Now that I have a laptop...... ???

[Tombolino]

Just about when I had to decide on buying an Ipod or laptop or do the wireless tapdance my dad tells me he has a spare laptop I can use.

So assuming it works fine I will hook it up to the stereo and put all my music there. This obviously saves me a good chunk of money. The laptop will be directly connected to the stereo and no I dont need it to hook up to the internet for now. I will have enough music to listen to before going on downloading rampages online.

So my only question is, what device can I buy that will allow me to see the songs in say I use I Tunes, but not on the laptop. Some kind of screen?

Does the slim squeezebox do the trick?

what else?

 

[Tombolino]

Bump

Bump Pls,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[nova]

I would think it would work,... there is also something called iDisplay that was originally designed to be a stand alone RSS feed reader. It may also do what you want.

 

[MDS]

I'm not quite sure what you are getting at. If the laptop is directly connected to the receiver and you use iTunes to organize and play your music, then you will need to use the keyboard and mouse to interact with the laptop to select songs, start playback, etc. If you just want a bigger monitor you can do that as most laptops have an additional VGA connector on the back but you will still have to use keyboard and mouse of the laptop.

If your intention is to simply use the laptop as a passive storage device for your music then yes you could buy a device like the Squeezebox. It has to be connected via a network connection (ethernet or wireless) and then it connects to the receiver. If you have only the one laptop and no network you can connect it via the ethernet port with a crossover cable. The Squeezebox server software will be running on the laptop but then all interaction with the music will be done via the Squeezebox and its remote and you'll be able to view the song info on the display of the Squeezebox - but then you won't be using iTunes for playback.

 

[Tombolino]

no mouse, no keyboard, just the touch pads and clicker on the laptop. The end results it not have to even touch the laptop. Leave it on and be able to access the library wirelessly.

Various possibilities I guess

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver options

Some high end receivers include an ethernet port for streaming audio from a PC or your laptop. While expensive, they would allow you to access and navigate all the songs without touching the laptop.

Normally, the computer and its software application are acting as the "media center" for organizing and selecting music. In your case, you want to use the laptop as a simple harddrive requiring additional complexity on the receiver or other components.

Here is another scenario:
Video output from the laptop to your TV. Remote interface to the laptop allowing you to use the remote to select songs on your TV screen. Software on the Laptop still organizes and plays the music.

 

[Tombolino]

yes, the Tv option is teh easiest one except I dont have one in the living room.

I think I just may buy a little Griffin remote and meet myself half way

But I just realized............I still will need to buy a wireless router to access net to access the fucntion (Grace NOte) that recognizes the artists songs and names quickly for you

This puts me again with more possibilities