Using Old PC

I should add that I know the VTB would take on the ripping function, but I would still need to be able to download the hires files and serve them to the US.

Well firstly it sounds like the pc you are using is knackered. But thats as an aside.

get a cheap pc, and i mean cheap. Ebay has viable ones for fifty quid. install vortex box on it and start ripping. Once the bulk of cds are done, stick it somewhere on the network but not in the same room as the hifi. Vortexbox will delover that music via upnp to the su.

all done, for fifty quid (oh and buy a mac for day to day surfing, work etc )

Agree with Gary - but for longevity would probably choose to build (not difficult or expensive) a bespoke Vortexbox either from scratch or using a basic PC as a starting point. Then you would be able to maintain a degree of quality control and increase the size of storage. You can builds a pretty good music player with a high quality dig out using mpd! However, you don't really want to be running other stuff on the server although you could install Gnome or KDE and run other Linux software. If you must turn a server / daily use PC run Asset on a Windows PC it would be far easier.

If Plex develops from being the best video server software to also streaming HQ audio you would also be able to stream effectively from a Mac but for the moment I would avoid OSX UPnP solutions.

Tog

If Russ takes a pc, and installs VortexBox software on it, then that pc is now ONLY a VortexBox, correct?  That was one of his questions.

And if that's the case, he cannot use that pc to also download music from the web, correct? (I don't see that as a feature of VortexBox; he'd still need another computer . . right?)

Thanks, Gary and Tog, for the information and thanks to you, Bart for always providing the clarification that cuts to the chase.  The words "Linux" and "bespoke", I believe, answer my question, reminding me that in creating a VB on a PC, I would be installing a new and different OS and therefore Windows would have to either be wiped off the computer or it would have to be set up to somehow run both OS s.  And even if that IS possible, I would never attempt it on something like this old Gateway with Vista and God only knows what's wrong with its registry. 

Ultimately, even having read and absorbed all the legitimate controversy over whether the Unitiserve is worth it, I will probably end up with one as my first and hopefuly only "upgrade"--perhaps "addition" is a better word.  So, in the meantime, I want to be ripping CD s and downloading hidef and storing it, all in anticipation of later offloading it to the user-libraries on the US.  (On the other hand, I only have about 200 CD s, so I may re-rip those to WAV later onto the US.  Although it may not be VBa wise expense, I may buy a VB appliance, later to serve as backup to the US.

But back to the present, I need a new PC anyway and I don't do much with the one I have now (other than email, surfing, and creating the odd post on a set of Audio forums that will not be named.  .  I think, then that what I will do is buy a new, but relatively cheap Dell or HP for everyday Windows use.  Then I will wipe everything off the laptop I am now using.  Uninstalling Windows Vista will do away with the registry problems, I would assume, because there won't be any more registry!  I will then create the temporary VB server on this older machine and wire it to the network.  Who knows, things may change, but for now, that is the plan.  I will probably need to buy a detached CD drive to install the VB software, since and OS, since this one doesn't work.

Which poses the question: If one has wiped out Windows on the machine prior to installing VB, how is it possible without an operating system--since I would think you need Linux onboard prior to loading in the VB software?  I suspect the VB forums may provide information on that (apparent) dillemna.

Thanks again,

Russ

Ok

If I may try and make a point using US dollars as that is what I am familiar with.  So you just spent a little over $6,000 on the SU.  Plus tax you are pushing 7K.  At least that's what it would be here.  Why go through all this pain.  You can just get a new Vortexbox for a little over $400 and be done with it

Greg,

I am in the US myself.  Your point is very well taken.  What may not be clear, if you have been spared the and suffering of reading my previous threads, is that I went way over budget in picking the SU.  So what I am trying to achieve now is twofold: (1) finding some source other than streaming radio (which is great in its own right) to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to play CD s for my wife, and (2) being able to start ripping and downloading.  But I may do the very thing you suggest.  The jury is still out.  I may also just buy a really cheap CDP for under a hundred bucks.

My thanks.

Russ

Russ.  

if you just need a transport get a DVD player from best buy to tide you over. They gotta be $50. You can probably also get an older Mac mini off eBay for a few hundred and just run an optical cable

Russ, I've got your back as we say.  I am always happy to help translate for you

Russ you are correct that the VB system 'includes' Linux.  Wiping Windows off that old laptop and installing the VB software on it, if it works, will give you a "free" VB machine.  But then you need a computer . . .

