OFF: Music player advice, Return of...

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 29 Jul 2013, at 14:12 , Keith Henderson <khenders64 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> 
> iTouches as an option.  The iTouch itself has the negatives of being rather small (4" display), and an Apple product (iTunes) (although I guess XBMC could potentially operate it??), and is rather expensive ($400) for the necessary memory (64GB).  That said, it offers that much internal storage, unlike most tablets with flash-only memory.

I fear I-m fairly ignorant about the Samsung devices, but what the heck is an "iTouch"? Do you mean an Apple "iPod Touch"? Or are they marketing that as an "iTouch" now?  

If that _is_ what you are talking about, isn't that device basically an iPhone without the phone?  IMO, a phone-sized screen is handy for the pocket, but a bit small for something you plan to use as a control surface and that never leaves the house. Equally, surely it can't hold more than about 64GB, which would be a bit low for a lossless music collection of any size (though if you're compressing, then there's room for a good number of songs, I suspect). Course, if this is just for your mom's 52GB collection, then no problem.

Anyway, I had sort of had it in my head that you were looking to _store_ audio files on some relatively hefty storage device (basically a big HD) and then get some kind of system that would allow you to play them, probably with some kind of separate touch-screen device as a UI.  Seems like are actually looking for an all-in-one storage + play-back thing ... though that essentially streams over wifi from the device to external receiver/speakers?

Honestly, if you are just focused on letting your mom playback a 52GB collection, buy her an G4GB iPod touch (while they still make them!) and whatever random compatible speaker-dock the shop likewise has.  Then she can listen on headphones or through the dock's speakers, and that may well be sufficient for her. (It's sufficient for me, most of the time! :) )  Just keep a backup of her music in case she loses the iPod, or its gets corrupted for some reason, or whatever.

On the other hand, if you are looking for playing back a larger collection based on lossless files in the house .... well, that's probably a different story that wants a different conclusion!

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
http://www.carlaz.com/