MS300 Is On The Way

[Victor]

I pulled the trigger and have a MS300 on the way. I can't wait to play with my new toy. :yes:

I'm open to any advice from MS300 users. This will be my first adventure with a music server or internet radio on my main system, so I'm looking for tips to help shorten the learning curve.

I have downloaded and read the MS300 owners manual and advanced users guide, so I have a head start there.

I am planning on using a LAN cable to hardwire the MS300 for the ethernet connection for the internet, so this should work with no problems.

I'm not expecting any problems but like I said, I'm open to any advice from MS300 users.

Victor

 

[JSCC]

I pulled the trigger and have a MS300 on the way. I can't wait to play with my new toy. :yes:

I'm open to any advice from MS300 users. This will be my first adventure with a music server or internet radio on my main system

Hi Vic,

Congrads on your new toy. Cant help but notice the word "radio". Does that mean one can receive standard FM stations' signals via the MS300 or do we still need a regular McIntosh tuner to do so?

I have been harping about Mac to release a digital tuner, ... but if the MS300 can do the job, then I will go get one too.

Your advise please, ....

Cheers!

 

[Victor]

Congrads on your new toy. Cant help but notice the word "radio". Does that mean one can receive standard FM stations' signals via the MS300 or do we still need a regular McIntosh tuner to do so?

Thanks Jerry,

The MS300 can NOT receive standard FM radio. It can receive internet radio stations though, as long as they are WMA format. I'm not sure how good this will sound with the MS300 because the highest resolution stations I see are 128kbs. I"m hoping it will be at least good enough for background music. There are MANY internet radio stations so the variety should be fun.

Victor

 

[PHC1]

Congrats on your new toy Vic! Once you get your CDs in it, you'll probably use it more often than anything else. I've always liked the visual interface and the ease with which you can find your favorite piece of music to listen to within seconds with the MS300. The streaming audio at 128kbps is just fine for background listening by the way. I'll probably get one myself, either the MS300 or the newer model, I haven't decided yet. Enjoy!:thmbsp:

 

[CarlV]

Congratulations on scoring yourself a MS300 Victor!
One of these days it will be my turn.


Carl

 

[jrsystems]

It's a wonderful device, and my primary source. My only real gripe is the 850 cd limit. The interface is terrific, it has worked nearly flawlessly, and the sound is terrific. You'll love it.

 

[JSCC]

Thanks Jerry,

The MS300 can NOT receive standard FM radio. It can receive internet radio stations though, as long as they are WMA format. I'm not sure how good this will sound with the MS300 because the highest resolution stations I see are 128kbs. I"m hoping it will be at least good enough for background music. There are MANY internet radio stations so the variety should be fun.

Victor

Oh .... like that:drool:

Thanks for the info. However, 128kbs is NOT good enough for hifi but background music. In fact, I rip music into my Mac (and iPod) using Apple's "lossless" format. Indeed it takes up a lot more (actually much much more)of disc space, BUT the sound is incredible, just like CD.

Just that I am lazy to connect a Apple Express to stream the music into the MDA1000 (and it just dont match too), if not, man, ..... it will sound great a server ... thats what my colleague told me to do (diff is he has a PRE AMP - I dont)!

Oh, apologise for any straight comments (about background music etc, ...).:yes:

Anyway, enjoy your new toy! I will wait for the new Mac Digital Tuner then.

Cheers!:thmbsp:

 

[Negotiableterms]

I am planning on using a LAN cable to hardwire the MS300 for the ethernet connection for the internet, so this should work with no problems.

You'll be surprised how much traffic there is between the MS-300 and the internet. I found that using a switch instead of an ethernet hub was a bit of a help, in that it helps with bandwidth on my home network (100 baseT). I use a cheap Netgear unit and it works fine.

At the office, we have a Gigabit network and a switch, so I'm ready when my new one arrives.

 

[jrsystems]

Oh .... like that:drool:

Thanks for the info. However, 128kbs is NOT good enough for hifi but background music. In fact, I rip music into my Mac (and iPod) using Apple's "lossless" format. Indeed it takes up a lot more (actually much much more)of disc space, BUT the sound is incredible, just like CD.

Just that I am lazy to connect a Apple Express to stream the music into the MDA1000 (and it just dont match too), if not, man, ..... it will sound great a server ... thats what my colleague told me to do (diff is he has a PRE AMP - I dont)!

Oh, apologise for any straight comments (about background music etc, ...).:yes:

Anyway, enjoy your new toy! I will wait for the new Mac Digital Tuner then.

