new updates in transports or are they obsolete ?

I have written about my own comparisons between transports (dedicated and CD player) and my hard drive based system before on other threads here. In short, I no longer have a CD player and all my CD's are now in my attic.

i have to confess... the idea of dropping my cd collection in ONE place and have the ability to pull up a cd and make a playlist is pretty tempting....

what are the pro and cons of hard drive based storage/transport apple system ( i am a mac guy)...

thanks,

mike

Mikesinger - every show that I exhibit at (CES and RMAF) has my demo of computer audio versus Transport (modded, including Superclock3) and everyone that listens to this A/B hear the improvement with computer driven audio.

Pros and cons:

Pros:
1) no CDs to scratch
2) no getting up from chair to search through piles of CDs to find the desired one
3) Long playlists of favorite tracks
4) better organization of music in the database - genre, artist, title etc..
5) easier portability to other locations, such as on vacation
6) cheaper to do download of one track versus buying a 12 track CD with 2 good tracks
7) more control of the music selection from listening position

Cons:
1) Time that it takes to load all of the CD tracks
2) Time that it takes to setup playlists
3) Some can have trouble setting up the upsampling and players etc..
4) wire across the floor to the listening position for USB type converters

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer/modder

"every show that I exhibit at (CES and RMAF) has my demo of computer audio versus Transport (modded, including Superclock3) and everyone that listens to this A/B hear the improvement with computer driven audio."

Audioengr- what transport were you using?

Are there any portable music player out there that will output digital format via USB port? I know the current crops of iPod does not.

If I have to boot up my computer each time I want to play CD, not to mention the cost of a computer dedicated for playing music, I might stick to the old fashion one box CD player. But if there are portable player out there that can output digital format, I can be playing music even before my amp is on.