Everywhere you look, someone is announcing a new Jukebox product
for your digital music. But when you cut through the hype, what is
it they're really offering? And more importantly, do you really
NEED one?
If you CARE about SOUND QUALITY and are interested
in playing all formats, from mp3s to audio CDs to streaming, and
whatever else might come along - like lossless compression, and want
unlimited storage, then keep on reading.
So what about these new Jukeboxes?
Look closely, and you'll realize most products being offered are nothing more than hard drives packaged to look like audio equipment. But for some reason they don't talk much about the audio quality (maybe it's that harmonic distortion of <1% spec).
The Jukebox you (almost) already own.
So what should you do? Well quality audio products have always been
sold as separate components - amplifiers, CD players, and speakers.
The rationale for the component approach is that you can select
individual pieces that are best at doing certain things, and
upgrade them when you want. So why not take that approach now?
First you need a computer. If you're reading this, you probably
already have one. It should have at least one USB port, and be
running Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, Mac OS9.0.4/Mac OS X,
or Linux kernel 2.4.x. If it's a notebook, then you have even more
flexibility.
Next, get a stereo-link SL1200 USB DAC, which we'll be happy to
sell you! This is the step that converts your computer into a
serious audio component - not a "personal stereo" with "near CD"
quality. For technical details, check out our 1200 page, or
download the spec sheet.
Just plug the 1200 into your computer and it's ready to go to work -
no special software to load. Connect it to your home stereo system
(or powered loudspeakers), or use headphones. If your computer has a
CD drive that supports Digital Audio Extraction (most do), you now
have a high quality CD player.
Finally, get a good jukebox program (which you probably also already
have). The basic version of the highly rated MusicMatch is free,
and available for both Windows and Mac. Apple's iTunes is also
free and available for both Mac OS 9 and OS X. Real Jukebox and
Winamp are also good. Besides being good players, they allow the
computer to do what it's really good at - organizing and keeping
track of information. So you can catalog and make playlists, and
access them easily - not through layers of menus on a tiny LCD
display.
Creating the Ultimate Jukebox
So maybe you don't want to clutter your hard drive with all those
files. This is where the beauty of USB/Firewire comes in. Just get a
USB/Firewire hard drive and keep only your music on it. You can get
them in all sizes up to 300 GB! A 20 GB hard drive AND
a stereo-link can cost less than one of the popular stand-alone
Jukeboxes - but gives you over 3 times the storage AND better
quality sound. That's nearly 32 hours of UNCOMPRESSED audio, or
182 hours (7.5 days) of 256k High Quality mp3. And when you fill
it up - just get another one (or start with a 30 GB).
If your computer has only one USB port available, as many notebooks
do, you'll need to get a USB hub to do this.
You may already have a Recordable CD drive, but, if not, it's easy
to add. Now you can move some of those music files onto CDs, and
never worry about running out of space.
Enjoy!