WAV Files, Wireless and Laptop Remote


I have been reviewing recent threads on hard drive based audio, but still need a bit of help:

1) I want to use WAV -- I dont care how many hard drives I need and I dont want to use Apple "Lossless".

Using EAC -- which seems to be everyones first choice around here - is there now a way to easily "tag" WAV files with track information?

2) In a desktop server cofiguration, is there a consensus on the best way to extract bits? I dont care what port it uses, I dont want it downconverted. I dont care if its small, portable or cheap.

Just the best, purest, bit for bit output that I can put into the DAC of my choice. Of course, we can debate DACs in ANOTHER thread - just want the bits.

3) If, in the end, I use iTunes as my user interface, is there a way to do this wirelessly with a laptop as it communicates with my desktop server?

I say this because I have sent my Sony VAIO notebook back 3 times during the first year for repairs.

So I am now thinking a smarter approach overall is to just use laptops as portable, dumb, access points in my house, communicating back to the bigger PC with a wireless router, while keeping my applications, music, videos etc living on a much bigger and more robust server.

Can I then dial into the server and play music from the laptop or output music through the laptops USB?

Thanks - this gets complicated quickly.
cwlondon
I have also decided on PC Audio and I believe the little and inexpensive SqueezeBox2 is the way to go, either wired or wireless. A fully modded one (by Bolder or Red Wine Audio, for example) can also save you some dough from the DAC on that future thread.
Can't help you with #1. For #2, I don't know if it's the best, but I use an M-Audio 24/96 sound card, and I use the coaxial output. It's raw, bit-for-bit, output, and works great. There are several other options for this as well.

I don't use iTunes, so apologies if you're not interested in input on other server software. I use J River Media Center. It is by far the best I have found for how I use a music server for a big music collection - it is fast, it allows nearly infinite flexibility in setting up navigation modes, it is intuitive, and it has a cool Theater Display Mode for seeing things from a distance.

What it doesn't have, that I desperately want, is a way to control the server from a remote PC (laptop). It has a VERY cheesy browser-based control system, but despite a great UI on the main PC, the only way I have found to control it remotely is through VNC, which is a bit clumsy and causes performance problems.

I'm just looking to control it from another PC, not get it to play to another zone (it does this too, but I have not really tried it). That is a much more difficult problem, and quickly shows up performance issues with any of the pieces of the system. I haven't been too keen to try some of the distribution systems I have read about based on 1) not sure that they'll handle uncompressed transmission, and 2) I want the full-blown UI even remotely.

It does get complicated very quickly :-(