Apple TV as a music server???

rajupatel -- Sat, 09/06/2008 - 08:27

:) I have about 800 CD's and about 150 SACD's. my set up is EMM DCC2SE, EMM CDSD SE, GamuT amps and custom built speakers. I listen to music primarily. Video is not important. Storing and handling CD/SACD is a pain. I have all my music on my MacBook Pro in ALC format. I want to load all of this on the AppleTV, add a 1TB Time Capsule to Apple TV (for additional storage) and use the Apple TV as a music server thru it's optical out to feed the EMM DCC2SE. SACD will be played thru the EMM CDSD SE. Will this set up work right? has anybody tried something similar? Any better alternative (in Apple products) to achieve a superior sound and ease of operation? Thanks in advance.
:) Bhupesh

Steven Stone -- Sun, 09/07/2008 - 11:38

How much disc space do your 800 CDs take up on your hard drive?

The apple TV is limited by its internal hard drive and will not support an external hard drive for additional storage.

You can get an after-market larger capacity drive installed by a third party but 250 GB is the largest currently available.

THe apple TV will support your Apple lossless files, but it will not support SACD's. As far as I know, no music server will support SACDs in their native format. Sorry.

Apple is planning to announce some new product or products this coming week and I suspect that Apple TV may get some new features and or a new model.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

rajupatel -- Mon, 09/08/2008 - 01:26

Thanks a lot Steven.

All the cd's occupy about 85Gb.

after market third party drives are available for capacities upto 1TB.

is there a limitation of Apple TV to support HDD's upto 250GB only?

For SACD's palyback I WILL use the EMM CDSD only.

Guess i will wait till the annual Apple conference in the coming week and see what is possible. I WIll take a call thereafter. Thanks a lot.

Steven Stone -- Mon, 09/08/2008 - 10:04

With your current library size a stock Apple TV 160 will work with some room for expansion.

Although there are large HDs available for very little money, the site that upgrades Apple TV drives only has 250 as its largest install. I suspect they will do larger soon however. Here's the link:

http://www.weaknees.com/appletv/apple-tv-upgrade.php

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications