Help to store hi-rez on external hard drive.

If you are going the Windows route, I would suggest Windows 7 rather than XP or Vista. If you use a used laptop, check to see if it has Windows 7. One of things you would like to have is a clean system with very few other applications running. I use a Netbook with Windows 7 Starter, which is a very stripped down version which means very few things are running. I do not even run anti-virus software, since it is very rarely on the network. Some people think you need bigger systems, but I am happy with my little Netbook with very little overhead.

You need to have either a DAC with USB input or a USB to S/PDIF converted to feed your DAC. There are lots of options here, depending on whether you want to use an existing DAC or purchase a new one.

Marqmike, I believe I saved all the Chesky files in the FLAC format via MediaMonkey (which was recommended to me by Chesky) and when I play them on the W4S DAC-2 it displays the incoming resolution (usually as 24-bit/96k).

As Larryken suggested, it's best not to run a lot of other applications on the laptop you will be using for the music playback. It would be best not to use antivirus if you're not planning to connect to the Internet. But I use the free version of Avast antivirus because it's fairly unobtrusive and I like to stream Internet radio and be able to download music files.

I switched from the "Norton Security Suite" to Avast because the Norton was always running scans in the background. When I switched I gained back about 120Mbs of useful RAM.

There are CDP like Yamaha CDR-HD1300 or Numark HDCD1 with an internal hard drive. Could just play direct from that to your DAC.

The Squeezebox Touch allows you to attach a USB storage device like a thumb drive or hard drive, without any other interface. The larger the library, the longer it will take to cataglogue via the Touch. I have not tried this with a larger hard drive, but it worked like a charm with a thumb drive with FLAC files on it. I believe that if you do use a hard drive it needs to be formatted in FAT16 FAT32 NTFS or ext2/ext3. If you are not computer savvy that may not be a simple solution, but it does eliminate the need for a computer interface (I actually still prefer to use one because control is more comprehensive via Squeezeserver on a laptop). You'd still need a computer interface to rip the files in the first place, of course.

itunes probably provides the most user-friendly interface for ripping, cataloguing, and playing music, but alas, it does have some drawbacks. The ripping component is not as vigorous as some other software - you mentioned Media Monkey, there's also EAC and Max (if you are using a Mac) that come to mind. Any one of those have a better error-correction built in than the one in iTunes. Also iTunes can not handle FLAC files, which I prefer to use, and also is a bit awkward in handling hi-rez audio files which require adjustment of the MIDI interface as opposed to adapting on the fly to whatever you choose to play (again, non computer-savvy need not apply here). If you do use iTunes I would rip files in AIFF or Apple Lossless (the latter taking up less space). Do not use WAV files or you may regret it down the road.

Thanks for your help. I going out soon with your suggestings and I will get a new notebook with as clean a slate as I can then come home a get media monkey on there. I read in computer audiophile to cut out the mixer or something like that, so I will probably go over to there and put together any suggestions on set up and using media monkey with my notebook. I just thought I would warn you guys just in case this side of the country disapears because of something I connect wrong. Thank you everyone.