Hi all,
So I'm going to jump on the Squeezebox train, and looking for advice on the best way to do it right, from the get-go.
Right now, my computer audio situation is languishing in the 90s, as I am a big Sony/ATRAC fanboi. I have a bunch of stuff ripped to Sonicstage which I will most likely keep in the immediate future for portable use only.
As for the Squeezebox thing, I want to rip my entire CD collection (350+ last count) into a lossless format and store it on an external HD or NAS/RAID setup. I'll be using a 1 year old Dell desktop, running Windows XP. I plan to hook everything up via ethernet.
I suppose my main question concerns library management: What program works best for my intended application? I have read that Squeezebox can talk to an iTunes library, but are there other alternatives worth considering?
My collection is album-based, so I won't have any DRM'ed songs or similar floating around. I would also like get album artwork that will be visible when using Squeezebox. I also have a lot of compilations that I would like to stay as compilations at the end of the day, not as individual tracks by the corresponding artist
iTunes looks to be the easiest solution, and I like the interface for the most part. As I really have no ties to Apple, I am open to suggestions. I don't mind shelling out a little dough for a good program either.
Cheers!