2. Networked Music

I had previously ripped my CD collection to MP3 files, but this was only a partial solution. I could search, organize, create play lists and so on, but I could only play back my music on my computer or on my iPod. I lived with this situation for quite a while, but at least for music, my surround sound stereo system in the family room sat unused. What I wanted was a way to play my ripped MP3 library on that stereo.

To complete this circuit, I used a few well-placed hints to receive an Apple Airport Express for my birthday. Among other things, the Airport Express is designed to allow users to stream music from iTunes across the network to a stereo. The Airport Express can work wirelessly, but I was lucky to have a network drop near my entertainment center. During a home remodel several years before, I'd exhibited a bit of foresight by not only pulling audio and video cables to my entertainment center, but CAT5 Ethernet cables as well.

Apple Airport Express

Hint : I learned the hard way that not all audio cable is rated for in-wall installation. While we had the walls open during our remodel, I had run expensive, heavy-duty speaker wire everywhere I thought I might need it. But after our visit from the building inspector, all my audio cables had to come out, because they weren't properly rated . I had to re-purchase and re-install it all. If you're going to run cables through your walls, make sure you use cables rated for that purpose!

Since I had a CAT5 jack available, installation was just a matter of plugging the Airport Express into the jack, and plugging the audio output cable into my stereo. The device acquired an IP address automatically from my Linksys WRT54g and announced itself on the network. iTunes found the device right off the bat, and I was in business - all output of iTunes could be sent straight to my stereo. By the way, the stereo I'm using is a Sony Digital Audio/Video Control center. I choose it a few years back for its surround sound support, and because it had more video inputs than the model I was using previously.

Airport Express connected to my stereo

Once I had this setup in place, my next evolutionary step was to move my music library to a central server, so that any of the machines in my house could access it. Doing this required installing mt-daapd, an iTunes server on my NSLU2. I wrote an article about this process here.

iTunes playing from my NSLU2 server

When this was up and running, I felt as if I were getting nearer to my goal of having a multimedia-enabled entertainment center. I could put together a high-capacity music server out of the way in my basement, load all of my music on it, and access it from anywhere in the house.