MusicCasting a net

October 31, 2006 6:52 AM

Where can I sell a Yamaha MusicCast MCX-1000, a digital jukebox / music streaming device that came out two years too early to be useful?

A couple years ago some friends of mine purchased a Yamaha MusicCast MCX-1000 digital music server. It makes MP3s of your CDs within the device and lets you put terminals around your house which connect to the main thing wirelessly so you can listen in different zones. It sounds great in theory, but it has some serious limitations: it connects to the network to download CDDB information, but it can't share songs over the network from a computer / import songs from a computer / export the mp3s it rips to a computer/iPod/other device (they're in some proprietary 'not actually mp3' format).

My friends weren't quite aware of these limitations and now want to get a Sonos system that does everything they want and connects to their PC. The question is, what to do with the MusicCast? The thing was ridiculously expensive, so they'd like to recoup something from it. Given its limitations, most savvy consumers (who might buy something from a listing in an audio/hifi forum) wouldn't want it. eBay's probably not the best place because I don't think the clueless audiophiles who have the money to spend on a MusicCast would shop there (and I haven't seen many MusicCast-related items in completed listings searches).

They do have two MCX-A10 receivers that work with the newer MCX-2000, Yamaha's current offering which is slightly more useful than than the MCX-1000 (it can stream music from a computer, but anything you rip into it still can't be used by anything else), so they might do better to sell them seperately from the main system. But where can we target the sort of people who want an all-in-one, no computer necessary system like this? We're in the UK and would rather not have to ship it internationally. Any ideas?

posted by reflexed to technology (1 comment total)

E-Bay might be a good place to handle the transaction anyway, and you shouldn't make assumptions about the kinds of people reading forums and where they'd shop. Somewhere someone is thinking that a Sonos is too expensive and more than they need, nad what they really need is a music cast for $700.

So perhaps try the forums at afterdawn.com and hydrogenaudio.org. It can't hurt.

You can also try the MusicCast yahoo groups page. For any given piece of electronics there's omeone who's crazy about it. Join the group and send an email with the sale.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:42 AM on November 17, 2006