Having some random thoughts over dinner. At the moment I have a fileserver containing my ripped music, easier than messing around with CD's and I can play it back no matter which PC I'm using. However it would also be nice to be able to play music without having a PC on. Something like a HiFi I can plug into a network and play shared music files on. Does such a product exist I wonder? If not I could build something from scratch, mini-ITX based I'm guessing, but have enough to do as it is. Has anyone done something like this before?
The only thing that immediately pops into my head is a NAS (network-attached storage) - an external drive that plugs into your switch/hub. Of course, the drive would have to be on all the time; but I don't see a way of doing this without having something on all the time. After all, no matter where you play the files from, the source has to be readable.
sounds like you want a logitech squeezebox. i have two in my house, and they're amazing. it does rely on running some software on your server, but it's lightweight and all free. you can actually install the software and run an emulated player on your desktop to see how it all works before taking the plunge and buying the hardware. there are some great ipod/iphone applications out there that let you use them as remotes for a squeezebox network too. (i own both the squeezebox classic and the duet - i would recommend the classic as it's cheaper and has a display, but the duet conrtoller is very nice. then again if you have an ipod save some money and just buy a controller app for it)
How about running some sort of media server like Firefly on your server and streaming it to something like a Squeezebox? edit: Fod beat me to it.
Oh Squeezebox looks perfect Also appears there's a similar device called the Roku Soundbridge which possibly is based on the same software. Look a little pricey (but haven't looked for UK suppliers in detail) but then again so would buying the bits for a custom build. Should point out I already have the server side of it sorted (OpenBSD box serving out some CIFS shares, amongst other things)