The other alternative would be to buy the VB appliance, and buy a copy of Windows 7 for the old laptop.  If the laptop has no hardware problems, that would fix it up and provide you with the cd burning and music downloading capabilities you need . .  and the VB appliance would serve the music to your SuperUniti.  Pricewise -- you can get a cheapie laptop for the same price of the VB appliance, so it's a "pick 'em" choice.  I'd probably lean towards buying the VB appliance to ensure trouble-free music listening, and then playing with the old laptop to try to get it running better with Windows 7.  Think of the VB appliance as protecting the investment you made in the SU; you do NOT want to be frustrated because your $6000 SU can't play any music because your crappy laptop now with VB software on it is not behaving!  Really I'd lean towards the dedicated VB box.

Music with no laptop will get you thru hard times better than a laptop with no music

What you say makes a lot of sense, Bart.  From the last line of your post I would say you must be familiar with "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" comic books, written by a Hippie named Gilbert Shelton in the early 'sixties at U.T. Austin.  One of the wacko hippies in the strip says: "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."

And I know this will probably get me thrown into the Padded Cell, but perhaps I can get away with saying the trouble with Bill Clinton was the he never inhaled--whereas the problem with Hillary was that she never EXHALED. 

Best regards,

Russ

I agree with getting a cheap PC.  Cant see the point of Vortexbox though unless the free thing is the only way you will roll.

Get a REAL legit server that handles your vids (best video player out there) and photos and can record TV etc....  $50.  J River Media Center.  And it comes with a very nice GUI as well as the stellar "Theater View" 10' interface.

Oh and you can still use your computer as a computer when needed.

-Patrick

pcstockton: Thank you and I appreciate the new information.  The only thing I never said in all of this is (and this will blow most people's minds--especially younger people) I just don't give much of a whit for quality video.  I have not really been able to tell much difference between a big flat screen with HD or without it.  Also, surround sound or even high quality audio connected to the TV/DVD player is not of much importance to me.  However, I will most definitely look into the video player you mention for the interface/audio portions.

McGhie: Thanks for the long and informative post.  I am one of those who most definitely would prefer to have nothing to do with computing--although I realize that is an impossibility these days.  I spent my life on mainframes and we had an entire staff to handle everything to do with the desktops and laptops.  They derisively called me a "dinosaur" and I told them I had nothing against toy computers but they needed to understand that I considered them to be just high-priced typewriter repairmen.    So I came out of all that viewing PC s as just necessary nuiscances.  So I definitely fit the mold of who would be happiest using the Unitiserve for the convenience aspects--though I am not one, as you may have seen in my other diatribes, who could absorb the vast price differential easily.  So that is what has steered me toward the VB appliance as a compromise, with possibly a US in the future.  For now, I think I will concentrate on playing CD s for my wife with a Wal Mart Special, burn the speakers and the SU in with internet radio, while the house is under construction, buy a smll PC in the meantime, load dbpoweramp onto it, and be ripping and downloading.

Oh, and one thing that will NEVER happen will be my purchasing Windows Seven for this older Gateway or replacing the optical drive again.  Once burned, as they say!

Again, I will re-read your post and consider everything.  Thank you very much.

Russ 

Ian, No, your assumption was correct.  The CD drive in the laptop most definitely IS bust.  The original failed, so we had a new one installed and it too is bust.  So I am reluctant to--nay, determined beyond question not to, throw good money after bad.  Then too, I would really need to either pay someone to fix the registry (a concept which was developed by Satan to tempt man into sinful and criminal actions --a smiley face inserted here to let Homeland Security know this is a JOKE!,) OR upgrade to Windows Seven.  So I would rather spend 4-5 hundred USD on a new cheap laptop.

By the way, could you tell me more about the UPnp Asset concept?  Is that something that, like Vortexbox, would require a dedicated computer?  I may have missed something there.

And is dBp, dbpoweramp?

Regards,

Russ

Russ,

It isn't about quality.... It is all about ability.  You and your family might appreciate serving up more than just music.  You could stream to any other PC or a iOS device.  You could even stream when away from home.  Make your own cloud and enjoy everything everywhere.

-patrick

You get what you pay for... there are NO exceptions to this.

pcstockton: With respect, in my 67 years, I have found that, while that is true in most circumstances, one can indeed find greater value for a given expenditure if one is (a) careful and (b) somewhat lucky.  Thanks for your help.

Russ