new updates in transports or are they obsolete ?

Audioengr, can you comment on the amount of hard drive storage space that is required per CD in lossless format? Thanks.

Audioengr: read the paper, sorry I missed this. With lossless compression, looking at about 300 MB per CD. If we factor in RAID/mirroring, then let's say 500 MB per CD or 2 CDs per GB. A collection of 1000 CDs would then require 500 GB of mirrored storage. I am doing the math for a computer with this amount of storage and adding in the cost of your USB-SPD/IF converter at your advertised price and finding the cost is quite high. I can get a brand new CEC TL51X transport - quite good - for $1295. This is only $300 more than just the cost of your interface. Then add in the cost of the computer, disc array (any decent collection is beyond the storage capability of most PCs) and you are paying a lot for convenience. Even the convenience is questionnable since it would take a lot of time and effort to rip all the CDs and add the tags. Is my math off here?

Audioengr can you provide links to any industry reviews which support your claims? The computer setup you are recommending is two to three times the cost of a decent used transport, and since we are talking about the transport level only here, improvements are going to be governed by the law of diminishing returns - a factor not to be ignored. No offense, but you do stand to gain from sales.

One thing I will say is that if I were to go this route, I don't think I would buy a boxed music server. The post by Gunbei about Tivo points to the kind of mess you can get yourself into with a closed box type of arrangement. Better off with a standard computer/laptop and external disc arrays, I would think.

Kana, is the Stello front loading? I am interested in a decent front loading transport. I am not intersted in anything that has to be modded, though. I'd rather just get something that is engineered and built to work and sound good.

All very convincing. The jukebox feature would be nice, but I am a classical/jazz fan, so maybe not as important as for others. And I wasn't meaning to cast aspersions on Audioengr's credibility. I do find in this hobby though that enthusiasm can sometimes get ahead of itself. Good to hear about that 1 TB Raid 5 box. That is a better price than I would have thought; I imagine it would be faster than these pokey 7200 rpm drives you can buy at Best Buy, would it?