Geoff@work wrote:

"Bill" wrote in message
ups.com...
I could use some advice.

I am a semi-audiophile with a decent stereo system that is
getting long in the tooth. I am considering going digital,
i.e., ripping my CDs to either a PC-based or an integrated
stand alone "music manager". I would be interested in opinions on
the following.

In which case you are nowhere near an audiphile.

Ah, yes. Computers are the tool of the devil and lo-fi reproduction.

If I went PC-based:

-can one get a sireless remote whcih can control things from another
room?

Not sure, but I suspect yes.

--is there good and easy to use software for managing files and
creating
playlists?

Yes, lots. MusicMatch Jukebox is a popular one.

- will a good sound card have the same audio quality as a good stand
alone CD player?

A quality soundcard may have an equivalent performance, but the ripped music
won't.

That's just silly, without some context. If he rips to FLAC or even
uncompressed WAV format, then the only difference before the sound card is
likely due to flaws in the reading of the CD, in the standalone player.

The fact has been established repeatedly on this newsgroup that ripping a
CD to computer is an excellent way of recovering from flaws or damage in the
original material.

It's only when it gets encoded to a LOSSY format (mp3 - yuck!) that it fails
to be as good as or better than the original CD.

As for the sound card issue, I'll leave that for others to discuss.

Colin