D-Link Wireless Media Player

[cannondale]

Does anyone on here have an opinion about this media player? I mainly would like it for my music, I was thinking about building a computer just to store the music on. Would a server be a good idea in this situation? It will also work with video, is it possible to load dvd's onto a hard drive? Thanks for any help, hopefully someone can talk me out of buying this thing. :)

[ofcdn]

I am a Netgear fan, Especially if you are going wireless. You really don't need a seperate computer or server. Buy (cheaper to build) a network external drive. You can find the cases new for about $60 - $100. They are slightly higher than the standard firewire or usb external hard drives because they have a network card on them. Just install a large hard drive in the case (I recommend preformatting the drive...it's easier). Then plug into to your network (you can add wireless to it) but most wireless routers have a four port switch in the back to add other network devices. Install the software on each computer you want to have access to it and you are done. If you want something more simple, just buy an external NETWORK hard drive and plug it into your router/switch and share the hard drive (which comes preformatted). This way all your computers will have access to the files. If you go the simple route and buy the external network hard drive, you are looking at $200 - 300 for a large one. No need for software, operating system, extra hardware, and it will sit next to the router out of the way. I back 4 computers up to one external network drive and store large files.

[cannondale]

Thanks OFCDN for the advice, I have D-link wireless network but that's not the only reason why I am looking at this media player, I've had good luck with D-link. If I use a network drive I won't have to worry about the computer crashing and making my music inaccessible right? Sounds like an excellent idea to me.

[ofcdn]

it is just like an external harddrive you use with a USB, however you can access it with other computers. You can use a USB external hard drive, but you would have to share the drive and all the data would go through to computer that it is plugged into and only when that computer is on. It would also slow that computer down. Network (also know as ethernet) external hard drives are inexpensive and an excellent alternative to servers. My 250 GB external network hard drive is not much bigger then an internal hard drive. I built my own. I bought the case on sale at outpost.com (Ximeta brand) for around $45. I then purchased a 250 GB IDE drive with 16 Mb cach (fast) $150 on sale. If you haven't built/upgrade computer components and don't want to mess with the added software, buy one already built. I put them in a lot of small businesses with several computers but without a need for a server or full-time network administrator. Usually the use them for shared folders and to back up their computers.

[andy sportsnut]

Good question. I have a D-Link wireless access too but I wasn't sure about the media player. Thanks for the honest feedback.

[Redair]

I was thinking about building a computer just to store the music on. Would a server be a good idea in this situation?

I just thought I would add that I agree with most of ofcdn's posts. Really good advice. The only things I have against network hard drives (and I think the pro's take over the conns) are:-
1) They are small and therefore easy to pinch.
This is only valid if you dont have locks (student accom?) or use them on a work location, but it is worth mentioning. Of course their advantage is they are small and easy enough to take to a second location too....

2) They dont prevent hard-drive failure. The main time you are likely to loose data is with a hard drive failure. So as backups they are great, but care should always be made to back up in appropriate ways. IE the cost/inconvience of loosing data should reflect the number of times and ways you back up that data.

Basically I use a second machine as my first backup point, and then DVD's as my second. I use both DVD roms and DVD rams (which are excellent and like a 4.7G hard disk in that they are totally re-usable) to make backups.

But your question wasnt about backing up - it was about music playing. I apologise for going off on a tangent, but I would not know what to do if i lost my music collection.... hence talking about backing up...

I am sure you can *somehow* transfer your DVD to hard drive. You may need to use a program like alcohol120 (spelt right?) which copies cd's / DVD's in their entirity to your hard drive. So it can be done, it is just how you do it ....

[ofcdn]

if you are using a DVD to back up your data...you use it just like a CD or floppy. You can drag and drop. It works the same way putting the data back on. I do both. I back my data up to my network hard drive weekly and quarterly backup my stuff to a dvd or cd. You really only have to lose everything one time to realize how important an extra hard drive for backup is. :D