully this trend won't last, and we'll be able to see the big shot companies come out with quality mp3 cd players that don't just look like vaporware in the making.
What gives you the right to write a client and access napsters servers?
What gives Napster the right to refuse someone access for no better reason than choice of OS?
That is illegal, its the same as microsoft trying to access AOL IM servers.
Actually, it's not illegal. Neither is Microsoft trying to access AIM's servers. The only difference is that Microsoft's intentions are obviously sinister; they seek to Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish AIM. Our friend here has no such intent; he just wants to use their service on his OS of choice.
Its no different than me sitting in front of your house until I figure out your garage door frequency and I open it and start using your garage.
Actually, it's very different. Why? Well, let's take my garage. I prefer to keep it private. I don't want anyone accessing it except me.
Napster is by its very nature a public service. Anyone is, in theory, able to access it. Refusing to allow someone to access because of the OS he chooses to run is not unlike refusing to allow someone into a restaurant due to religious differences.
When don't you start your own service?
I assume you mean why, not when. And frankly, why should he? There's a perfectly good one already out there. Why reinvent the wheel?
When do you have to leech on someone elses work?
Again, I'm going to assume you mean why. The fact is, he isn't leeching. All of the work he's doing is his own. In fact, he's doing more work than the original Napster people did (all they had to do was make up a protocol; he has to figure it out with no documentation to help him). He's not using one single scrap of their code. And thus, none of their work.