Why CD players will never be dead

Ghost - yes, Kernel streaming is a JRiver plug-in option. Hopefully, your V-link supports it.

WASAPI is generally used with Win7 and Vista, but you can use KS also.

If the hard drive is on your network, then the player software should be able to find it. Read their help.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

hi chadeffect:

i think the essence of the arguement is taste. all components are imperfect. it's just a matter of what "flavor" of imperfect one likes.

I think computerphiles are different that audiophiles. I think the guy that realizes that and produces something high quality and convenient might sell something. If source material, and there is more source material(cd's) than there is in all formats before cd, and high quality equip to play it then it won't be going away very soon. Makes sense. Though sense is not to common anymore.

Just bought a new Yamaha CD-S2000. Own a Modwright Transporter.
Run a 2010 Mac mini server w/8 megs ram. I am enjoying them both in
the same rig, sometimes w/the player as transport. The server/router r
on another floor of the house. I find when playing the physical cd I am
more likely to read & enjoy the liner notes in the casing. I've close to
3 terabytes of CDs that I've enjoyed over the last several years as I
explored the tube rolling options the transporter allows. 6sn7s & rectifiers,
bad boys, black glass, metal basers, mesh plates, black treasures,
psvanes, valvos, & mullards. Lotz of fun, but when I wanted to further
enhance 'neutrality' on the front end I purchased the Yamaha. Reason?
Totally subjective. I like very much I-Peng on the iPad/iPhone & believe
the Transporter is a marvel of flexibility & sophistication. It will always
have a place in one of my systems. But, that said I have fond memories
of a CDS3/555ps I owned & the many hrs. listening/learning/exploring
(isn't that what the hobby is about?) in yrs past. Like vinyl, I will always
strive to find a way by which to introduce & integrate the medium so that
I maintain the ability to enjoy the various 'flavors'. For me it cannot be either/or.

It must be both/each, acknowledging the roots of the past while embracing the 'youthful' future. Each medium requires a certain 'attention', whether one has the resources, stamina, patience, or good fortune to posses the finest player/table/dac matters not, but the pleasure is in the effort, the attention. The soul of the 'muse' is @the heart of the music. The reward is in the searching, the discovery that music is 'bottomless'. So for me, no,
the cd player can never die as a musical source.

I look forward to my VSE mods, but 2day 'it's all good'....

The CD will remain as a niche industry, like vinyl has, but will effectively die as a mass media. The reason is simple...money. The record companies have to be salivating at the thought of cutting CD production and distribution costs from their profit equation. They will continue to charge the same price for a CD/Album, but their profit margins will increase incrementally due to the reduced expenses. The industry will have to let the general public catch up to the new technologies, but once they're convinced that they aren't leaving money on they table, they'll cut the the cord to CD's. Since most music is purchased by teens and twenty something's, who by and large are already on board with the steaming formats, the end could be sooner rather than later.

I've recently purchased a Vortexbox Appliance an am in the process of downloading all my music to the device. It's as simple as cake. I now have access to all of my music at multiple systems in my house. The sound is excellent and I don't feel I'm missing anything from using the physical disc.

In addition to my music collection, I have subscriptions to Rhapsody and MOG, which gives me access to an an almost endless library of music and at excellent quality. Frankly, my music purchasing has dropped off dramatically in the past year due to the availability of practically anything I want through these online services at the touch of a button. While music obtained through these services may not give me every last "bit" of information that a CD might, it is more than good enough and the convenience is unbeatable. Plus it's just a matter of time before download services are offering CD quality music as the standard.

Maybe I'm losing my audiophile edge, but I've grown weary of chasing perfect playback and, rather, am delighting in the exploration of the vast amounts of music now at my fingertips.