OTHER TECH

Photos by Tony Cordoza Take a good look at the Yamaha MusicCAST system: it just might be a glimpse into the future of home audio entertainment. The MCX-1000 server (above), essentially a CD recorder on steroids crossed with a digital music server, provides two main improvements over traditional playback devices. First, there's the 80-gigabyte (GB) hard-disk drive, which lets you archive your whole music library inside the player. Remember how cool you thought CD jukeboxes were back in the '90s? This is much cooler. Second, it can connect wirelessly to remote players scattered throughout your home so you can listen to your music anywhere. Futuristic indeed.

Along with the MCX-1000 server you get one MCX-A10 client (below, between the two gray-fronted optional speakers), which Yamaha calls a digital audio terminal - trust me, you'll want more than one. Its pretty face and elegant silver styling are in stark contrast to the formidable black server. The small LCD readout shows all of the menu items you need to set up the client and, most important, call up the server, search its contents, and start listening to music. You can connect the matching MCX-SP10 speaker pair or run any other small speakers from its built-in 20-watt-per-channel stereo amplifier. You could also listen with headphones.

FAST FACTS

KEY FEATURES • Wireless music distribution to one or more remote clients, which can independently access music on server • CD playback and burning (on server only) • Hard-drive music jukebox with built-in CDDB database INPUTS/OUTPUTS MCX-1000 server, optical and coaxial digital audio in/out, headphone jack; composite/S-video outputs; PC Card slot with Wi-Fi (802.11b) card; Ethernet port; RS-232 port; PS/2 keyboard port MCX-A10 client, stereo line-level in/out, speaker-level output, subwoofer line output, headphone jack; composite-video output; PC Card slot with Wi-Fi card; Ethernet port DIMENSIONS (WxHxD, height of server and client includes antennas): server, 17 1/8 x 4 3/4 x 17 inches; client, 9 3/4 x 8 1/4 x 3 1/8 inches; MCX-SP10 speakers, 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 x 3 1/8 inches WEIGHT server, 24 1/4 pounds; client, 4 1/2 pounds; speakers, 2 5/8 pounds each PRICE $2,800 for server and one client; extra clients, $600 each; speakers, $120 a pair MANUFACTURER Yamaha Electronics USA, Dept S&V, 6660 Orangethorpe Ave., Buena Park, CA 90620; www.yamaha.com/musiccast; 800-492-6242

This high-tech system will redefine your understanding of both music collecting and playback. To establish a collection on the hard drive, it lets you rip music from CDs or external sources either with or without MP3 compression. If you compress the files, you could save music from up to a thousand or so CDs - how much depends on whether you choose a bit rate of 160, 256, or 320 kilobits per second (kbps). Alternatively, the hard disk can hold more than 100 CDs of music in the uncompressed PCM format used for CDs. Either way, the box can hold enough music so you and your family can listen to nonstop personal favorites for days on end.

If you've ever packed hundreds of albums onto a hard drive, you know that finding the song you want is half the battle. To help you find tunes quickly, the MusicCAST server identifies each CD you load using an onboard Gracenote CDDB database, automatically assigning album title, artist name, song title, and music genre. If the album isn't in its database, the server can log onto the CDDB Web site for an update via its Ethernet LAN port. If all else fails, you can plug in a keyboard and enter album information manually.