What is the best / cheapest Netbook (or other device?) for this music server-ish application?

August 24, 2010 4:12 PM

What is the best / cheapest Netbook (or other device?) for this music server application?

So, we have a receiver/amplifier connected to a few sets of speakers in our apartment. We've connected a laptop to it using a cable from the laptop headphone out to the receiver banana plug in. It works great.

But now we want to have a dedicated device rather than this laptop which we use for other things as well. So what's the best / cheapest / coolest device to get?

Required sources to support: 1) Pandora; 2) ~100GB of mp3s. I guess playing CDs might be nice in a pinch. Also maybe non-Pandora streaming internet sources like Youtube etc.

Our wifi is through an Airport Extreme if that matters. We could maybe plug an existing external HD into that to store the mp3s if that is a good idea. The audio output quality requirements are not that high given the cheapish receiver and speakers.

So what fits this need? A Netbook? How minimally specced out can it be? What's a good brand / place to buy? Is there some other device we should be looking at? Is there some other neat thing we should be setting up?

Thanks!

posted by Perplexity to technology (5 answers total)

If you requirements were less steep I could imagine a Chumby doing all this, but once you start tossing in youtube, flash, etc then you're better off with a cheapo netbook. According to Bensbargains.net you can get an eeepc for $230.
posted by damn dirty ape at 5:33 PM on August 24, 2010

Oh, you'll need an external drive with either of those solutions, so there's another $100 or so.
posted by damn dirty ape at 5:36 PM on August 24, 2010

Sounds like a WD TV might be what you want. I don't have one, but I do have a similar device.
posted by reddot at 6:40 PM on August 24, 2010

You could have the Chumby play mp3s over the wireless off a network share on another computer, instead of an external drive if you prefer . Either should work.
posted by fings at 8:48 PM on August 24, 2010

Squeezebox Touch does all of those things and is far more elegant than a netbook solution. It runs an embedded server that you can attach a USB HD (or USB stick, or SD card) full of mp3s. It interfaces directly with Pandora and many other online services.

If you didn't have the server requirement I'd probably point you to Squeezebox Radio, which will deliver sound much better than the low-end PC speakers. Lacks the embedded server but can connect to a (free) PC-based server elsewhere in the house or to an internet-based (free) server that connects you to Pandora, Internet Radio, Last.FM, etc.

(full disclosure: I engineer these devices for a living, but they really are nice and fit what you want to do rather perfectly)
posted by mcstayinskool at 8:49 PM on August 24, 2010