Introduction Whether we are in the car driving to the grocery store or on a plane suffering through yet another painful flight to somewhere, music lovers are able to access what used to be an impossibly large music collection right in the palms of our hands. Why shouldn’t we be able to do the same when we are at home? Over the past few years, AVRev.com has reviewed several top-notch music servers from the likes of ReQuest, Escient QSonix and others that give music lovers better than iPod audio quality, along with larger than iPod storage. In 2006, we reviewed the very affordable ($299) Squeezebox from Slim Devices (since purchased by Logitech) which differs significantly from the aforementioned competition in that Squeezebox does not have a hard drive to store music, but rather interfaces with your computer system to access the music files stored therein, as well as Internet radio. The Slim Devices Transporter, which retails ...

Introduction The iPod has heralded a new era in music, allowing us to store our music digitally on computers. But what are we to do when we want to listen to that music on our stereo systems? You can connect your iPod directly to your preamp or home theater controller with a patch cable, but it is difficult to see the screen from further than a few feet away. Many receivers have the ability to control the iPod, but the text on their display is small and/or your receiver may be tucked out of view. Some companies have systems that allow you to use your TV as the screen to interface with your iPod, but then you have to have your display on to listen to music and are still limited by the storage space of the device. Dedicated music servers can access your music and distribute it to various systems throughout your ...

Introduction In today’s market of automated homes and wired (and wireless) networking, the idea of having to drag your CD collection to every room of your home is getting as outdated as a turntable. Music servers are nothing new; chances are you already own one. With the advent of the iPod, music servers have touched almost every facet of our daily lives. The ReQuest music server is by no means an iPod, but the underlining principles that drive both products are relatively the same: to organize, store and play back music with relative ease. That is where the analogy ends, as the ReQuest line of music servers are heavy-duty tools designed to faithfully recreate music and reliably broadcast the tunes throughout your home and even beyond. The ReQuest F4.500 music server is priced at $5,000. The ReQuest looks, more or less, like a single-disc CD player measuring in at 17 inches wide by 16 inches ...

Introduction In the two decades since the Compact Disc (CD) was released, few can argue about the significant ways in which it has changed our habits in accessing and listening to music. Its durability, diminutive size and capability to be played universally in our homes, automobiles and portable players gave consumers the opportunity to take their tunes virtually anywhere. This had a phenomenal plus side over the previous dominant format, the vinyl LP, with its limited durability and restricted playback options. Unfortunately, the CD’s additional flexibility created the potential problem of having your music scattered throughout a multitude of listening environments and devices. Personally, I've struggled for years to keep all of my CDs organized and easily accessible. My collection has had a large amount of attrition due to lost and loaned discs, not to mention the mysteriously disappearing CDs that I keep buying repeatedly. As mentioned in a previous review, I have used computers to archive ...

Introduction Escient’s Fireball SE-80 is their latest entry-level music server offering. The SE-80 features an 80 GB hard drive, as well as an internal CD-RW drive, which can be used to load music onto the hard drive, create music discs from the music stored on the hard drive or as a CD player. Like the E2 and other Fireball units, the SE-80 also has a built in Internet radio receiver, file sharing and web server capabilities, all for the slim price of $995. The SE chassis and industrial design is consistent with the rest of the Escient family and measures 17-3/8 inches wide by four-and-five-eighths inches high and 11-7/8 inches deep. The chassis is finished in the same attractive brushed black aluminum as the E2 and other Fireballs. The front panel features a curved accent stripe, an oval CD drawer and a row of transport control buttons. The back panel of the SE is quite ...