I have a database of my recorded music for years. Recently I have become aware of the additional functions my PC can used to control my music system as well as other sysytems in my home. I plan to explore these alternatives over the next 12 months.

You all should cover the use of computers to process digital signals. Win98 will stream digital data thru USB ports, DVD drives are under $200, UDMA CD-ROM drives are cheaper. What does this sound like feeding a high-end jitter box and D/A converter? Who makes PC boards that can massage the digital data, and why not??

As soon as multiple-session recordable CD media is available and software comes down in price and increases in functionality, I'll add one to my system.

Definitely someday, but not anytime remotely soon. I can't begin to imagine what audiophile quality peripherals are going to cost me!

why?

Computer systems offer not even high fidelity

Unless there are some significant new advances, it seems to me that integrating stereo into my computer is a more resonable pursuit. I am not convinced that a computer is ready to add much to my current stereo system

What on Earth for?!!!

*&%&*@#***!!!

Never the twain shall meet.

A definite NO! I just recently relocated our computer system to the guest room. It was in the den with the stereo. Just like my video system they all deserve their own domain-but never together. Now that my audio system is by itself so will I be-listening to my latest treasures.

I still haven't found the computer as a serious contender in quality sound reproducton. I love the life, feeling, snap, and pace my highend system provides me. Especially my Pro Ac speakers. Computer multimedia and high end audio are two completely different experiences. one is information, the other feeling. Computers feed the brain, music feeds the soul. When I am tired and burned out at the end of the day, after too many hours managing information at work, I can no longer think effectively and do not enjoy any activity that involves coordination or mental concentration. In this state, I can lay back and enjoy music. It is as if the emotional content of the musical message (which I will never call software) can flow into me and deliver it's healing qualities without effort on my part. It is as if the brain is not involved. As if the music is already in an format capable of communicating with our emotional self, without the need of decoding.

It is possible, if it is used as some form of cataloging or processing. Perhaps we will need it to figure out what format we will want to play. You know, Format-of-the-Month Club. We could get monthly updates as to when we will have to throw out all of our equipment and software (records, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, DATs). Maybe we can run everything through our PCs with pirated software to end-run all the nonsense the recording and electronic industries are throwing at us. It doesn't make sense when we already have perfect sound forever . . . you know, LPs.

Are you serious??

What possible reason could there be to do so? And I'm a computer professional, BTW

No comment. It speaks for it self.

Not sure that I see the point of this idea, Nothing will replace my two channel set up, which I am now listening to while I write and surf.

Computers are wonderful for the creation, alteration and subsequent digital storage of music, if you're into that sort of thing. And some of my friends use their computer system to play background music when they're puttering around the house. But we're a long way away from the computer being the central device used in the serious reproduction of reference quality sound.

Everyone who has a CD player already has a computer, since a CD player is one. Seriously, a computer is great for cataloging a collection, and that's it.

Isn't a CD player enough??

I love my Mac, but I didn't buy it to listen to music.

I listen to audio because I enjoy the expereince it gives me, mainly because I don't have to do much to enjoy it. I just put it on and press Play. Listening to music is generally a passive excercise, even if one would consider oneself to be actively listening. Computers are, by nature, interactive devices. However much I would like to say I enjoy computers, I don't. They generally piss me off! Why mix the two and bring one wonderful experience down to the level of mediocrity?

I didn't like digital when CD's first came out and your first instincts are usually right. So why should I want my computer anywhere near my stereo?

Heh-heh . . . you can't be serious. Computers and my audio system? No, I think not. I repair systems on a daily basis, and the last thing I want to do is to have to modify or repair the Registry in NT or '95 (due to corruption of one sort or another) so I can relax and enjoy music. I don't need the aggravation of sitting down after a hard day at work . . . with a favorite artist on CD . . . coffee in one hand . . . get a few seconds into the music, and see the NT Blue Screen Of Death. Anyone who wants to mix the two should first have a thorough exam by a qualified psychiatrist.

Why on Earth?? Why on focking(SIC) Earth?? Us tubers sniff at such goings on!

I'm no novice to computers, and I sure as hell don't want screwed-up programming to carry over into my enjoyment of music.

Maybe but unlikely. Computer is for mental exercise whereas music system is for intellectual relaxation.

Computers are for data, not music. HT systems are for movies, not music. The industry should stop trying integrate ironing boards and sewing machines.

I have three computers for business & "pleasure," and all of them have audio systems built-in. But my dedicated audio & video systems perform so well I have no interested in introducing systems crashes etc. to a part of my life that reduces stress, not induces it. Because of this I feel for now I want to keep those parts of my life separate. Thanks!

Only to download to DVD or 128Kcd