Slimp3 - Helps You Chuck Out More Than The Chintz (SliMP3)

Member Name: Nibelung

Product:	SliMP3
Date:	23/06/03 (297 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very neat installation, Unlimited repertoire

Disadvantages: Wireless option is still very DIY

MP3 files have revolutionised the world of distributed music. Not only do the digital .mp3 files take up a lot less room than the CD-Audio format, which of course means that storage is less of a problem, but the file size also lends itself to transmission over the Internet, whether legitimately from music download sites, or from 'peer-to-peer' sites where the sharers of music become the law-breakers, whilst Kazaa and WinMX.com just wring their hands and ask what can they do about it.

Another source of personal mp3 music is the process of creating files from sound CDs, known as 'ripping'. This is, not in itself illegal, since you are entitled within the spirit of the law, at least, to back-up your collection in the same way that back-up floppy disks or CD-ROMs of valuable software are permissible. What you can't do, is copy something and then sell either the copy or the original

A while back, after retiring early, I started the lengthy process of ripping all my audio CDs to CD-ROM (Why? God knows, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!) This has resulted in whole swathes of my record collection being condensed down to mere single disks. For example, all my Beatles CDs fit on one CD-ROM, admittedly not at full CD-quality, but there or thereabouts.

Incidentally, you can opt for different playback qualities during the ripping process. My early attempts were done at a rate of 90 kbps (kilobits per second) which is OK-ish for loading into a pocket MP3 player and going off for a jog, but doesn't really stand up to close aural scrutiny. My later efforts at 192 kbps are to my ear at least, CD quality. Even these larger files (say 3 megabytes per track) are still 10 times smaller than their CD-Audio equivalent, so you can see that the potential for storing on say a 40-gigabyte hard drive is immense (makes mental note - 3 megabytes goes into 40 gigabytes, err, umm, 1.3K times, so this would give scope for the storage of

1300 tracks).

There's just one problem with storing your record collection on your PC - it isn't your hi-fi system. Despite the best efforts of Creative Soundblaster and the like, sound cards are NOT hi-fi amps, and since when did hi-fi systems emit fan and motor noise?

Now then, if someone were to come up with a scheme for STORING your music on your PC (let's be grand and call it a 'music server' from here on in), whilst at the same time allowing you to play it back in the lounge, devoid of PC noise, and let's say that they chuck in a means of navigating your file structure remotely, that would be a damned fine idea wouldn't it?

Well, that's exactly what the Slimp3 does. It's the juke-box you never had, working rather like those pub juke boxes that have remote selectors and a centralised music store.

SO WHAT DO YOU GET?

The initial kit from Slimp3 gives you the display, which is a neat smoked acrylic-fronted box with two lines of illuminated text used for navigating the filing system and keeping you informed of what's playing, a remote control to...errrr....control it remotely, a LAN patch cord (significant), two phono leads (also significant) and the mains unit.

CONNECTING IT

The display unit has rear panel connectors for as neat an installation as possible. The height of the display means that it could sit on the top of your hi-fi stack without much trouble, but in view of its tilt and the fact that the box is not very deep at all, it couldn't sit with anything stacked on it. The phono leads connect to a suitable set of spare inputs on your hi-fi amplifier. Bear in mind that if you've ripped all your CD collection, you may find it in your heart to connect it where the CD player USED to be! In theory I could have done this, but there's one CD, which has been nobbled by the record company not to play in a PC, so I can't 'rip' it. It&#
39;s
a pity that Slimp3 doesn't come with a digital output, like DVD players and some CD players do. It just seems a little odd to be at the forefront of digital music and the have the last link in the chain switch back to analogue (OK, I know the speakers and my ears are too!).

Apart from the low voltage cable from the mains unit, the only other connection needed is a network connection from your 'server' PC. If you haven't got a network yet, possibly because you have one PC, then this is where Slimp3 is going to cost you some more money on top of its original £210 price label.

At the very least, you will need a LAN card (10/100 Network Interface Card) in your PC. At a pinch, you COULD then run network cable all the way to your Slimp3, either as one long cable, or through 'proper' network wiring with wall sockets at both ends. KERCHING! Up goes the price - a card will cost around £10 at least, and the wiring will depend on distance and how neat you want to be. Just remember that for a direct connection like this, a 'crossover' cable is needed, NOT the LAN patch cord supplied by Slimp3. To be fair to their website, www.slimp3.co.uk , they warn you of this.

