Replacement for cd player

[Hot Flatus]

My 6 year old TEAC cd player is F-ing about.  It has always been an arse, skipping at the slighest hint that there may be some dust somewhere in the room and now refusing to disgorge it's contents unless I give it a bang.  The only thing in its favour is that it is very pretty.

So.... I'm wondering. Do I invest in a large capacity Ipod and a docking station, or do I get one of these?  (f-ing huowge, but simple to operate)

Your thoughts, advice and opinions very welcome

[rae]

I would imagine that there are loads of decent CD players gathering dust in attics all over the country.   

If you are into "quality" then rip them all to .flac and get one of these:

Transporter® Wireless Network Music Player: The wireless digital music player audiophiles have been waiting for.

If not, then an ipod + dock is a good idea.  You'll need to dedicate some time to ripping them all though. 

[Rapples]

I must admit I'm amazed at the quality even a £10 set of speakers gets out of an ipod.  We never use a CD player now, in fact one is sitting right next to me now and I cant remember when it was last used or even works.  If I want to listen to anything not on the nano (I haven't got a large CD collection). I just plug the speakers into the laptop and play from there

[Biggsy]

The cheaper alternative to the Transporter is the Squeezebox.  An ipod or any other portable MP3 player connected to a hi fi won't sound as good.

[PaulF]

iPod and Bose Soundock gets my vote

Great sound quality. Yes mp3 is lossy, but unless you have good ears and a perfect acoustic environment I doubt that you'll really notice

[richie_b]

The cheaper alternative to the Transporter is the Squeezebox.  An ipod or any other portable MP3 player connected to a hi fi won't sound as good.

A slightly cheaper alternative that really is very good is the Linn Sneaky DS.  I've just got one & it really is very good: no messing with changing CDs & really good sound (& it has an inbuilt amp too!)

[bobajobrob]

Yes mp3 is lossy, but unless you have good ears and a perfect acoustic environment I doubt that you'll really notice

Depends on the bitrate. At low quality it's very noticeable, but at high quality it's not.

I use a server running linux and mpd. I can play whatever I want - mp3, ogg, flac, CDs, internet radio, etc, and control it remotely from anywhere in the house using my laptop.

If you've only got one hi-fi system and you only want music coming from that, then squeezebox is the "wrong way round". You want a music player than can be controlled remotely from multiple devices rather than a server that streams to multiple devices.

[TimO]

A cheap alternative:

BT Internet Radio

Obviously it'll play Radio, but it will also play music off of you local computer (MP3, WMA etc).

Clearly not as capable or of as high quality as many of the other devices that people have linked to, but for £50 you can't complain too much!

[Polar Bear]

You could just use your pc/laptop and feed it through your amp.

[bobajobrob]

You could just use your pc/laptop and feed it through your amp.

That's what I was suggesting, and using mpd to allow remote control from another pc/laptop. My server sits in a cupboard in the living room and is connected to my amp. I control it remotely from my laptop, which is usually in the kitchen, but can also be in the living room or on the bog, etc.

[Valiant]

I have the following I'm willing to sell.

Arcam Alpha CD player (original one), with remote/manual. No transit screws so sent at your own risk at £65 posted.

Mission PCM4000 cd player WITH transit screws. They only 'made' 2 cd players. IIRC this has got a Philips CDM4 transport same as the Arcam Alpha and equivalent sound to it too. £55 posted... No remote sadly.

Both sound awesome!

[Biggsy]

If you've only got one hi-fi system and you only want music coming from that, then squeezebox is the "wrong way round". You want a music player than can be controlled remotely from multiple devices rather than a server that streams to multiple devices.

I have one hi-fi and one Squeezebox, and it works the way round I want.  It provides a good level of convenience and quality for the price.

It doesn't matter where the music "comes from" (in terms of the source) when you have a network (wired or wireless).  The server becomes part of the hi-fi system, and the Squeezebox is the receiver.  You control it via its remote control, or via the server.

If you're only listening in one room then you only need one Squeezebox.  You can have multiple Squeezeboxes for multiple rooms - and you could get several for the price of one of the fancier boxes.

Copies of the server can be installed on multiple computers if you like, or/and you can use a NAS box.

[Biggsy]

I use a server running linux and mpd. I can play whatever I want - mp3, ogg, flac, CDs, internet radio, etc, and control it remotely from anywhere in the house using my laptop.

You can do that with the Squeezebox system as well.  You can have a copy of the server installed on your laptop and use it to control what is played.  You can have a copy of your source files on the laptop, or access them over a network.

The Squeezebox is nice because you don't always have to use a computer to control it and the sound quality is pretty good.  I'm not quite sure just how good yet because my amp and speakers don't do it justice!

[rae]

Yes mp3 is lossy, but unless you have good ears and a perfect acoustic environment I doubt that you'll really notice 

On "average" hi-fi systems, you can't hear the difference unless the bitrate is really poor.  I can hear 128K in the office, but anything over 192 is the "same" as CD. 

