Music sharing.....

[David]

I'm thinking of changing my garage computer so I can play Pandora over the stereo.

Is there a best way to get sound from the web to the stereo? Sound card just for pre-amp?

[WolfeMacleod]

I think Gogar might have some good things to say about music "sharing"

Being somewhat in the music biz myself, I know that there are quite a few musicians who oppose it, and many that don't - mostly due to getting raped by the record companies. Artists should own the masters of their work, not the record companies.
I'm a little on both sides, personally.

Personally, MS Zune is my friend. $15/mo, and all the music I can eat...rarely do they not have what I'm looking for.

[campbellcj]

Originally Posted by David

I'm thinking of changing my garage computer so I can play Pandora over the stereo.

Is there a best way to get sound from the web to the stereo? Sound card just for pre-amp?

I run Pandora on my iPhone and jack it into an NAD amp wired to speakers in the backyard and the garage (built-in A/B switch). Works great! You could do a similar thing using the 1/8" headphone or aux-out jack on your PC.

[cmccuist]

OK, here is an ethical question for all you philosophers.

My daughter has an IT friend who was tasked with moving the server at a local radio station that held all the music. I bought a 1 TB external hard drive and had him copy the songs. 100,000 songs - every top 100 from 1958 through 2009, plus a collection of blues, reggae, rock, hip hop etc. I don't think the radio station paid for it. Now I've got it for the cost of a hard drive.

I'm not going to torrent any of it or distribute it in any way. Just listen.

[David]

I found the problem with the output from my cheap laptop. The volume on the computer was maxed out which was causing all the distortion. I turned the volume low and let the receiver amp do the work, now it sounds much better.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by WolfeMacleod

Being somewhat in the music biz myself, I know that there are quite a few musicians who oppose it, and many that don't - mostly due to getting raped by the record companies. Artists should own the masters of their work, not the record companies.

I had some friends who attempted to set up a production company. Their line was a 50/50 split with the artist with gross cd sales.

He told me the artist usually gets 1-5% from cds, and the only money is in concerts and concessions.

What are the typical numbers?

[MysticLlama]

I have a few Squeezeboxes and really like them for distribution. Have one in the garage, one hooked to the big basement stereo, and a boombox version in the kitchen.

They all connect up to wifi, and can play sync'd or separately. We usually use Pandora on them, but they will connect up to several other services or a music libary on a computer. Their output quality is quite a bit better than most laptops/cheap soundcards put out, and they are standalone devices.

I have a big collection of a couple thousand CDs I ripped at 320 to a drive, and I rarely use it because I kinda like not knowing what's next and having kinda whatever come up.

[futuresoptions]

Music is a produced commodity like anything else... if you are not paying to own it, then you are stealing it... call it what you will, but theft is theft...