airport express

[Guest burnso]

Guys n gals

Currently I've got all my music ripped as WMAs, which Airport Express doesn't support (needs to be itunes)

Airport express does exactly what I want, i.e. streams music via wifi and outputs via active speakers/stereo system, but I don't want to have to rip all my wma's as AAC's in Itunes. I could convert them, but would lose quality.

This would be ideal!, but is only available for Mac OS X. Anyone tried anything similar or got any suggestions?

Ta!!

[Guest fraser]

Sure, avoid these crazy formats like the plague! You wouldn't buy cassette tapes that only played in one player, right? iTunes, WMA are both designed to lock you perpetually into their products for life. All the iPod owners are in for a shock if they want to replace their iPods with something non-Apple. Especially those who have bought (sorry, "rented") music from iTunes. Apple and Microsoft know this and it's a huge part of their long-term planning.

Use mp3 for your digitial media needs. Plays on just about anything, no hastles. I converted my library a long long time ago and I've not seen a media device that can't play all of my music. My last two phones, my car cd player, all my computers (various operating systems), no problems.

I presume you want to set up some multi-room audio? Best way is to simply run wires; especially as it avoids the synchronization issues inherent to using TCP/IP to play music. I built this all, roughly five years ago, and I've never looked back. The media is centred on one Windows XP machine, running Winamp and a web-based remote control for winamp. I can select/change music from any PC/laptop, and over WiFi using my M2000. The system is better (IMHO) than similar systems that you'd pay thousands to have installed. All you need is a basic amp in each room, so you can control the volume or turn it off in that room.

Using a web server like apache, you can also stream the same music to whatever player you want. Including my M2000! That's right, I have 80gig+ of mp3s available to me anywhere on the planet where I can get a WiFi signal! 8) I recommend you password-protect the webserver though!

In terms of your airport device, the phone essentially does that for me now, though it's not as loud as it could be I suppose. Nice for when you are in the back garden or bath however.