For all of you music lovers with hundreds of CD's sitting around your house, and thousands of MP3's downloaded on your PC's, here is a device for you. The Lansonic DAS-750 can hold approximately 350 CD's worth of music and then stream the files across a local area network (LAN) to speakers or other devices in your home or office. Rip CD's, download MP1/MP2/MP3 and WAV files, or listen to streaming MP3 audio, for the DAS-750 supports all of these formats. Once loaded on the 120GB hard drive (this is high-end, a basic device comes with a 20GB hard drive), the music is arranged by artist and album to easily locate the music you want.

The DAS-750 can connect to an Ethernet-based network using the a "drag and drop" file interface. On Windows systems, a simple browse through "Network Neighborhood" will find and access the DAS-750, and all of the audio files. The DAS-750 will digitally serve music to up to five independent music sources in different rooms. Access music through a PC and play it on the resident media player (Windows Media, Musicmatch, etc.) without worrying about the MP3's sucking up PC memory. Stereo components, like CD players and tape recorders, can connect to the DAS via standard high fidelity analog and digital inputs and outputs.

No additional software needs to be installed on your PC to control the playlist or music because all of it is built into the DAS-750. It even comes with a built-in web server to allow playlist setup and control using a standard web browser. The DAS-750 is equipped with .m3u playlist support. If remote control is not necessarily what you want, you can also control the device via the front panel using the QuikSpin user dial and an electric blue backlit LCD.

For versions with internal disc storage of 30GB or greater, the DAS-750 features the MusicLoader system. This software works with compatible CD changers to automatically record 400 CD's in one session, without connecting to a PC or network. It recognizes the CD's and labels each track with the artist, album, and song title, which is then displayed when you listen to the song.

The DAS-750 comes in hard disk and diskless varieties, so you can use one to store music, and network the other to access and play music.

Pricing and Availability

The DAS-750 is currently available in a variety of hard disk configurations. Prices start at $695 for the diskless version, $995 for the 20GB hard drive version, $1,195 for 30GB, $1,495 for 60GB, and $1,995 for the two 60GB (120GB total) hard drive version.

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