Playstation 3 Audio Source

[ehrawn]

Right now, my MacBook is serving as the main source for my music, hooked into a Peachtree Audio Decco via USB. All of my CDs have been ripped to an external HD in Apple Lossless. I use iTunes as my music manager. Because my MacBook is my only computer, I have to move it from my office to hook it up to my gear in my living room every time I want to listen to music. I was pretty sure that I was going to buy a Mac Mini to dedicate to the living room, but, recently, a friend of mine mentioned that you could run linux on a Playstation 3. This seems like a viable alternative to the Mini. However, while I would gain the Blueray Player, I would lose all of the OSX software I am used to.

 

Does anyone have experience with using a PS3 as a source? What software are you using to replace the functionality of iTunes?

 

[darrenwm]

I use a PS3 for video streaming. It does the job but is a little noisy, ugy, and the interface isn't the best.

 

For music you're limited by file types.

 

I've made a video about it:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4mcZG4Q_3k&feature=related

 

[BEEMB]

Hmmm - the quest for the perfect server.

 

I believe the Mini serves me very well musically. I'm waiting for my ADM9.1s at the moment to complete the setup.

 

But where's my BluRay ? Why won't Apple listen ? A mini with a Blu Ray drive and the latest Intel chipset providing the hardware acceleration to cope with it would be perfect - oh - and an HDMI out of course. Some minor improvements to Front Row et voila - a great all round media server.

 

With a few tweaks would the PS3 be closer - ie: better file support ? It's a reasonable BD player and I doubt Sony's software software interfere's with your audio in the way Windows does ?

 

[ehrawn]

I have read about the file format limitations of the PS3. Because they don't support any lossless formats including FLAC and Apple Lossless, I wouldn't even consider using the version of the PS3 Sony gives me. However, with linux loaded to the drive, I was hoping that I might be able to find quality software to handle management of my music library. I just found Songbird ( http://getsongbird.com/ ), which is still a beta, so I'm a little bit hesitant to commit to that. Does anyone else have any ideas?