OUT OF THE BOX
Looks like I may be replacing my Media Center PC. Sony is introducing a 
Media Center PC that seems to have some out of the box thinking in its design. They've fused existing technologies like CD and DVD changers with a Media Center PC to provide the kind of functionality today's home network increasingly needs.
PC Magazine has a good review of the system, called the Sony Vaio XL1. It describes the practical advantages of the system. Here are some excerpts:
"Designed to be the true Media Center in your home theater, the XL1 can replace your TiVo, CD changer, DVD player/changer, DVD recorder, and any older Media Center PC you have put in your rec room."
..."The XL1 Digital Living System consists of two halves: the VGX-XL1A main unit and the VGP-XL1B 200-disc CD/DVD changer. The XL1B is the muscle of the system. You can load 200 CDs into the changer, call up the MCE interface, select the "manage discs" menu item, and rip all 200 CDs onto the VGX-XL1A's 200GB hard drive.
This is a much better way to copy your music than what the typical MCE PC allows you to do, which is come back every few minutes to swap discs. The saving in time and convenience would be significant for the person with several hundred (or a few thousand) CDs.
In our testing, the XL1 still took 3 to 4 minutes to rip a CD, but it does all 200 consecutively; so once you load them in the changer, you can leave the system alone, say overnight, and in the morning it'll be done. Loading and unloading the slot-loading changer was a snap; loading or ejecting each disc took only a few seconds."
...
"After you've ripped your CDs, you can keep as many as 200 DVDs in the changer. The XL1 system keeps track of them, so they can be called up and played at a moment's notice."
...
"The XL1B can also burn content to DVDs. Let's say you've just recorded the entire Seinfeld saga from your local affiliate onto your hard drive. To free up disk space, you can insert as many as 200 blank DVDs, and the XL1 will burn your programs to DVDs that can be used in any consumer DVD player.
The XL1's Click-to-DVD burning utility is well integrated into the MCE interface, and it only takes a few clicks to burn your shows. It will even let you know how many blank DVDs you have in the changer, and if you need to add more to complete your project. You'll find that keeping four or five DVD blanks in your changer is a convenience you never realized you needed."
The product is so new it's not yet available on Sony's website. It points to an interesting direction that consumer media home networking needs to go. While it doesn't have the pizzazz and the buzz of an Apple iPod Nano and/or Video, it's a pragmatic answer to the issues that consumers increasingly face in optimally using their CD/DVDs and digitally stored media in a seamless, interoperable way.
Does anyone know if the Sony VGP - XL1B2 200 disc media changer is compatible with I-Tunes? Thank you.
Posted by: Jim Scharf | Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 11:12 PM