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Turn a Shared PC into a Jukebox...

Kelemvor

Lifer
Is it possible to take an extra PC on my home network and turn it into a Jukebox Server? I want to take all my CDs and turn them into MP3. Then on a couple PCs have some sort of front end that would allow to play like a Juke Box and just pick a song and start it playing.

What software would you recommend for this? Both the ripping to MP3 and the client side front end? Any suggestions at all? Not sure if the standard Real Player or Music Match are best for this or something else.

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Is it possible to take an extra PC on my home network and turn it into a Jukebox Server? I want to take all my CDs and turn them into MP3. Then on a couple PCs have some sort of front end that would allow to play like a Juke Box and just pick a song and start it playing.

What software would you recommend for this? Both the ripping to MP3 and the client side front end? Any suggestions at all? Not sure if the standard Real Player or Music Match are best for this or something else.

Thanks.

For convenience, I have bolded the reasons why you will be flamed out of existence.

You're welcome.

Frontend = Foobar
Ripper = EAC + LAME OGG

- M4H
 
Shoutcast + Winamp for serving/playing
Or just winamp and a shared directory if you don't want to stream and want to pick each song.
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Is it possible to take an extra PC on my home network and turn it into a Jukebox Server? I want to take all my CDs and turn them into MP3. Then on a couple PCs have some sort of front end that would allow to play like a Juke Box and just pick a song and start it playing.

What software would you recommend for this? Both the ripping to MP3 and the client side front end? Any suggestions at all? Not sure if the standard Real Player or Music Match are best for this or something else.

Thanks.

Let me say that Real Player is never the best for anything. It should never be an option.
 
Originally posted by: pray4mojo
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Is it possible to take an extra PC on my home network and turn it into a Jukebox Server? I want to take all my CDs and turn them into MP3. Then on a couple PCs have some sort of front end that would allow to play like a Juke Box and just pick a song and start it playing.

What software would you recommend for this? Both the ripping to MP3 and the client side front end? Any suggestions at all? Not sure if the standard Real Player or Music Match are best for this or something else.

Thanks.

Let me say that Real Player is never the best for anything. It should never be an option.

Well I don't use either of those because I don't like them but I don't know of any other programs to do that so that's why I'm asking. 🙂
 
If I had my way, i'd uinstall Real Player from every computer on earth. I hate that thing. Worthless. Oh and what you want to do is very possible. M4H gave you some software suggestions, use them.
 
i just pull stuff off the one computer through a shared directory using winamp

now for parties and things you need to shoutcast the one computer and have them not buffer anything or else one will be behind the other... or something
 
The coolest piece of software I found recently is netjuke. It is a media server that supports all types of file formats.

http://netjuke.sourceforge.net/

It is nice because it uses a database to organize everything. You can create custom playlists. Awesome overall for setting up a streaming server. It is probably overkill for what you want to do but I like having access to all my mp3s from anywhere I go.
 
Is either the SHoutCast + WinAmp or the WinAmp stand alone more processor/memory intensive on the client PC? My extra PC just sits there so I'd rather have it do most of the work and let the client PC just have to play the music. Not sure if it matters...

 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Is either the SHoutCast + WinAmp or the WinAmp stand alone more processor/memory intensive on the client PC? My extra PC just sits there so I'd rather have it do most of the work and let the client PC just have to play the music. Not sure if it matters...
The server will do all the disk i/o. Either way, all the client has to do is play the music. Unless your machines are old, you won't even notice, as music is pretty nonintensive.
 
Wife's PC is a P2 450 ish, "Extra" PC is a p3 733, My PC is a p4 1.8. I don't think we'll notice either way.

Can WinAmp rip the CD files into MP3s or is there a better program to do that with?
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Wife's PC is a P2 450 ish, "Extra" PC is a p3 733, My PC is a p4 1.8. I don't think we'll notice either way.

Can WinAmp rip the CD files into MP3s or is there a better program to do that with?
I'd use either EAC or CDex. Either one will do a good job.
 
Originally posted by: Codewiz
The coolest piece of software I found recently is netjuke. It is a media server that supports all types of file formats.

http://netjuke.sourceforge.net/

It is nice because it uses a database to organize everything. You can create custom playlists. Awesome overall for setting up a streaming server. It is probably overkill for what you want to do but I like having access to all my mp3s from anywhere I go.

Whoah......thanks for the link dude. I'd been using Edna ( http://edna.sourceforge.net ) for a while and while it did the job I was looking for something more. This DEFINITELY is that more so I'll definitely be loading it onto my jukebox server.
 
ATi (USB RF, very few programmable buttons) or Creative (Serial IR, better, I believe, for what you want to do) remote control and Winamp.
Rip and encode as others have said, but might I also recommend going with ogg instead of MP3?
On networking...MP3s might use as much as 30KB/s. You're not going to have any trouble with playing over the network, even if it is bluetooth (not that I'd ever recommend such a thing!).
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Originally posted by: sygyzy
The problem with shoutcast is it is like the radio, you cannot PICK what song it plays.

Oh, didn't realize that. That definitely won't work.

Well, you could use a Winamp Plugin like Snowcrash or BrowseAMP to control which song is playing, although it will take a second for the buffer to get to the new song when you change.
 
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