Calling music techies....
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Let me set the stage: I have a 5.1 HD video/audio receiver and speakers that are all I need, Klipsch by brand, including a powered sub-woofer. The receiver is about 3 years old.
I also own an older Yamaha 5-CD 'turntable style' music player that has basically pooped the bed, at least mechanically in the opening and closing of the tray.
Separately, I just bought a new GMC Pickup that has a USB connector on the dash that allows me to plug in a flash drive and cycle through the folders to pick music to play, with the folders and titles shown on the radio dial. Very cool; I bought a 16GB flash drive no bigger than your finger-nail, and have digitized about 30 CD's on it, and have barely used 25% of the capacity. My wife has a 2004 GMC vehicle and was quite jealous. I found a Satechi device for $40 on Amazon that does essentially the same thing, transmitting on an FM frequency, with a remote control. I can plug a 16GB flash drive into it in the same way. Her car is new enough to show at least some of the info on the radio dial.
So here I am wanting to digitize, in original quality, probably 200 or so music CD's for playing via the big home sound system. Ideally, what I would like is a unit to replace the Yamaha CD player that has a solid state hard drive capable of holding hundreds or more full fidelity CD images, and that plugs into the receiver in place of the old CD player. It would be nice if it could do the digitizing itself, but I can do that by other means. It should have a remote control, and a display screen that allows you to program a few hours of music with various modes...shuffle, repeat, etc.
I have no doubt that something like this has existed for years, but I'd like the advice of others who have broached the subject to help me narrow the search.
I'm not initially interested in iTunes and cloud players, etc. I'd like to be able to do my own thing without the need for wifi connections, etc.
Given that I got the Satechi device for so little, I have the feeling there is a $200 unit out there that is beyond my wildest imagination.
What say you, AMG'ers?
Mel: If you have a network-ready TV or BlueRay player, you can check to see if it is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compatible.
DNLA Compatible Product Search
If it is, you can download free software on your PC that will allow you to stream audio and video directly to your entertainment system. I use free software called Plex, which acts as a streaming server to my TVs. Set up is so simple that I didn't even need my middle-schooler to help.
I can think of three possible solutions that might meet your requirements. One would be to use a spare pc that runs Windows 7, Vista, or XP Media Center 2005. Windows Media Center which is included in each of those operating systems allows the addition of a remote control and the addition of a vga to tv converter allows the desktop to be displayed on your tv. The drawbacks would be cost and space taken up by the pc.
The second would be something called an HTPC. It's a low powered pc in a case that is similar in size to your cd player. Cost is the negative factor as these things sell for $500 and up.
Third, and probably closest to what you are looking for would be a device called a media center or media player. These devices have an internal hard drive or provisions to install a hard drive, a usb port, and outputs to your tv or stereo. Their capabilities exceed your stated desire for audio playing. They would sit in the space your cd player occupies. Price is sub-$200. Search Amazon for "media player" to see the offerings.
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How about an older mac mini and hook it up to your TV (so you basically have a computer hooked up to your TV screen, but the computer is devoted to music). You could then hook up various external hard drives to the mac mini as needed, as your music collection grows.
On that note, I do use iTunes and play it on my receiver via my home network and it is great. You can control it from whatever room your computer is in, or use an iPod touch as a remote (I *think* you could just use an Apple Remote as well, but I haven't done that). And you can make all sorts of playlists on your computer without having to THEN make them on your "music machine". I highly recommend this.