[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
Some of you guys should consider putting together an HTPC

[/ QUOTE ]

I assume HTPC means Home Theater PC.

I've written the rough idea of the following elsewhere but will repeat it here (because I can type faster than I can search [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]).

My interest in a PC/Home Theater combo mostly has to do with music; I doubt I'd ever be playing/storing video off the PC. I love the iTunes interface and want it in my living room but with top notch sound (so I'm not interested in any type of iDock. Another reason for avoiding the iDock is I use the iNano (only 8 gigs) and iShuffle's for portable play and have no interest the clunkier iPod (plus want to avoid unsightly bulges in my pockets and I hate carrying things like a full size iPod).

I hope to use an old PC (I'll have one this winter) and connect to my home theater in such a way that I can do more or less the following:

1. Take the best of my CD collection and convert to files in a lossless format (e.g., FLAC or perhaps Apple AAC). I would perform these conversions from my fast PC in the other room at my leisure. I'd also include the best of my .mp3 and .m4a "lossy" formatted music (e.g., most of my mp3s are ripped using Exact Audio Copy and converted to .mp3s at a high bit-rate using LAME).

3. Transfer copy all this to a huge external HD.

3. Use the huge external HD (they are so cheap these days!) to transfer files to an old computer hooked up to my home theater (which also has great sound for straight music played off CDs).

4. Connect this old PC with tons of hard drive space (or simply use the huge external drive) and interface it in such a way that I can sit back in my living room chair, point at something with a Apple iPod style remote (i.e., the click wheel or device that does the same job almost as well), use the 50" flat screen (problem may be I have a Plasma, an LCD would probably be better but I'm plasma-stuck) as my iPod type display and select artists, playlists and so on just as one would with an iPod/iNano.

5. Sit back and enjoy living room full sound-stage music with iPod style convenience. Never have to get up to change CDs or advance over lousy tracks and so on.

6. Optimize some playlists for romance since gf and I already have the best living room "cuddle chaise lounge" on Earth (IMHO) [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Notes:

- realize I may need to put a quite power supply in the old PC.

- not interested in web surfing off the 50 inch plasma (or should I be?) so the PC doesn't need internet (or so I think).

- might be interested in visualizations playing on the Plasma while listening.

- want to use iTunes on the second PC; not sure if iTunes needs to connect to the web to play (none of my .mp3s are copy protected)

~ Rick