On a decent hi-fi, you can tell the difference immediately, even at 320K.   CD and flac sound far better than mp3 - the treble is all mashed.  I'll not even claim that my hi-fi is that good - Arcam delta amp and Epos ES14 speakers.

Looking at the old set up provoked an ebay foray:

Arcam Alpha 5 CD Player with remote control on eBay, also, CD Players, Home Audio Hi Fi, Consumer Electronics (end time  22-Aug-08 19:33:45 BST)

Not bad....

[Biggsy]

On a decent hi-fi, you can tell the difference immediately, even at 320K.

Would you pass a blind listening test?  I don't think I would, to be honest.  However, I like to use FLAC because I like the idea of having top quality.  It stops me wondering if I could be hearing something better.  So it's more a phsycological thing.

Ogg Vorbis is good for when you want something better than MP3 but need smaller than FLAC (and have a player that plays it).

[mike]

this is why I've still got CDs. I just cant be arsed to investigate a solution which might still be around in 10 years, rip all my CDs again (they're on the IPOD but at rubbish quality, even I can tell the difference), learn and then teach Mrs Mike how to use the new technology, have yet another PC box in the house to store the stuff on..

I'll stick with CDs for now, until something easy comes along.

[/nutty]

[Biggsy]

Rip your CDs to CD-quality FLAC or WAV and you won't have to rip them again if and when somehing better than MP3 and OGG comes along.  You will be able to convert the CD-quality files to whatever the new format is automatically in a batch job.

So you don't need to hang on to the CDs to be future proof.  The easy things are here already.  Check out Exact Audio Copy and BonkEnc.

I "stick" with CDs in terms of it being still a good way to buy music (new and second hand), but then I eBay most of them on again after making a digital copy.  Bit naughty, really.

[vince]

I like the act of running my finger along the row of CDs, selecting one and putting it on the turntable. I think it is so much nicer than scrolling through a menu. Maybe its my age.

[Biggsy]

I like the act of running my finger along the row of CDs, selecting one and putting it on the turntable. I think it is so much nicer than scrolling through a menu. Maybe its my age.

Yeah, you must be quite young!

Those of us who loved a big 12" have little affection for the physical nature of a CD.

[rae]

Would you pass a blind listening test?  I don't think I would, to be honest.  However, I like to use FLAC because I like the idea of having top quality.  It stops me wondering if I could be hearing something better.  So it's more a phsycological thing.   

Some music I can tell instantly - it may be a codec issue (some are noticeably flat).   Other music it takes a while to hear the annoying treble dullness.  I think I would get it in a back to back, but I've never tried it. 

You will be able to convert the CD-quality files to whatever the new format is automatically in a batch job. 

+1.  Get 'em digital.  It is only a physical format change.   My entire collection fits on a single hard drive that I can back-up and take anywhere with me. 

[Valiant]

I'm a bit peed off cos I ripped all my CDs to 160kbps VBR MP3 and AAC (100,000+ tracks), it's great for me iPod but now that I use the server as a source for me hifi I am hugely regretting it as I have a decent enough hifi and it picks out every flaw, even on a 320kbps as rae stated earlier and I can't/don't have the time to rip all the CDs again. I blame storage becoming so cheap, when I started ripping my CDs all those years ago, 40GB were quite expensive for a stoodent but now you can get multiple TBs for about £130.

[rae]

I'm a bit peed off cos I ripped all my CDs to 160kbps VBR MP3 and AAC (100,000+ tracks), 

I feel your pain - I did 192, but I wish I .flaced the lot. 

Hint: find a student with similar taste in music to you.  Offer to let him rip your collection if he gives you a copy of the ripped tracks.

[Hot Flatus]

Thankyou all for your helpful advice.  The Flac machine is ideal, but £1000 solutions are out of the question as the law of diminishing returns rules the world of hi-fi. I'll wait until the price quarters within 5 years.

 Really it is just a question of storage for me.  I don't want another single cd player, there seems little point hence my interest in the sony machines that can hold 300 or 400 cds.  Ipods are tiny, but Rae is right, the sound is noticeably inferior. Also they can be a little idiosyncratic.

[rae]

The Flac machine is ideal, but £1000 solutions are out of the question as the law of diminishing returns rules the world of hi-fi. I'll wait until the price quarters within 5 years 

The Squeezebox version is functionally the same and about £200, maybe less on discount.

[Thor]

It doesn't have to be very expensive.  My entire CD collection sits on an ancient Pentium III 500 PC, running Ubuntu.  The music is mostly FLAC-encoded.

The PC wouldn't be much use for anything else, but it manages to run Squeezecenter, which facilitates a Squeezebox and Twonkymedia which supplies a Reciva internet radio device.   It can easily serve up music to both simultaneously.

The Squeezebox is about £180 these days and the non-display model is about £100.  If you already have a decent amp and speakers, that's all you need.  'Course, it takes quite a while to FLAC all your CDs, but it's not an entirely unpleasant process.