The Ideal MP3 Stereo Component

April 11, 2002

Well, as you may have guessed I recently completed a project that involved ripping my entire CD collection dating back to 1983. It is something in the neighborhood of 1000+ CD's. No more getting up to switch CD's...I have my entire music library at my finger tips. Now my music collection resides on a secure server on my internal network and I am looking for the ultimate MP3 Stereo Component.

There are devices that let you hook up your PC to a conventional amplifier, but they don't allow you to control the music from the amp. Similarly, there are PC component devices that hook up to the amp and allow you to create and control MP3 playlists while reading the music off of a LAN.

However, there is not a single device currently on the market that is WiFi enabled via 802.11b (thus avoiding the need for a 50ft ethernet cable to the nearest switch), allows the creation/reading of playlists stored on the network, and plays music from the LAN. That sort of device is the holy grail. It really shouldn't be all that complicated to build.

Do you know of any devices that fit the bill? Let me know.