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user34

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  1. Don't thank me, it's mark@itemaudio that brewed it. I'm biding me time before going for the build. I don't want to buy a case and then discard it, and what appears to be the best cases are Streacom FC8, FC9 and FC10 depending on where you want to take the recipe. I'm not able to source, as yet, all the ingredients locally. I have never assembled a computer, but it looks relatively easy, don't even have to solder. I've been a hifi nerd for decades, so tinkering with a computer source where I could keep the case and swap in and out bits is very appealing. Peter
  2. The G550T is the chip recommended, but any of the celeron processors can be substituted (as far as I have been informed), it is apparently an OEM chip, and not generally available, at least not yet.
  3. That was me, but I've got back to Windows 7 (JRiver). I did so because Apple is very expensive for a machine/OS that makes it difficult to operate outside of the Apple way. I did like the iTunes library organization, it took me a while to figure out how to make JRiver behave like iTunes for library organization. The problem with windows is that you have to understand more about file organization, etc. Apple just works, and has great industrial design. Plus "cool" factor. My netbook, with SSD, cost me less than 250€, but I had to put the SSD in myself.
  4. Hi, Been absent for a long time, but I've come back to computer audio in a way I never imagined. I'm running a netbook into a USB dac (Fidelity Audio DA-150). The results are very satisfying. But the same source of information (Home page) has a recipe for a mini-ITX audio transport. I first came across this on a UK audio site, but the recipe has generated a lot of flack (oops, came out before I thought about it). I'm thinking of making a basic build of this, and later going to the ultra groovy options. Essentially I'd like to know what you guys think of this, and what's important and what can be left for a later upgrade.
  5. I bought my drobo here: www.misco.fr it's available in the uk via www.amazon.co.uk . It's only become available in the last couple of months. If you google around you can find the 1st Gen drobos discounted. I use the WD greenpower drives, I can't hear them. The fan kicks in more. The thing that bothers me most about the drobo is the bright lights. cheers Peter
  6. The other thing to look out for is that the iTunes store may not have exactly the same name as the downloaded information from Gracenote. When this happens, change the name of the album to match the iTunes name, then download the artwork. Peter
  7. Ade, I have a Naim system and I stream audio via the airport express. I see this as the interim solution, though. I have a wireless modem/router supplies by the ISP, this might be possible for you. That is, getting the cable company to supply the wireless modem/router. I presume you wish to control the macmini from the laptop ? I presume you don't want your iTunes hard drive in the same room as the rest of the gear ? In this case you'd need a NAS box, or maybe an airport extreme, or even a time capsule, which contains a hard drive. The time capsule would give you a wireless router and hard disk in the same box! (I'm not sure just how you can use this drive if you run Leopard on your macs) One of the least expensive options for a Dac is the Beresford 7510, which I find in the same league, or even better(!), than a CDX/XPS regards Peter
  8. I transferred the iTunes music file to the drobo, using the official apple method from the lacie external drive (USB2) to the drobo, connected via a Firewire 400 to 800 adaptor cable. (A shame the drobo doesn't have an adaptor as a throw in). It took about 2hrs to complete c. 125Gb of file transfer. I don't know exactly how long it took, I was out. I can't hear the drives, except for a vague click when they start up (WD Green Power 500GB), but I can hear when the fan kicks in, which is acceptable when there's some background noise. The drobo is in the study with the macmini, but it's also a spare bedroom. That means I'll have to do something about all the lights, which are too bright and not defeatable, and the fan which takes some time to stop after a the drobo has been used for a few hours. The way I have the drobo positioned, on a high shelf, I can't see the lights unless I go look for them. I'm not really convinced of their utility, the drobo dasboard is more descreet. Apart from that, I feel happier knowing I have some protection against disk failure. I know I haven't got protection afrom drobo failure, tho! cheers Peter
  9. So, the drobo is running, the disks are (almost) installed. I say (almost) because one of the disks I bought was DOA. So 3 disks for the moment ( > 900Gb), which is more than enough to allow for c.170Gb of data and the backup copies. I was surpised that the drobo wasn't delivered with a firewire 400 to 800 adaptor. I thought it was a throw in ? The fan noise was loud enough that I had to unplug the power last night. But when I plugged it in again this morning it didn't spin for more than a minute. Mrs user34 was disgusted that the drobo is so big, she is definately of the small is beautiful persuasion. It's shoebow size, and small ladies feet at that :-), but it is huge compared with a mac mini. So far no data on it, I think I'm going to have to find a place for it other than on the desk next to the screen to maintain domestic harmony , before I put any data on it. I also want a firewire 400/800 adaptor cable, but that's not urgent. cheers Peter
  10. Phil, The touch is a cute gadget, and gives good playback (256Kbps AAC). The remote application is very nice, and for me was the decider in sticking with iTunes, rather than using a squeezebox. I've since loaded other applications, more or less useful, the latest being an application that tracks the price of petrol/deisel/gasoline/carburant whatever you want to call it from any given point within a certain radius (5km, 10km, whatever). I use it mostly as a remote for the iTunes interface, but I also look at web pages when the main computer is "hogged" cheers Peter
  11. Yes I do, Ok I see now, I'd forgotten that it worked if the album was already there. it is 24bit .aiff, imported from max.<br /> <br /> Peter
  12. I just did a get artwork for John Mellencamp's "Life Death Love and Fredom", and it works with 8.0.1.<br /> <br /> Peter
  13. Phil, I've migrated once before, but that was PC -> Mac, I can't remember, now, how I did that. At that time I had no lossless files, I think I copied the iTunes music file to the windows compatible formatted hard drive, then copied to the internal hard drive of the macmini, then reformatted the drive then recopied. I won't need to do that this time. The iTunes library file always stays in the same place, iirc. It's an .xml file with info about each song in your iTunes music file. cheers Peter
  14. Phil, Here's the official apple version of how to do it: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449 Basically, there's an iTunes preferences option where it allows the change to a new music file. You change your music file address to this new location. There are no files in it at this point. The process to copy the files from the original location to the new location is managed by iTunes. When this is complete, you consolidate the library, to get all the playcounts and W.H.Y. updated. Then you trash your old music file. I'll be going through this procedure very shortly, since I'll be using my new drobo for storage soon. I chose this option, with 4 WD Green power 500GB drives, giving 1.4TB of usable space, because of the extra protection against disk failure. One disk that fails will not loose data, and a disk can be hot swapped to up the available storage. A drobo can adddress up to 16GB of storage, and is compatible with 1.5TB drives. Looks to me quite future proof. I'll let you know how I get on with it, if you don't beat me to it. cheers Peter
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