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I need a device (or small computer) that does nothing but boot up and start playing a specific internet radio station (streaming MP3 at 128kbit over SHOUTcast), utilizing WiFi. The sound quality should be good, but doesn't need to be amazing... this is 128k MP3 after all. Bonus points if it is rack mount or small enough to be tossed on a shelf in a rack. Another bonus would be something I can manage remotely over the network. The target cost for this project is less than $100.

I have considered picking up one of the VIA ARTiGO kits, but they cost too much. I will probably end up setting up an old desktop PC, but was hoping to stumble across something smaller first.

In the likely event I set up the desktop, any suggestions for a base OS to start with? The last time I tried something like this, I spent a month in Linux dependency hell, and would rather not bother with that again. Maybe a small router distro would work? Currently I'm leaning towards stripped down Windows XP.

I'm open to any ideas and suggestions. Thanks for your time!

Jeff Atwood
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Brad
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2 Answers2

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Sure, they sell netbooks for around $100. You could use a windows based one with a startup script launching VLC: http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/ch04.html

Jeff F.
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An idea that comes to mind is a Chumby (http://www.chumby.com/pages/learn_music), a small Linux device. It is capable of playing Shoutcast. I was able to get one recently right around the $100 price. And you can even enable SSH for some remote administration.

JonathanMueller
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