need an MP3 player

[Gbiz]

I want to get an MP3 player for my HT and I was wonding if you guys had some suggestions. I saw the review of the squeezebox and it looked like what I was looking for, but $300 is alot of green. Then I thought ipod, but it is only analog, I think. How does it sound on a HT system. Let me know what you think.

 

[farscaper]

I'm a little confused by your question. Are you looking for a hard drive or flash memory based system to hold your mp3 and then play them? Portable? Or do you just want to play mp3?

Most standard cd players and even DVD players are now combo drives. The will play standard music CD as well as CD containing mp3. Your computer can rip & burn CD with MP3s.

As for sound quality. A few issues:
- The actual bit rate of the mp3.
- The output quality of your player. Some are really terrible when you connect them to a main stereo system.
- Output type i.e. earphone jack, firewire, optical...

 

[Gbiz]

I already have the ability to burn mp3s and play the CDs on my HT. What I am looking for is a player to copy my library on and play on the HT without putting everything onto CDs. The Ipod seems like a good option as I can use it to play music on the go, but I think you can only plug in RCA jacks, no digital.

 

[jaxvon]

I think the iPod is your best bet. They're popular because they're reliable and easy to use. Stereophile did some measurements on the unit and found the specs to be very good. The writeup can be found here:

http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcomponents/934/index.html

The review was done a couple of years ago, but I don't think that Apple would've let the sound quality go DOWN.

 

[korgoth]

if you wanted, you can also hook your computer up to your receiver and get digital sound.

i won this gadget off AH last month and it works great.

impact acoustics 5.1 usb audio adapter or somethi like that. i can play all my music on my ht system


or you could get this..
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15206

 

[superjohnny]

If you're running it to a receiver I'd look for something with a line-out to bypass the iPod amplification. Don't get me wrong. The ipod isn't very well suited to run as part of a HT. I'd rather have something cheap with an upgradable hard drive and a line out.

 

[farscaper]

The one issue I have is not really with the Ipod but with Itunes. I believe the music downloads are aac files at 128kb. That low of a bit rate will be noticable on a home stereo. You'll need to make your own files.

Here is a article on sound quality of the different file formats & at different bit rates. It even discusses home stereo use.

http://www.recordstorereview.com/misc/aacmp3part2.shtml

 

[corey]

I use a LinkSys Wireless-B Media Adapter. I've seen them for less than $50.

 

[superjohnny]

I use only MP3 with iTunes & my iPod. Buying music through iTunes is AAC and iTunes will rip using AAC as a default (it's configurable). You should use a quality ripper like CDex or EAC instead of iTunes anyway.

I really like iTunes btw. I think it's a nice piece of software. I will admit that I haven't searched for a replacement (ignorance is bliss?).

 

[genesis471]

Why not use Apple Lossless Encoder? No loss in quality and goes right on my iPod no problem!

Mike

 

[bloosquare]

If you use your computer as your source of MP3s you can use any of the media adaptors/range extenders for your stereo equipment. I have my mp3 collection ripped to a 250g hard drive. The "stereo" system is connected to an airport express module ($99). This has a mini-toslink plug so you can connect directly into a toslink in of your receiver and has the additional advantage of acting as a wireless repeater to extend the range of your wireless connection if you like. The music is transported over wireless to the stereo system. Anyone can use a laptop running itunes as a glorified remote control to reroute the mp3's from server to the stereo system as the server shows up as a share and the airport express shows up as a "speaker option" at the bottom right corner of itunes. You can also use a remote itunes program like "tuneconnect" which is a variation of the same theme but doesn't use the sharing feature of itunes.

I have a ipod as well but its generally best used for portability/car use/walking around and getting mugged etc.

 

[j_garcia]

Once you move past headphones and computer speakers, the limitations of MP3 really become apparent, especially the lower the bitrate of the files. My recommendation is, if you want MP3s on your HT, stick with burning them onto a CD. Buying an MP3 player with the intent to use it in an HT is a mistake, IMO.

 

[jaxvon]

Eh, MP3s sound pretty good on headphones or a decent stereo, but only if they're of a high bitrate. 320kbps is great for casual listening. I wouldn't want my entire music collection to be MP3s, but if I were hosting a party, it would sure make life easy.