Playing Digitally Stored Music at Home

[PaulSB]

Like others I suppose virtually all our music is now digital; we tend to buy the odd CD and from iTunes. I also have a mass of stuff going back to the mid 60s which I've converted from vinyl or acquired in the days when file sharing was Napster. All very well until one decides it would be good to play music in the house as all we have is two iPods,two iPhones and a laptop on which to play music. No CD player, no deck for the old vinyl etc.

We would like to be able to play stuff direct from the laptop or the iPhones. Obviously there must be all types of device to do this but I haven't any idea where to begin. I'm thinking of something which the iPhone or laptop can be connected to and will give a reasonable sound - neither myself or Mrs PaulSB have particularly good ears!! Mainly looking to play rock, soul, rock and roll, electric country and occassional classical music.

The main stimulus for this is we've decided to hold a Christmas dance party, tired of all that standing around chatting, this is going to be a roll up the carpet and roll back the years do, for 50 and 60 somethings who should know better!!!!

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm not looking to pay a fortune but do believe in the "you get what you pay for" theory.

many thanks

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Squeezebox is the best way to play digital media at home imho

http://www.mysqueezebox.com/index/Home

 

[ianjmcd]

I have a home cinema system in my living room that has an ipod docking station and is DNLA compatible so i can stream music from any of the 4 laptops in the house i also have the xbox connected to the home cinema that can act as a media centre and can play any movies that are stored on the network

 

[gavintc]

Sonos - perfection. We put all our music on the server about 2 yrs ago and no longer have any CDs.

 

[thnurg]

Plug some half decent speakers into the laptop, or get a dock for the phones or pods that sounds OK to you. As for managing your music collection I highly recommend subsonic which you can use for free, or pay a small fee to unlock extra features.

 

[ianrauk]

I transferred most of my music collection to a NAS drive which is accessed by my laptop (it also means I can access my music collection from any computer - at work, at friends etc). My speakers are Bluetooth so no need for any wires.

It works for me...

 

[PaulSB]

Sonos - perfection. We put all our music on the server about 2 yrs ago and no longer have any CDs.

Yes - perfection. Actually genius.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[srw]

A bog-standard amp and speakers. Run a lead from the headphone Jack to the aux input on the amp. Then get a tuner and a CD player so you're not tied to throwaway devices.

 

[MontyVeda]

surely you can just click 'play' on itunes on your laptop?

...and as mentioned, plug in some half decent speakers into the headphone socket if the laptop's speakers aren't up to scratch.

 

[Berties]

another vote for Sonos,we have a sonos 3 at home linked to napstar and 3 sonos amps on the work system,totally mega!!
If you are having a party hand your controller around and every one chooses their own music,you get a bizarre selection of tunes but its fun

 

[Cyclist33]

A bog-standard amp and speakers. Run a lead from the headphone Jack to the aux input on the amp. Then get a tuner and a CD player so you're not tied to throwaway devices.

This is exactly what I've just done. Careful ebay trawling gets you great amp and speakers for about a hundred quid.

It's such a shame though that I didn't see this thread earlier as I got my "new" setup on 20th November, since which date the Sony home cinema system I've got has been looking for a new home and would have just about been exactly what you needed. It's now gone to Currys for a service and is unlikely to be back before Xmas

 

[the_mikey]

Ipod dock into the back of a NAD amplifier.

 

[PaulSB]

another vote for Sonos,we have a sonos 3 at home linked to napstar and 3 sonos amps on the work system,totally mega!!
If you are having a party hand your controller around and every one chooses their own music,you get a bizarre selection of tunes but its fun

The one thing I'm struggling with is playing music directly from iTunes in an iPhone.

I have the iPhone set as a controller ANC this works well. Everything I read suggests it is possible to connect the iPhone to the system as a music library itself but I'm struggling.

Any suggestions?

 

[Berties]

Check for recent updates,I had a update about 2 weeks ago which gives you the option to play music direct from iTunes ,it will give you options to update the bridge and update the app do both,and you device will appear on the music screen

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Theres an iphone app that lets you control itunes (on your lap top) via your iphone. It's called "Remote". It works via wifi.
I use it with a Macbook pro but i am pretty sure it works with any wifi enabled laptop.
I personally use the laptop wirelessly to play music over my home system. Both my tv and amp can do this but i bought with this in mind.

I'd say go with laptop and wire in to system. Your tv will likely also work if you can get your hands on a hdmi connector that will fit your laptop. Might be that your computer is new and will accept hdmi.

Good luck and enjoy the party.