hey besides exact audio copy...what about burning

I picked up an external USB2.0 200GB hard drive for about $125 (after rebates - hate them) and am in the process of ripping my CD's to it using Windows media player lossless compression. It uses varaible bit rate and shrinks files about 30%; not a lot but I want to get between 600-800 CD's on this drive. I looked into Network Attached Storage (NAS), but unless your willing to spend big bucks, your going to need a driver on your PC to access it. In addition, devices such as audiotron, Integra net-tunes will not be able to access it.

As far as audio quality of lossless compression goes, I did a blind listening test on my computer rig (B&W leisure monitors, B&W sub, Monarchy SM70 class a amp, M-audio revolution SB) and was able to tell the difference 23 out of 24 times. I actually prefered the WMA version because my office is a little "hot" (lots of drywall, Hardwood floors, huge 3' x 8' desk - I like to spread out). The WMA version had a slight softening of the "attack" of notes; kind of a "tube" sound (There I said it - don't burn me at the stake). It's good enough to listen to on the computer rig, and it's soooo convienient to have all those CD's just a click away.

If you want to do WiFi go with 802.11G; the range of "B" with the throughput of "A".

I have to agree that this is the future of audio and video. You will download your movies and music and store it on an HD or in RAM. All your media will sync up using wifi so it will be available in your car, on the portable, as well as throughout the house. BTW, Omnifi.com has a HD that attaches to your cars headunit, like a CD changer, and syncs with your computer using wifi. So as your car is sitting in the garage at night, it's downloading all your music. Cool! Two small problems: 20GB HD and only supports MP3 and WMA up to 320K. When they come out with the a version with at least 100GB and that supports uncompressed and WMA lossless compression I'll be the first to order one.

Why wouldn't an audiotron be able to access an NAS box?

I was looking at the Ximeta netdisk which requires a driver to use on a pc. The driver would have to be intergrated into the audiotron firmware in order for it to see it (right off the Turtle Beach webpage-forums/networking). More expensive NAS is accessed through a standard IP address. Thats why I said that you needed to spend more money in my original post. Triton makes a 120GB NAS that uses IP that retails for $399.00. Linksys makes a 120GB NAS that retails for $800.00 and the prices go through the roof from there. For $800 I can build a XPC or mini-itx PC with a big HD and stick it in a closet and just leave it on all the time. I was looking to spend as little as possible because this was just going to be an interm solution. In a year or two they will have larger/cheaper HD's and cheaper versions of the escient and request.com servers. When I can pick up a server with a built in CDRW, 400-500GB HD that supports lossless compression as well as wav/pcm in the $1500 range then I'm there.

BTW-netgear is coming out with a device that turns a USB2.0 external HD into NAS with an IP address. Should be available this summerfor around $99.00.

Alpine is coming out with a car stereo that will interface with your i-pod,
take over it's functions and keep it charged. For me, that's a better solution than some of the others like Sony and Omnify. Sony and Omnify
make Hard Drive units that are dedicated to the car. The i-pod interface means you can plug your i-pod into your home stereo, your car stereo,
take it to the beach, etc. To me, that's the Holy Grail.

Also, when ripping CD's to a hard drive using Apple's AAC at 320 kbps,
one CD took up about 100 Megs. That's 100 CD's per 10 Gigs. With a
200 Gig Hard Drive, you could store 2,000 CD's.

When ripping them uncompressed, one CD took up about 500 Megs.
With a 200 Gig Hard Drive, you could store 400 CD's. You'd need 500
gigs to store 1,000 CD's uncompressed. That's two 250 Gig Hard Drives.

Just depends on your ears and how important are issues of sound quality
and Hard Drive space usage to you.

Another alternative is to prioritize. Perhaps you rip some CD's compressed and some uncompressed. A solution to the time expense of
ripping all those CD's is to pay a kid a few bucks an hour to do rip your
CD's. A child of 10 could easily do it and would love to have the money.