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[Preston]

My particular application may be a bit unusual.  I'd like your collective advice on the applicability of MJ to my need.

I'd like to replace the CD players in my primary home system with a laptop and digital audio hardware interface (in my case a USB Pre from Sound Devices).  While I avoid the term audiofile, the system in question would be in the >$25k to replace category.

I've tried to make the music easy to get to for my family by using a pair of 200 CD players which each provide a digital feed to a Lexicon digital preamp.  The CD players are unreliable (mechanically) and that has led to the consideration of using an available laptop + USB Pre combinaion to replace them.

So, here it is in a nutshell.  Is it practical to use MJ v8 to source this audio?  I won't be using MP3 or any other compression engine, rather I'll capture / store all the audio in its native 44.1k, 16 bit mode.  Initially about 250 discs would be captured for which the laptop has adequate storage.

Good idea / bad idea... thanks for your contribution.
P

[Doof]

MJ would work really well in this area.

But I would look into using APE to encode the files rather than just straight wave. The quality is exactly the same, but the file sizes are roughly cut in half.

APE is a lossless encoder.

[Bob L.]

Hello Preston.

I also believe it would fit your needs.  Some of the features that I think you'll like:

1.  Easy to navigate library.  Along this line it is also very easy to find/play songs/albums and save them to playlists.  These can then be easily moved around or sorted randomly.
2.  If you take the time to classify songs/albums you can set up "smartlists" that will dynamically create playlists.
3.  If you have your music server on a home network, anyone can access the library from another computer.  MJ can be installed on mulitiple machines within a 2 week timeframe with each restore key (10 restores per year allowed)

If your family is comfortable with a Windows Exlplorer type interface they should have no problem with MJ.

There are dozens and dozens of other features that you will discover once you start using the program, not to mention the excellent company and user support you can get on this forum.

Hope you join.

Regards,

Bob L.

[Scronch]

MJ is by far the best solution for what you want to do.  One thing to be aware of--if you are currently using your pair of CD players at the same time to feed two separate amps, then to replace that you will need to run two digital sound engines.  That might mean two PC's.  If that is a consideration, I suggest you ask very pointed questions about it.

Scronch

[skidoo]

MJ is by far the best solution for what you want to do.  One thing to be aware of--if you are currently using your pair of CD players at the same time to feed two separate amps, then to replace that you will need to run two digital sound engines.  That might mean two PC's.  If that is a consideration, I suggest you ask very pointed questions about it.

Scronch

Right. A lot of players (e.g. WinAmp) will let you run multiple instances, each feeding a different soundcard. This is the way I currently run my multi-zone whole house system (2 sound cards per server). But Media Jukebox is head-and-shoulders above the rest when it comes to organizing my music, so I'm slowly easing into it, and praying that it'll support multiple instances and sound cards soon. That is, currently I'm just using it to organize my files, but I hope to eventually be able to use it for actual day-to-day playback as well.

[PhatPhreddy]

I would say that without question MJ is the software for your application but I also would have to say that replacing a 25k soundsystem or multizone soundsystem with a laptop and USB soundcard will be a step down....

Are you framiliar with the avsforum ?? ( www.avsforum.com ) come over to thier HTPC forum and start to read up on audiophile soundcards and threads relating to multi zone control and supply... Also have a look for Glissando and a wireless touchpad or a 802.11 PDA with Netremote or similar as a control interface...

Depending on how family friendly you want to make this maybee a spin with MainLobby to make a front end that is not PC Centric may be a good idea...

This is all very possible and can give extreemly good results....  

[Preston]

Thanks for the good inputs.

Just to clarify, my application will use the PC to provide the digital feed to a Lexicon digital preamp.  As such the "numbers are turned into music" (i.e. the D/As) are in the Lexicon.  The pc is just there to feed the numbers (the digital audio stream) into the preamp.  Thus a high quality sound card is unnecessary.

My system is a single zone 5-channel system (B&W speakers all around, Bryston amplifiers, Lexicon DC-2 preamp...) thus I won't need to manage multiple zones.

I don't suppose anyone knows of a way to interface my Pronto remote controller with the PC to control features in MJ?

In any case, thanks again for the very helpful inputs.

P

[DocLotus]

Two CD drives? ?

Two sound cards? ?

You got my interest up.

Please explain the use & advantage of each.

Thanks all.

[PhatPhreddy]

OK some points...

Although SPDIF should = SPDIF (its all digital right) they clearly dont... I can tell the difference between 3 SPDIF's I have had in my audio PC's and my setup is neither very high end or very expensive now (currently a M-Audio 410)... I suggest you follow up on that research...

Secondly for Pronto MJ control look into Girder and I have already written a basic GML girder file for transport control... For really funky 2 way playlist creation and browsing read up on Glissando for 802.11 conntected webpads or tablet PC's or Netremote for 802.11 or bluetoothed PDA's both VERY COOL...

Once all you music end up ripped to APE you dont need 2 CD drives and unfortunately MJ does not handle multiple iterations to seperate soundcards or pairs of multi channel outputs like W..... does, Multi zone (or rather multi source multi zone) is not in MJ's abilities right now...

[skidoo]

I don't suppose anyone knows of a way to interface my Pronto remote controller with the PC to control features in MJ?

I've got a Pronto Neo controlling a few PCs. I got wireless keyboards (an IR model; not the RF 6-foot jobos) and had the Neo learn the commands for the relevant keypresses.

But as Phreddy mentioned, replace that Pronto with an iPaq or something and you'll open up a lot of cool alternatives.

[PhatPhreddy]

Forgot to mention that there are some tools on Remote central that will take a spread sheet file and make a CCF of albums names... This can be used to 'launch' playlist of that album with Girder...

[Preston]

One Final Clarification:  

I Do have two CD players currently, but that's only becuase each can hold a maximum of 200 CDs and I have a total of 325 CDs in my collection.  There is nothing "multi-zone" about the system.  I either listen to one or the other.

My idea is to replace BOTH CD players with a single MJ / Laptop / USB Pre setup playing into a single zone.

Again thanks for all the helpful comments.

[Scronch]

Then it's a no-brainer--MJ is the best solution.

Scronch