 |  | play MP3s on your home stereo |  | | By Jack Lyon | | (4/7/03) |
Music fans often find themselves with half their music on CD and the other half nestled on their PC's hard drive. CDs work great because you can play them on the stereo with much better sound than a PC. But MP3s give you great flexibility in making mixes on the fly, without having to find the right jewel case, get out a CD, and put it in the player. What if you could rip all your CDs to MP3 and play them through your stereo? Better yet, what if you could make your computer an integrated part of your home entertainment system? With a few pieces of inexpensive hardware and MusicMatch Jukebox, integrating your entire digital music collection into your home entertainment center--complete with remote control--is a simple song and dance.
Let it rip
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First off, you will need an extra computer. No, we're not suggesting you go out and buy a new one. With the rapid pace of technological advancement, many of us have at least one old system sitting around gathering dust. You can also buy a used system for pretty cheap--anything with a CPU of 600MHz or faster should do. Before turning your PC into a full-time music machine, youll want to load it up with all your favorite MP3s. If you're feeling extra industrious, you might want to go ahead and rip your entire CD collection with MusicMatch Jukebox. Having all your music in MP3 format means you'll never have to switch discs again. To rip an audio CD, put it in your drive and click the red Record button found at the bottom of MusicMatch's main window. The Recorder window will open, letting you pick the tracks you want to convert to MP3.
Connect the cables
The only slightly exotic piece of hardware you'll need is a TV-out card, which you can get for around $50. Once the card is installed, find a good spot for your PC in the entertainment center cabinet. Next, connect your sound card's audio out to your television or stereo receiver's audio in. Chances are, your sound card's out is a single 1/8-inch port, while your audio in is probably composite (those familiar red and white ports). If you don't have the right cable to connect the two, a couple bucks and a quick trip to Radio Shack will do the trick. Next up, connect the video out from your TV card to the video in on your television or VCR, which is usually a yellow port.
Total control from the couch
You're now wired for sound. Turn on your PC, television, and stereo. Using your television remote, switch the video input until you see your PC on the screen. You will probably need to set your PC video resolution at 640x480, so you can read text on your TV. Make sure your stereo receiver is using the right audio input source. It will likely be either Aux 1 or Aux 2. For television, it's probably Aux 1 or Video 1. Last up is controlling your machine from afar. If you don't mind the clutter, using your regular tethered keyboard and mouse is fine, but starting at around $40, a wireless mouse nestled among your other remote controls is a much better solution. Once youre all hooked up, launch MusicMatch, fire up the MP3 of your choice, and prepare to be impressed. To add yet another layer of easy listening, you can create playlists through MusicMatch. To make a new mix, select Playlist under the View menu. Click the Open button and load up all the MP3s you want in your new playlist. When you have an MP3 lineup that makes you proud, click the Save button at the bottom of the Playlist window and give your new music mix a name.
Consider other options
If you don't have an extra PC for your home entertainment rack, you can always use your main PC and go completely wireless. For about $70, you can get a 2.4GHz wireless A/V transmitter that will send the audio and video signal from your PC up to 300 feet. Of course, for remote control capabilities, you'll need a line of site with your wireless mouse if it's infrared, or within about six feet if it's radio frequency. If you have a nice little home network and an extra notebook, you can skip the wireless mouse and control your MP3 machine with your notebook and some remote access software, such as Remote Administrator. Finally, this setup will work with any MP3 player. We prefer MusicMatch because of its clean, high-contrast interface thats easy to see and use while you kick back on the couch.
Special thanks to Larry Meaney of HostADP for being the mastermind behind this project.
Jack Lyon, former director of CNET Hardware, splits his time contributing to CNET and building brand-savvy online games as cofounder of AstroManic Studios.
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