The interface works well for this application. I researched jukebox type software and carputer software a couple years ago and I really did not find anything that worked how I wanted it. I personally like the squeezeplay interface myself and with a 7" or 9+" screen, it's very usable. If you know of a better interface that is "free" and easily customizable, let me know... it was a couple years since I did the intensive trial and error and really Squeezeplay came closest to what I was trying to do. I would love to have buttons in the interface to launch Netflix directly or watch movies or whatever, but all in all, I think it's a very good interface. And unlike itunes, it's not a hog.
The only advantage of having the server onboard is that I am looking at making these for people on like a custom basis as there are a lot of people like me who like the art deco period furniture and all but who can't really live with AM radio by getting a restored desktop Philco unit or whatever. I've taken a large Philco tombstone and integrated a mini ITX motherboard and all into it as well as power amp and stereo speakers and it retains the old look while having a functional interface that works with me. but anyway, personally I have a LARGE media library (94k songs) so it's not feasible for me... but for the "average" user I am trying to make it all as easy as possible. I am going to have a dock in back to dock a removable hard drive (I'd supply the case/drive that the dock would be designed for) and they could add music to that drive directly or through the USB ports. And adding music has to be very easy for someone like my mom and having it all internal as far as the server and all eliminates a lot of setup issues. I will probably design in a discrete ipod dock too as that opens doors for other users. Basically I am just trying to take all of the pieces and put it in one place for people to easily use. I may never make another one... but I've gotten a lot of positive feedback as there is a niche market for something like this. I am also working on a tombstone design that incorporates a 10" subwoofer and maybe even a record player along with the other features here... Again trying to capture a niche market with a few specialized devices... As far as sound... right now yeah I plan on just using the headphone/line out on the motherboard. I have a USB hub that is inside also and I may upgrade to a USB sound card if I need to. I've just been plugging in my Sansa Clip into the power amp board into the box just to test the sound and I was surprised how good it did sound. It is lacking in low end, but I am working on a redesign of the cabinet to try to provide more volume for the speaker cabinets and we'll go from there. I am using a Class D power amp and I'd been testing it at 12 volts too but the power supply I am using is 19.5 so it should be more efficient and louder than it is... but still not the low end so yeah... we'll see -- jemmicat ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jemmicat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=36060 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=80844 _______________________________________________ jive mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/jive
