Starting a computer based system

Hi. Welcome to computer audio. I have been diving into it for about six months now and have learned alot - but have much more to learn.

Go to www.computeraudiophile.com and read the FAQ. There is a ton of info on the site and the "owner" of the site is very knowledgeable of both Mac and Windows. I followed his recommendations (plus a few others) to dial in my computer-based system: Windows 7 laptop running JRiver MC 17.

Good luck!

I recently began a similar journey. I am using a Squeezebox Touch and a Western Digital "Elements" hard drive as my server (I simply do not want to leave any of my networked computers running 24/7). The hard drive is dedicated - nothing else on it but music, no goofy partitions or bloatware, and it's a powered drive.
I use FreeRip to rip CDs to FLAC (set to level 8 for optimum quality) and dump the files into the hard drive. I also download 96/24 files from HDTracks and other sources.
I run a Blue Jeans Cable (Belden 1694A) digital coax from the SBT to my Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC. I also use the SBT's optical output with a glass TOSLINK cable; sounds pretty much the same as the coax.
I use the D2 DAC's tube pre-outs to my preamp.
Voila, musical excellence.
On two of my 'puters, I have MediaMonkey in case I want to listen to any of these files (I have saved all of the music in multiple drives..."belt & suspenders" approach, you know?).
Keep us posted as you progress.

Am tire-kicking the idea as well. A product called Halide was recommended to me by my dealer. It is in your general $ range, I believe under $600.