September 13 - Music servers abound at CEDIA, and there are enough different styles and configurations to overwhelm even a seasoned convergence editor.

That said, Harman Kardon’s newest offering, the DMC 1000, stood apart from the pack with its sharp looks, ease of use, and extensive features. The DMC 1000 has an internal 250GB hard drive (about 60,000 tracks) that can simultaneously send four independent audio streams to rooms around the house.

The interface was designed by HK, and it looks very easy to navigate and manage large music collections. When you pop in a CD, the server rips it into the internal drive along with artist/album information and art, and if you connect an external hard drive (via USB) with more music files, the server will seamlessly catalog those as well.

Content from the drive can be copied to a memory card, an external drive, or burned to a CD. If you want to bring your iPod into the mix, you need to buy Harman’s The Bridge docking station ($69.99).

Audio outputs include digital coax and optical, and analog. A backlit remote control lets you control playback, and from remote rooms you can even use keypads from companies like Crestron, AMX, and others.

Using software provided with the server, you can also create your own Wi-Fi remote using any portable device that supports the Windows CE platform—a Palm Pilot, UMPC, or whatever floats your boat.

Although it doesn’t support video streaming, there is a DVD drive that upconverts video to 1080p and has HDMI, component, S-video, and composite video outputs. The server will be available in late October for $3,500.

More from CEDIA 2007.

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