OK - I must admit that despite being very into computers up until 2002, and still using one everyday both at home and work, I have remained somewhat behind the trend with regards to digital music. I was one of the first people I know to have a DVD player, one of the first to burn music to a CD, etc but then I really really fell behind the times.
What I would like some input on is what is a good direction to proceed with regards to digital music in our home (and portable - let's say iPod-ish) accessories. Here is my background FYI (I apologize up from for this being long, but if I want help I must divulge all!):
We have a very nice PC in an office room adjacent to our living room. PC is less then 1 yr old after finally moving on from my 8 yr old Gateway. It has 2 separate hard drives, 120 GB each, Windows media player loaded in it. I have ripped say 40 of our ~ 600 CDs in Windows media audio lossless format and they sound great when I play them on the computer (ALtec Lansing speakers with subwoofer).
Our home audio system is in the adjacent living room. I have a Nakamichi Tuner-Amp TA1A I got back in 1987 from a high end audio shop just north of the Ohio State campus. components include Sony C69ES 5 disc CD player, Sony RX77ES cassette tape player (now not used at all), and an even older Technics SLJ2 lineatr tracking turntable (used fairly frequently).
We also have one half of a wall in our living room covered in a tower style entertainment system housiung the above components plus a few hundred albums, and also a CD bookshelf holding all our CDs and DVDs.
I really recognize the advantages of going digital, but I want to be sure I do it right in that I want to :
a) make sure I pick the "right" direction so to speak (i.e. I don;'t want to have to start over again in 3 years or 5 years)
b) I want it to be flexible and adpatable such that we can easily integrate iPods or whatever the wisest choice would be for portable music listening
A much needed living room arrangement could hinge on these decisions as so much of our usable wall space is, I believe needlessly, occupied by our audio "stuff". It used to be cool to have all the CDs out there when we were younger and had parties where poeple would mill around our music selection, pick stuff out, and take turns being DJ, etc. But that does not happene all that much anymore.
So, any advice on which way to go. My initial instint was to initially start ripping my CD's. I already have gotten quite a biut of enjoyment out of having those in media player. But reaaaly there is so much more to do, but I am looking for some ideas as to how to integrate or compliment or replace partially my home system.