For users already running a LAN (maybe you've got a DSL router/switch to enable more than one PC to use your broadband connection), connection is more straightforward - just run some more wiring to the site of the Slimp3 and connect to a spare port on the router. Like some network printers, which run without a PC, Slimp3 occupies a network IP address, usually generated automatically by the system.

WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF IT WERE WIRELESS?

It CERTAINLY would, and it can be made to be, but not directly by Slimp3, although they will sell you the bits to do it. If your LAN already operates using a Wireless Access Point (WAP), to allow for the cordless connection of PCs, then you're in business. You can't just add on anothe
r wireless
adapter as you would for an extra PC, because the Slimp3 quite simply isn't a PC, not being capable of being loaded with installation software. However, you can add a 'bridge' adapter. Slimp3 suggest the D-Link DWL-810 offering, priced by them at £98.70, but available from www.dabs.com for less than £70. This kind of adapter works with less intelligent items like stand-alone printers etc

To my mind, this really makes Slimp3 come of age, after all it isn't everyone's idea of cosmetic excellence to have the lounge wired as a LAN, although the bridge adapter does bring with it its own power needs, so there goes another mains socket! This combination also requires a crossover cable instead of the patch cable supplied. You begin to wonder if that supplied patch cable will ever get used, apart perhaps from initial testing next to the PC!

USING IT

To a certain extent, what you get out of it depends on what you put into it, both in terms of bit-rate quality and ease of navigation. It can't make 90 kbps files sound any better, and the lack of background noise through being well away from the PC may make the lack of quality even more evident. The majority of my files are now 192 kbps and these sound fine although classical fans might not think so. The number of files really depends on how much disk space you are willing to donate to this project.

Personally, I've dedicated an entire 40 gigabyte D:Drive to it ('RAID-mirrored' for extra security). I'm halfway through the alphabet so far, and less than halfway through my disk space - promising. Since Slimp3 has only two lines of display text to play with, its stands to reason that it can only really navigate 'up/down and sideways'. It therefore behoves the user to make their directory structure as user-friendly as possible. I've adopted the 'Alphabet, Artist, Album, Track' format for my folders. For example, 'Pave
ment Cracks' will be found in L>Annie Lennox>Bare>Pavement Cracks. Once you've 'drilled down' this far, you can of course play whole albums.

It wouldn't hurt to have a paper listing of the directory structure in your lounge, after all, what else are you going to do with all that shelf space now the CDs are in the loft? Do NOT put them in a car-boot or garage sale - that is immediately illegal. Think of them as installation disks.

One neat little idea I've come up with is what to do with all that music when you want a party compilation, preferably hands-free allowing you to get squiffy and seduce someone, or as the evening drags on, some-THING, possibly a door knob.

You simply create a folder in C> called Compilation, and copy the required files to there! Use the 'copy' function though rather than 'cut', otherwise you'll have to find a home for them all over again in the morning, probably with a hangover and divorce proceedings in the offing. Hmmm, Slimp3 would make dividing all the albums an interesting concept that divorce lawyers need to give attention to!

Of course, included in Slimp3's PC software comes a web-based browser designed to help cope with your ever-bourgeoning music collection so it may be best to stick with this, since it can assess the locations of all your mp3 files, and note them down for future reference. I guess this also would make any printouts a lot easier to handle. You can even use this to divert 'web radio' to your lounge.

OTHER NIFTY BITS

You run a separate Slimp3 in several rooms - they can either be 'sync'd-up' to play the same music, saving you running speaker wires to each room, or, and here's the neat bit, they can be accessing totally different files - just keep the doors closed or you'll go mad!

CONCLUSION

Slimp3 is a brilliant concept that heralds more integration of home computing a
nd entertai
nment. Whether you'd want to jump in this early is another matter. It could really do with an alternative version with the wireless option built in, although the cable to the wireless bridge can be as long as you like, so the opportunities to hide it are good. Fancy not providing an optical or co-axial digital output - a lost opportunity there, guys! Personally, I'm a sucker for a gadget, so value for money and other considerations just don't matter when the 'red mist' comes down over my credit card.

IF you don't mind shelling out AT LEAST £210*, and IF you already have a wireless LAN, and IF you can donate some serious disk space to the project, and IF you've a large music collection threatening to take over the lounge, then Slimp3 could be for you - but they're big 'IFS'

*Yet another example of $US strangely translating into the same number of UK £'s - of course, our price already includes a standardised VAT, whereas US prices tend to be quoted net of tax, since many states differ. Even so, some creative accounting has obviously taken place at the exchange rate desk!

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