2. pc-audio
  3. 1231089556

Anyone using a touch screen for PC audio?

I am almost certainly going to by the new Mac mini for use as a music server when it comes out in a week or so. 500 bucks for a mini with like 160 GB? No-brainer vs. a super-expensive music server.
Buuuut.... I do like the fact that with say, an Olive server, you just put the cd in and burn it-- no keyboard/mouse/monitor required!
I will be using the iphone I have with the remote control program for a controller if I go the Mac mini route and I will certainly be using a USB DAC of some kind or other-- haven't decided which.

Now- once you've burned all your CDs to it- you can let your mac mini sit quietly on your audio stand and not touch it.
But, if you wanna burn a new CD or something- you would have to connect a monitor and mouse/keyboard etc.
Sooooooo.. how bout if I just buy a touch screen monitor and leave it connected on my audio stand? Wouldnt that let me open up programs and such to burn more CDs as well as provide a convenient interface other than my iphone if I wanted to use it?
I figure at like 500 bucks for the Mac, 350 for a touch screen and 500 or so for say an MHDT DAC- isnt this a good computer audio solution? Has any smurf done this type of thing?
I suppose the other option is to leave a small monitor connected (not a touch screen) and then use a wireless mouse and keyboard when doing stuff on the Mac.

Thoughts?
abramsmatch
synthfreek's avatar
synthfreek
627 posts
 
Whatever you do you should put $100 towards an external firewire hard drive for backup.
Is your rack near your tv? I just use my widescreen. I love looking at the album artwork using Front Row or iTunes while I'm listening.
puerto
372 posts
 
Synthfreak is right - by all means invest in a back-up hard drive. (firewire). I use the Cavalry 2 TB with firewire - very fast indeed! Also, I use the wireless keyboard and mouse from Mac (iMac). Since my screen is only 20" I have to sit pretty close to the screen in order to see what I am doing but if you use the widescreen as suggested you could probably operate from clear across the room - OR you could invest in a cheap pair of binoculars!!

Your Mini Mac should serve you well.
jmelvin
17 posts
 
I have an HP Touchsmart pc connected wirelessly to my system so it's not sitting on my audio rack but the touchscreen interface is a slick, convenient, nice looking option. Highly recommended.
jb8312
247 posts
 
At $1350, why not just by a labtop? Then you have the screen, keyboard.....

Last week, I purchased a refurbished MacBook for $879 - with the saved funds, I purchased a 1 TB ext HD.

As I am going to use this laptop as a server ONLY, I was find with going "refurbished". So far I have copied about 25% of my music collection..

Finally, the Macbook is a great size, it sits on the top oy my rack and on a Syposium Svelte Shelf with decouplers.

John
jamesw20
270 posts
 
I would love to go this route but can you still utilize rhapsody and internet radio stations, i.e. the great selections, that sonos allows?
More to discover