Anyone using i tunes as a computer based jukebox?

Justlisten, the G4 was purchased Micro Center in suburban Chicago. It's a 433, 128Mb, 30Gb w/ CD-R; it cost $1,050. I considered an iMac or a Powerbook, but that would have limited me to Firewire I/O, which is quite limited and somewhat expensive. (I only know of two models, the MOTU 828 ($795) and the Metric Halo I/O ($1,495)). The RME sound card I ordered only cost $430.

Kthomas, you are correct, i tunes is an Apple software product. It comes pre-installed on all new Macs or it can be downloaded (for free) from the Apple website. i tunes primary purpose is to handle the conversion to and organization of MP3 files. Fortunately, the program has the flexibility to handle uncompressed files at the original 16 bit, 44.1K rates. Although some Macs have analog I/O, I would recommend adding a soundcard with digital I/O and connecting the computer to an outboard DAC. Music can be sent into the computer either by using the computer's CD drive, it takes about 4-5 minutes to rip a CD, or by using the digital input on a soundcard and any audio software that can produce a WAV or AIFF format file. Additionally, i tunes burn songs using the computer's CD-R.

The cost of the computer, monitor, sound card and hard drives quickly adds up, but a Mac running i tunes can directly replace a CD player and a CD-R. Also, since the music is contained as computer files, it opens up the possibility of DSP manipulation of the music - EQ, noise reduction, whatever.

Iamnemo, I'm not familiar with any of the compression programs. HD space is fairly cheap, so I figure why compress. Three questions, have you addressed back up issues, have you tried the A/D converters on the Lynx (what's your opinion) and do you find Firewire cables to be directional?

I've only had my system set up for a few weeks, but I love it. It's so much easier to access music.

David, the RME 96 series audio card does not have D/A converters. It comes standard with S/PDIF and AES/EBU input/output.

kdrofwdc, there's something called a Stereo-Link Model 1200. This is the web address of an article describing it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/technology/circuits/24BASI.html

It's a New York Times sites, so you may have to go thru their registration process to access.

Jacopob, I'm no expert on OS X (I use 9.1), but I'm pretty sure it doesn't perform any sample rate conversion. SRC requires a fair amount of processing power and I don't believe your machine could handle in real time the double SRC (16/44 to 32/96 and back to 16/44) that you describe.

My mistake. OS X does provide SRC as Jacopob described above. Sorry for the confusion. I'm glad I haven't "upgraded".