Mass .WAV compression utility?

I'll agree with you on the built-in espresso machines--never saw one that I wanted. I'm running a Salvatore semi-auto. I manually fill it and manually empty the tray, but think the whole plumbed in lines thing would be cool... I just want a little dedicated area for it.

BTW, if you don't already have one, a good dosing burr grinder is a must have.

Kitchen sounds great. You have my sympathies on the trips to Tiff's--I got engaged back in May (cha-ching!) and will be getting married next May, so I'm bleeding money to wedding vendors...

Well, this is my third anniversary, and some how the ring cost 1/3 the engagement ring... hope that trend continues.... by 10 year, it will be very practical, but I doubt I'll have that luck...

The Salvatore's are very nice, but aren't they only espresso? The J/C do both. I agree with you, the idea of having it plumbed is nice, but you will need to have the water filtered, and have the filter accessible or you will need to decalcify frequently..

As for the grindeer, the J/C does that automatically, and you can adjust grind and amount of coffee per cup it makes (as well as water amount too).

Well living if the Tampa/Sty Pete area, and with Wilma in the gulf, my kitchen is halted. The electrician is on hurricane duty testing all the generaters that where bought this year, so they can't raise the ceiling in case he can't do his part as it would predispose my house's roof to blowing off in a storm (good thing they thought of that) so I guess I have just witnessed me first construction delay... not bad, they made it 2 1/2 days before they bailed...

I currently have a refridgerator and some blue painting tape where my island will be, or could be as we found extra room, almost a foot. I knew they wouldn't estimate the one corner right... all that concrete did make it difficult though...

BTW my J/C machine is currently in the master bathroom... FWIW it's pretty cool having it so close to bed, I don't even need to don a robe to get some joe!! It will, one day move to it's old home though..

I like the idea of the coffee machine next to the bed... Maybe the thing to do is to put the espresso station in the master bathroom or something, as long as the toilet is in a separated area... Hmmm...

I actually don't drink that much in the way of pure espresso--my g/f gets cappucinos and I drink americanos. Basically a strong cuppa joe--double shot of espresso topped off with a bit of water. You still get some nice crema on top and the flavor is better than drip joe. The pressure system actually somehow contrives to extract w/o the acids present in a gravity drip. The most important part, however, is getting a good roaster. Luckily, I've got a shop nearby that does a nice full city roast w/o the burnt flavor you get off of anything starbux makes.

Good luck weathering the storm. Remember to unplug the stereo gear.

I will, FWIW you should check out the Jura Capresso's, they will make coffee as you like, I personally only have 2 cups in the AM (OK 4-5 on weekends) and do the as small doubles, so they are almost large expresso's. My wife can't drink them that strong, so she does a strong, watered down single. If you like, you could do a weak single with lots of H2O, basically the 'americano' you drink.

I agree with you entirely about pressed coffee! Got hooked on it the first few weeks in Amsterdam, and can't go back to drip ever since.... That crema is like chocolate!! I love it!

Have you ever tried cold extracted coffee? During the summertime, that is probably my drink of choice. Basically, you let about 9 cups of water sit in a pound of ground coffee for about 24 hours, and then filter it several times--Toddy makes a device that simplifies the process. Put a couple ounces in a tall glass, fill up with milk, and its a great drink. It is a concentrate, however, so a little goes a long way. Funny thing is that with the cold filtering process, none of the acids leech into the coffee, so you actually get a really good coffee flavor.