Best path for PC audio into the big rig..

Thanks folks... though perhaps I wasn't too clear. I 'have' to use a wireless PC notebook, FOR TWO REASONS... So I CAN ACTUALLY SEE WHAT i'M DOING WHILE ACCESSING TRACKS. Slimdevices, and clock radio sized visual interfaces simply won't do it for me.

Secondly, for ease of operation... I skip about, if given the chance, when I listen to music as I do have a variety of tastes and would REALLY enjoy being able to pick which ever track the mood moves me to pick routinely.

To clarify, are you saying that along with the notebook, I'll need a NAS drive, and a USB DAC? ...AND THE DAC needs be plugged into the NAS drive? ...and that's it?

I'll look into the "Airport gizmo" and the other links provided. I do appreciate them all.

Has anyone found certain advantages in NOT using lossless file formats when loading files onto a drive? ...or should strickly lossless be used, regardless? I have found some advantages with certain genres and periods of music, in burning them to CD... though of course not yet in playing unburned files on the more resolving main system, naturally.

Blindjim,

The ONLY advantage of using lossless formats is saving hard drive space. Given the price of storage space, I elected to use AIFF for everything and then keep another user for MP3's should I use my iPods.

I hadn't looked at your system until now, so using an Airprt Express will require some sort of D/A conversion as well.

Thanks for the links ... especially the Altmann one. yep. He's out there... but entertaining for sure. Very Eeenteresting.

Kennyt thanks... the site i LOOKED AT ABOUT THE "AIRPORT" AND IT'S USER REVIEWS ISN'T VERY INSPIRING. ESPECIALLY THOSE ABOUT IT'S DURABILITY. SEVERAL POSTERS COMMENTED ON LIFE EXPECTANCIES OF LESS THAN 24 MONTHS.

My concern remains that I am plotting this correctly in that the only hardaware I will require adding is:
PC wireless notebook
NAS drive
USB DAC
...various ICs.
Yes?

You don't have to have an NAS drive, even USB 1.1 is fast enough to do the job, but a big NAS drive with RAID 5 is a simple way to have some backup. Otherwise redundant external USB drives will be fine. Just make sure you get ones that are well ventilated with fans like the Western Digital ones. Easier still is mount some drives in your desktop cases and just use those.

With iTunes you can turn on the share feature and have the hard drives connected to desktops and the wireless notebook can share those files directly via iTunes.

Unless Belkin finally releases their wireless USB interface, if you use a USB dac it will have to be wired to the laptop, not the drives. Wireless print servers won't work. You also have limits on USB cable length unless you use a USB optical repeater.

I don't know about the realibility of the AE units, but bear in mind they've sold millions of them so you have to figure some crapped out. Even if they did only last 2 years they only cost about $100 in the first place. They also have a built in DAC (not a great one) so that would get you started until you find the DAC you want, but it will have to have a toslink input or you will need a optical to spdif converter.

Apple claims they are accessible Won't that work for you? The reason I ask is that many Apple notebooks are very quiet whereas many PC notebooks have fans that are loud enough to be distracting.

You can also use their Front row software which will make it very easy to navigate through iTunes.

Ive had two AE since they first hit the market and both work fine, I have had to reset one twice, unsure why but it's easy enough not to worry about it, and as Herman says, they're $100.