tunes at the pool

Discussion in 'Audio' started by actech, May 8, 2006.

  1. actech

    actech Regular member

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2003
    Messages:
    135
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    I'm putting all my cd's on my computer. Have already started using media player to rip good/bad? I want to be able to get a laptop(maybe) or somehow to access my harddrive with my stereo in the garage. It is next to where I am setting up a pool. Do any other players have a random/shuffle option? I know wmp does But I think nero sounds better but no shuffle option. What I want to do is make some playlists (my music, kid friendly, wife music, classic rock etc.) and be able to punch up a playlist and hit random and not have to worry about music or commercials for hours. Any Ideas? What would you use? Let me know, I'm trying to avoid laptop cost as this "free" pool is growing dramatically and just a flatened dirt spot.
    Have:
    broadband, router, stereo outside,
    thank you
    kurt
    ps Mods if not right location gladly ship it wherever it may get response
    thanks
     
  2. Digidave

    Digidave Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2004
    Messages:
    309
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    Personally, I would use Winamp for the music player. It has the capability of making playlists. I'm not sure about playing randomly within a playlist though. I always thought that any player would just play the list the way it's laid out. As far as the ripper goes, I would suggest using a different ripper. Exact Audio Copy is one of the best for getting high quality mp3 files. Some people may not agree. Apparently when you hook up your computer to your stereo system using your sound card, you may get some background noise. Just yesterday I came across this gizmo, & here is an exerp from what they have to say about it. I'm thinking about buying one of these myself & would be interested if anybody has an opinion. I'll put a link to the home page at the end.

    Why can't I just run an audio cable from my sound card to my Home Stereo?
    You can, but you probably won't like the results. Many sound cards do not perform at audio-quality levels - producing lots of distortion and noise. They can be great for games, but not for real music. (Independent laboratory tests have shown that even the best Professional Audio Sound Cards, selling from $200 to $500+ and rated at the new 24-Bit industry standard, actually measure less than 16-Bit performance, and measurements on typical Sound Cards are much worse.)

    Further, the inside of a computer is electrically a very noisy place, and the power supplies are full of digital noise from the processor, disk drives, and other computer components. Sound cards can transfer that noise into their audio output. Many people also experience "hum" from ground loop problems when connecting their sound card to their stereo.

    The stereo-link lives outside of your computer, connected with a clean, digital USB interface. It has its own quiet power supply and special isolation circuitry. It has excellent 20-bit DACs and operates at the "true" sampling rate of the recording, with no resampling (See item 3 for more on this re-sampling thing).

    http://www.stereo-link.com/index.html
     
  3. actech

    actech Regular member

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2003
    Messages:
    135
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    neat device and 175 is cheaper than a laptop.hopefully more ideas to come ,
    i'm going to check out winamp and eac.
     
  4. Digidave

    Digidave Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2004
    Messages:
    309
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
  5. Lethal_B

    Lethal_B Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2005
    Messages:
    4,061
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    68
    Well, as far as shuffling songs, iTunes is probably your best bet. It allows you to create Playlists & also [bold]Smart[/bold] Playlists (http://www.smartplaylists.com/comments.php?id=P45_0_1_0), and you can use the shuffle feature within both. If there is one thing that iTunes is good for, it's the playlist capabilities. It is not the best media player out there, but I suspect it is close to if not exactly what you're looking for..

    [bold]http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

    *But do not rip your music using iTunes.. do as Digidave suggests and use EAC & LAME. *
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2006
  6. actech

    actech Regular member

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2003
    Messages:
    135
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    I thought i-tunes was just for i-pods. learn something new everyday. I want to be able to shuffle them just so wont know whats next, not a real important feature but might as well have it do all I want. I've even thought about getting a cheap computer for the garage but I dont think the climate changes would do it good. A local shop has $50-100 computers I think they could play tunes but would be useless for much else.
    kurt
     
  7. Digidave

    Digidave Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2004
    Messages:
    309
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    No kidding!!! Can you send me one?!!LOL I was thinking of doing this sort of thing also. So, please, let me know how it turns out. From the sounds of it though, You definintely want a good sound card, if nothing else.
     
  8. actech

    actech Regular member

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2003
    Messages:
    135
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    They are a recycler most of what they offer for real cheap is 233 and the like and they were advertising 17" monitors for $50 and 750 mhz towers for $150. I'm waiting to see what they get in laptops.
    www.blhcomputers.com a very lame website actually compared to what all they do. gaming center,repair,etc.
    kurt
     
  9. coolGray

    coolGray Regular member

    Joined:
    Mar 5, 2006
    Messages:
    292
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    Windows Media Connect....?
     

Share This Page