Heheh ! I like OP. it's like Opie in the Andy Griffiths show.
You guys are all spot on.
I really started out my quest with a single solution box. I had considered the Olive 06. It was perfect, It is very costly but solved it all for me. BUT, it made back ups that could only be read by Olive players.That was the deal breaker.
After that, I decided that I wanted to be in control. If there does exist a ripper/storage/normal back-up/DAC solution out there, I would surely investigate it. There are not many options in Singapore. I have an iMac at home but it is used by my 3 older daughters and the youngest daughter (#4) who is 2 uses it to watch gummy bear videos on You tube. . My music is currently stored on it and my iphone backs up from it. This will continue.
However, I really want to separate my serious listening music onto a dedicated all in one server. The only solution I could find was to load a dedicated laptop. It would rip, and output and store and I could make a decent back up. I would need an external DAC but that is the easy part of the project. And would cost about 1/3 of the Olive to implement.
If you guys could point me in the direction of an Olive alternative, I will check it out.
Thanks for taking the time to assist me. It is very very much appreciated.
Jag (OP)