Cheers!:thmbsp:

Hard drive space is cheap! I have my entire collection backed up in WMA Lossless, FLAC, and MP3 320kb. I have a Sony Media Center PC with a 200 disc changer, it is a ripping godsend! However it only rips to WMA and MP3. So I rip to WMA lossless and then convert to the other formats. I use FLAC for the MS300 and for my Sonos system and the MP3 320kb for my iPod. This arrangement works perfectly and allows for adequate back-up.

I listen to streams from the Rhapsody service on my Sonos. Perfect for background and sampling, not for serious listening.

 

[EXTREME5]

Victor,

Congratulations!!

A music server is a great device.
A Macintosh MS300 is Mac-Wonderful!!!!!!

 

[masterlu]

How's your Music doing Miles?

 

[mike175gr]

I just got a MS300 within the last month or so and I really like it alot!

The most challenging thing is loading up your music and validating the cover art.

When you go through the option list to set it up make certain that you have it record automatically when you load the cd. It takes about 4 minutes or so for each disk. Most CDs down seem to down load the cover art correctly, but some Jazz and a lot of Classical doesn't.

I have it going digitally out to my MX-119 and I love it. I have a really good CD player, but I don't use it any longer except for serious listening sessions.

Congrats!

 

[Victor]

It's a wonderful device, and my primary source. My only real gripe is the 850 cd limit. The interface is terrific, it has worked nearly flawlessly, and the sound is terrific. You'll love it.

Yes a bigger hard drive would be better. I'm planning on only putting the best songs on the MS300, not always the entire CD. This way I'll have easy access to my greatest hits and if I want to hear the entire CD I'll pull it off the shelf for a listen. I'm thinking the MS300 will hold over 10,000 songs in FLAK format, that is a lot of music! :yes:

If you only put one song from a CD on the MS300, will it still pull up the cover art and info?

Victor

 

[masterlu]

Yes a bigger hard drive would be better. I'm planning on only putting the best songs on the MS300, not always the entire CD. This way I'll have easy access to my greatest hits and if I want to hear the entire CD I'll pull it off the shelf for a listen. I'm thinking the MS300 will hold over 10,000 songs in FLAK format, that is a lot of music! :yes:

If you only put one song from a CD on the MS300, will it still pull up the cover art and info?

Victor

Yes!

 

[Victor]

You'll be surprised how much traffic there is between the MS-300 and the internet. I found that using a switch instead of an ethernet hub was a bit of a help, in that it helps with bandwidth on my home network (100 baseT). I use a cheap Netgear unit and it works fine.

At the office, we have a Gigabit network and a switch, so I'm ready when my new one arrives.

Thanks for the tip.

I have wireless internet using a "2Wire 2700HG-B Gateway" which has 4 ethernet inputs on it. I am planning on using that for the MS300 connection, I hope it will work with no problems. If I have problems with this setup it is good to know there are other options.

Victor

 

[masterlu]

You should be fine with that.

 

[Victor]

You should be fine with that.

That's what I'm hoping.

Also if I have a problem with speed I could up my internet speed. Right now I have the slowest AT&T DSL speed of 768Kbps which I can up to 1.5,3.0 or 6.0Mbps if I need more speed for the MS300 internet radio.

Victor

 

[Audioi]

Hi Guy's
Just thought I would add my 2 cents. The radio is whatever bandwidth the station is broadcasting. I was listening to 160 the other day but its difficult to hear the difference between that and 128.
I currently have 661 discs on my MS300 with 2/3rds of the drive used and this took me a month of evenings & weekends so those of you planning on a bigger unit might want to take a 2 month vacation to plug in a new disc every 3 minutes.

Oh BTW I LOVE mine. Never knew I had so many new interesting songs.

 

[markc2]

curious, if it has an ethernet connection why not hook it up to a computer and take advantage of it's hard drive(s). Is that possible? Now if Macintosh would make something like Mc Tunes for this.

Mark

 

[Victor]

curious, if it has an ethernet connection why not hook it up to a computer and take advantage of it's hard drive(s). Is that possible? Now if Macintosh would make something like Mc Tunes for this.

Mark

I don't have my MS300 yet but after reading the manuals on the MS300 and the info from this forum this is my understanding of the MS300:

You can hook the MS300 to a computer to load music from the computer to the MS300. This music would now be on the MS300 hard drive.

The Escient music servers have a program called "Fireball PC" that allows the Escient players to use the hard drive on a PC as a slave drive. I think someone here tried this program on a MS300 and it did not work.

Victor