I must admit, I don't do the iTunes thing. In fact, I've yet to download a single song from any music site. If that makes me a cultural Neanderthal, then so be it. Just keep your paws off my LPs, or I'll whack you with my trusty Mastodon rib. Kidding aside, I do have a formidable CD collection. And the problem with a large CD collection is that it is, well, large. In my case, I have to store the CDs in multiple cases: one in the living room, another in the family room, etc. Tracking down an individual CD is an exercise in frustration and luck; in fact, it actually involves exercise.
Enter the Harman Kardon DMC 1000, a QNX-based media server that automatically copies CDs to a hard drive as the CDs are playing. Which means that, eventually, a good chunk of your CD collection ends up in a single, relatively small location. Better yet, you can listen to that collection from almost any room in your house, using the DMC's multi-zone feature. I could get used to that.
I first wrote about this device a few months ago, when it won a European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) Best Product award. Well, I just found out that the editors of the German magazine HiFi Test also gave the DMC 1000 the thumbs up, voting it best product of the year. From what I've read, the editors rarely agree on a best product of the year, so they must have been some impressed.
And get this: The DMC 1000 also received a GOOD DESIGN award from "The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design." The GOOD DESIGN award honors the "pursuit of excellence in form, function and aesthetics..." I could be wrong, but I believe this means that the GOOD Design folks think the DMC 1000 looks really cool.
Naturally, all this coolness comes at a price, so being the skinflint that I am, I haven't bought one.
Yet. :-)
6 comments:
Digital content Neanderthal? More like Homo Habilis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_habilis)
What, an anthropological insult! I guess I should take small comfort in the fact that you didn't accuse me of being an Australopithecus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus)
I THINK THIS IS THE PROGRESSION OF THE SPECIES IN HOME MEDIA SERVERS TO ADD WHAT YOU PLAY TO A DATA BASE OF WHAT YOU PLAY AND ADD ALL YOUR CONTENT TO A MEDIA SERVER THAT DELIVERS ALL THIS CONTENT TO OTHER ROOMS IN THE HOUSE AND THE ONLY THING MISSING IS THE LOOK AND CONTENT OF ALBUM COVERS THAT WAS THE ONLY THING GOOD ABOUT ALBUMS IF YOU ASK ME. I WAS TRYING TO GET ALL MY MP3 ON FLASH MEDIA BUT IT USELESS. HARD DRIVES CAN ADVENTUALLY FAIL BUT THATS THE WHOLE REASON TO HAVE A CD COLLECTION. I LOOKED AT THE BAR TYPE JUKEBOXES PRETTY GOOD IF YOU HAVE $3,500 BUCKS AND I LOOKED AT MEDIA CENTER PC'S FINE IF YOU HAVE $2,500 BUCKS AND FINALLY LARGE USB DRIVES 1 TERA BYTE SELLS FOR $200 PRICE IS ALWAYS DROPPING ON MEMORY.
I'M SETTLING ON LARGE FAST DRIVES AND SOFTWARE BASED JUKEBOXES FOR NOW HOPE TO BUY MEDIA SERVERS THAT HOLD 200 CD AND HOOK TO THE PC THEY ARE OUT THERE AT $125 BUCKS THEY HOLD,PLAY RECORD CD DVD AND BURN TO DVD AND CD THATS CLOSE BUT IF YOU HAVE MP3 CD'S THEN MAYBE A LARGE COLLECTION WILL FIT THE MEDIA SERVER
Thanks for your comments, Anonymous. I agree with you about the utility of a CD collection. The really nice about a media server is that all of your music is on a single hard drive. Of course, the downside is that all of your music is on a single hard drive... :-)
I USE THE SURPLUS DVR MARKET AS MY SOURCE OF CHEAP LARGE DRIVES FOR MEDIA. I RECENTLY BOUGHT THE FOLLOWING TWO TIVO'S FOR TWENTY BUCKS AT GOODWILL AND THIRD FOR THIRTY DOLLARS. THESE WORKING TIVOS PLAY CLOSE TO DVD QUALITY CONTENT THAT IS STORED ON 40 AND EIGHTY GIGA BYTE HARD DRIVES. YOU NEED A TIRX SCREWDRIVE TO GET THE DRIVES OUT AND RECYCLE THE OTHER ELECTRONICS PLEASE. INSTALL THE DRIVE IN A SPARE BAY YOU MAY NEED TO RE-SET THE JUMPERS TO SLAVE DRIVE. REFORMAT THE DRIVE AND NOW YOU HAVE EIGHTY GIGS FOR MP3 FILES
OR BUY A 320 GIGA BYTE DRIVE YOU CAN FIND THEM CHEAP NOW AND LOCAL IN SOME PLACES. BACK TO THE JUKEBOX I RECOMEND MUSICMATCH JUKEBOX VERSION 8.0 WORKS FOR ME AND ONLY COST $25 OR LESS FOR UPGRADE THE BURNER CAN MAKE MP3'S AND YOU CAN ADJUST THE BIT RATE TO 320 BPS THATS CD QUALITY SOUND IT HAS A LITTLE LARGER FILE SIZE BUT IS BETTER SOUND THAN DEFAULT 128 BPS (BITS PER SECOND) MEDIA PLAYER
THERE'S YOUR MEDIA SERVER FOR LESS THAN FIFTY BUCKS. OH YEA BUY A 1/8 INCH TO RCA ADAPTOR PLUG THAT INTO YOUR SOUND CARD (DIAMOND $20) IF YOU DONT HAVE ONE AND WITH A LITTLE CONFIGURING YOU HAVE GREAT JUKEBOX LEARN THE INTERFACE TAKES A WHILE BUT IT'S ALL IN THERE UNDER HELP. CARD INSTALL IS A BREEZE HAPPY TIVO HUNTING. ALSO TIVO HAS SOFTWARE FREE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR MUSIC TO SOME TIVOS PHOTOS TOO THAT IS IF YOUR WILLING TO PAY $12 MONTH FOR THE SERVICE. DIGITAL CONVERGENCE IS GREAT STUFF ACTUALLY WORKS
Cool suggestions, Anonymous. Recycling old TIVO hard drives -- clever idea, that.
- Paul
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