VortexBox 1TB Automatic CD ripping NAS Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this gadget after a considerable amount of frustration with a Netgear ReadyNAs I had expected to use as a server for my Logitech Squeezebox Duet. The ReadyNAS supposedly performs this function but with a large collection of files it is simply too slow to keep up with indexing and searching etc. Plus ripping my 2,000+ CDs was a real chore. I read about this product and jumped on it.
Well, within a week of getting my Vortexbox appliance, all my CDs are in my mini storage, my Levinson 31.5 transport sold on eBay, and my entire CD collection is now available to me throughout my home without the slightest issues, disappointments or problems.
I initially corresponded with the manufacturer a few times with questions about configuring this device to suit my particular needs I got immediate, understanding an useful help. I cannot speak more highly of the builder. In fact, I sent a modest voluntary donation to them as I felt the help I got was above-and-beyond. Since I became familiar with this gadget, I have had zero issues, it has been up and running for over sixty days without a reboot, issue, glitch etc. You just pop a CD in the slot and it will rip it to flac and/or any almost any other format you care to have.
Useful tip: if you are ripping a large collection disable the creation of MP3 copies (the system rips to both flac and mp3 by default). This will speed up the tedious job of ripping enormously and you can go back later on and create MP3 versions of any or all of your stuff as a background task when you're done transcribing your collection. Info on how this is done is on the manufacturer's simple but very useful web site.
Anyway, this is a great product from nice people and if anything happened to it I'd buy another in a flash.

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Escient FireBall SE-80 Digital Music Manager Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought a new house and first became aware of the SE-80 when the Home Theater installer recommended it. I was initally skeptical and not too willing to pay close to $1,000 for what I considered an iPod on steroids. Ultimately, I relented and went with the installer's advice and included it in the system. I am really glad that I did because the SE-80 does everything I hoped for and more. In my installation the unit is hooked up to the home network, Sony XBR LCD and stereo system. I have numerous albums loaded on the 80 GB hard drive and was able to do it wirelessly from the iTunes application on my laptop. You just network into the SE-80, open the folder for adding music and drag and drop the mp3 albums out of iTunes into the folder. You can then call up the albums on the TV and select the ones you want and you're good to go. Another feature I really like is the Internet Radio which brings in numerous stations from across the net including several choices of NPR which is difficult to receive OTA where I live. All in all I really like the unit, the documentation is great, it is simple to use - only wish it was a bit less expensive. Having said all of that, I would buy it again.

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The FireBall SE-80 is the perfect solution for entry-level single room and IR-based multi-room distributed music installations.It features an 80-gigabyte hard drive that provides storage for large music collections.Instant Music Access instantly finds and plays any genre, artist, title, or song in your music collection.The built-in CD player will play any standard CD and retrieve the cover art, artist, title and song list on-screen.Automatic CD Identification automatically accesses the Gracenote online CD database for the best possible CD data matching in the world.Multi-Zone Support lets you connect one FireBall to another FireBall to share the music, double the storage capacity, create a second music zone, or add FireBall MP-150 players for music in every room.

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