Is it possible to play a CD "live" through SB? >> I envision putting an Audio CD into the CD-ROM drive of the slimserver host PC, or other network shared CD-ROM drive, then stream it through SlimServer so that I can listen to it on my main system where Squeezebox is installed.
As it is now, I have to rip every new CD I buy before I can listen to them (I am very lazy). I also have to store the ripped music on my harddrive, which for CDs I rarely play is not efficient. When friends come over to listen to music, I have to rip their CDs before I can play them, and that is inconvenient, and I always wonder if they think I am stealing their music which, of course, I am when I rip it to my hard drive. I want them to fall in love with the sound, convenience and cool factor of Squeezebox too. Making them wait half hour while I rip 10 CDs to 5GB of drive is not a good first impression. Since Windows Media Player, iTunes, MusicMatch, and probably a million other free software players can all stream PCM audio directly from the CD-ROM drive to PC's audio driver without ripping, and since Slimserver can already stream PCM to Squeezebox, it seems to me that all the pieces are in place to be able to stream CDs 'live' to SB from a CD-ROM drive through slimserver. Maybe there is some legal impediment to this scheme, because it seems like this is not a very original idea on my part... I think all you would have to do is add a section in the server setup dialog to declare CD-ROM drive letter or URL sharename, then add a menu selection on SB like "Browse CD-ROM". I think such a feature would really enhance the enjoyment of the Squeezebox for many people. It is really the only major negative aspect of switching to Squeezebox as my main player, I can't play CDs directly on it. OK now comes 40 responses containing links to existing plug-ins, pages in the manual and workarounds that allow me to play CD's. This is the best audio forum on the net! Thanks Rich -- richidoo ------------------------------------------------------------------------ richidoo's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3097 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=21767 _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
