Several years ago, I began ripping my cd's to mp3 format for my mp3 player. I laboriously ripped about 2/3 of my collection but couldn't get used to the lossy (lousy?) sound of mp3 compression on my home and car stereo. In ancient times (about 4 yrs ago) 20gigs was the upper end of hard drive size, so a large collection of wav files wasn't feasible for most. Eventually, I lost interest.
Media servers have been around for a few years, but only recently have they begun to offer the capacity and performance that many audiophiles desire.
There are some intriguing choices out there, but each seem to have limiting factors that are making the decision that much more difficult.
Servers like the Yamaha MCX2000 have great reviews due to ease of use when ripping, access to cddb, and ability to access other hd's on the network. Limiting (for me) is the 160gig drive, and the lack of access to the Yammy's drive from a remote pc.
Sonos, on the other hand, does away with storage entirely, leaving that and ripping totally up to the user. I like that idea. I can upgrade my storage when needed. The Sonos really shines in a dirt simple setup and ipod-like remote control. If only the Sonos had a 24bit o/p iinstead of a 16bit.
Both have internet radio access (not hi-fi, I know, but there are some stations I would really like to hear), and the ability to add your own stations to the preset collection provided.
My receiver has limited abilities in network and internet streaming, but they are too limited, and accessing is clunky and slow.
I've also thought of putting together my own media server pc. Creative labs has a Soundblaster card that uses 24bit a/d and d/a. Certainly an area to explore.
Slimdevices, maker of the well-received Squeezebox has recently released the Transporter, which appears to be audiophile-grade in sound, but I have no knowledge of what it's like to use.
Multimedia (audio and video) servers are making an appearance, but I don't find myself archiving to many movies. I have the obligatory LOR extended box set, and a few others, but that's about it, so it hasn't been a priority for me.
My personal nirvana would be an audiophile-grade server system with flexibility, expandibility, and ease of use. Not having to be stuck near my cd player constantly dj'ing when I have guests over would be pure bliss.
What are your thoughts everybody? Have you gone down the media server road? Are you going down this road?