Yamaha MusicCast 1000 Digital Music Server & Client Review

Yamaha MusicCAST Introduction

Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) and set top DVD+/-R drives have long indicated a consumer response to digital set top recording devices, and Yamaha has done a good job of finding a simple to use solution to eliminating large, cumbersome CD collections. While some people are familiar with the tools necessary to create an MP3 server from scratch, it is not an easy task. The following items must be accomplished in order to have a truly useful solution:

• Ample storage space for your entire CD collection
• High MP3 bit rate playback for accurate sound reproduction
• Uncompressed PCM playback (optional, but desirable for optimal playback fidelity)
• Easy digitization/encoding of source CDs
• Artist/track/album labelling for easy search and retrieval of music in the database
• PCM digital output to receiver or processor pre-amp

In addition to this, the following is needed for setting up a client device to receive streamed audio content from the server, and (barring laptops) to my knowledge has only been partially achieved by Linksys, CD3O, Creative, and BridgeCo:

• Broadcast method to client device via 802.11a/b/g
• Client device (computer or other hardware device) to receive streaming content
• Remote browsable content of server media content