Advice for novice

[zeevette]

I have a 2.1 home system for just music listening. I would like to have a device that plays all my digital files randomly. I've collected over 5k CDs, and over years have converted them to digital files. These music files are in various formats, and some are individual and some are in folders within other folders; i:e: 12 Krokus albums inside a Krocus folder. Is there a device that I can connect to my receiver that is controllable remotely so I can que up a certain song or album and go back to random play that reads files in or out of folders? I've considered a DAP, but wonder if there's a better way than bluetooth. I suppose fidelity isn't a huge consideration because most of my music is melodic hard rock, but, you know...

 

[nicoff]

I have a 2.1 home system for just music listening. I would like to have a device that plays all my digital files randomly. I've collected over 5k CDs, and over years have converted them to digital files. These music files are in various formats, and some are individual and some are in folders within other folders; i:e: 12 Krokus albums inside a Krocus folder. Is there a device that I can connect to my receiver that is controllable remotely so I can que up a certain song or album and go back to random play that reads files in or out of folders? I've considered a DAP, but wonder if there's a better way than bluetooth. I suppose fidelity isn't a huge consideration because most of my music is melodic hard rock, but, you know...

I used to own the Sony HAP-Z1ES Hi-Res Music Player. It will do what you want. You copy your digital music to the hard drive in the unit and listen to it as you described. It can also stream from Spotify and internet radio as well.

 

[sleepysurf]

A Wiim Ultra combined with Lyrion (formerly Squeezebox) Music Server is a good option. That's exactly what I use as my primary music source. I have LMS running on my office laptop, with ripped and downloaded files (mainly FLAC, some DSD) on my NAS. Eversolo also has that capability, and if so inclined, building a Raspberry Pi server would also work.

The Wiim Ultra includes Squeezelite (a Squeezebox emulator) so I control it using LMS, via my smartphone, tablet, or computer. LMS has many more features than the built in Wiim Home app.

Using the Don't Stop the Music "plug in" for LMS automatically keeps your player going by adding random tracks or albums from your library when your active playback queue runs out. I love the random playback feature, as it often surprises me playing tracks I've long forgotten about.

You can find lots of support/threads for using LMS here... https://forums.lyrion.org/ and specifically for Wiim here... https://forum.wiimhome.com/

 

[zeevette]

Wow, a couple of options I've never heard about. I know it's kind of a specific ask, but with so much music, and so little time, it's nice to hear an old beloved song that I've almost forgotten. Thanks to both!