Thanks for prompt responses!
To be clear, the IdPi’s eventual purpose in my system will be as a renderer. However, I haven’t decided how I’m going to handle the server side yet. In the meantime, I thought I could use it as a player to get a hands-on feel for the software. With that in mind:
1. Thanks for the info on the 3B+ option. If you are shipping the fully baked version with it, you might want to update the Id home page to not say “Raspberry Pi 3 Model B with Id installed.”
2. In response to “Direct file access means only internal storage and physically attached USB drives, or does it include any audio files on my network?” your response could mean: “Yes, you can import from a network drive when used as a server, or play from any DLNA server on the network when used as a renderer.” (italics added by me). Please verify that the IdPi can play these files when used as a player, regardless of OS?
3. “Does the Id default to hosting the media library on the SD card? If so, roughly how many CDs can be cataloged on the card? I assume this would give much better response than having the library on an external drive.” is poorly worded. I wasn’t asking about the actual media files. Doesn’t MC build an index or catalog of the available music files, which includes metadata like the album name, artist name, genre, etc? This might be a few MB for 1000 albums. Is that index normally on the SD card? Roughly how much unused capacity is there on the SD card after loading the Id software?
I look forward to your answers & getting my hands on this fantastic product!