Entered CNET Catalog: 03/20/2003
SKU: 0027108916811
Manufacturer: Yamaha Corp. of America
Manufacturer description
The MusicCAST server stores and broadcasts music content wirelessly to any location within your home. With the MusicCAST System, everyone in the family can store their music collection in one central location, have fun creating playlists and custom CDs, preserve vintage vinyl records as digital files, then distribute them anywhere in the home wirelessly. With the simple yet easy-to-use MusicCAST system, each family member can listen to what they want, when they want, all at the touch of a button. Capable of storing 1000 CDs (1000 CDs in MP3 format), the server's selfcontained 80GB hard drive has the ability to provide instant access to a vast selection of digital music. Music is saved to the hard drive in its original quality from CDs or external inputs, then converted to MP3 (160k / 256k / 320kbps compression rates) for distributing to clients. Equipped with the latest IEEE 802.11b network technology, up to 5 clients are able to play high quality music wirelessly from the server. Extended client range is achieved with the use of an Ethernet connection. With the very efficient graphical user interface and remote, the ability to organize and browse through your collection is right at your fingertips, giving family members easy access to all server features visually with the onscreen display. With the versatile built in CD recorder, you are able to save your favorite music to the server at a lightning fast speed, create your own high quality music CD compilations or playback your collection of MP3s on CD. Up to 7 independent clients can be used with one server system, giving your family members instant access to music anywhere around the house. The MusicCAST clients work with virtually any type of speaker system. The built-in 34 watt digital power amplifier provides complete flexibility in any speaker setup. The built-in CD recognition database features full on-screen display of information, such as artist, album, and track names along with music genre. This service is Gracenote CDDB Music Recognition Service available via Internet access. Easily set up a sophisticated, secured wireless music distribution system. Just connect the audio and power cables, the system then automatically recognizes the music stored on the server providing music to anyone at anytime, anywhere within your home.Product summary
The good: CD player/recorder/ripper and wireless music server with 80GB built-in hard drive; great sound; optical and coaxial digital audio inputs and outputs; uses Gracenote's CD Database; wirelessly streams music to MCX-A10 or MCX-C15 client (not included).
The bad: Pricey; doesn't stream music from Internet music services or networked PCs; somewhat small hard drive size; doesn't display CD artwork; can't transfer preripped MP3 files from CD; can't stream video files.
The bottom line: The high-end MCX-1000 is an audiophile-friendly CD ripper, recorder, and wireless music server, but PC MP3 hoarders will want to look elsewhere.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 01/27/2005
The large remote control isn't backlit, but it's otherwise well conceived. A four-way keypad, and Back, Page-up, and Page-down buttons make it easy to get around in menus and lists. What's more, Artist, Album, Genre, and Playlist buttons allow skipping straight to your music.
The MCX-1000 has stereo analog, optical digital, and coaxial digital inputs that can be used for recording external devices to its hard drive. A matching set out of audio outputs facilitates feeding music to the A/V receiver. S-Video and composite-video outputs round out the video connections.
It can't record video, but the MCX-1000 has a video pass-through feature that enables setting up the device between your A/V receiver and the TV in the signal chain. Nice idea, but anyone who prefers using component video will be annoyed to find that the passthrough feature works for composite and S-Video connections only.
The MCX-1000 has built-in 802.11b wireless networking, plus an Ethernet port. Installation is surprisingly easy; the MCX-1000 even sets up its own wireless network with the MCX-A10 client. Advanced users can configure the device to employ a mixture of wireless and wired network connections to transmit music to MCX-A10 client devices and contact the Internet for Gracenote CD Database updates. According to Yamaha, a total of seven MCX-A10 and/or MCX-C15 clients can be simultaneously connected, but just five of the connections can be wireless.
The MCX-1000's TV-based, onscreen menus are generally well organized and effective, but they're not exactly artful. Seven blandly presented main menu options lead to submenus where you can browse your music library, control what's playing on connected client devices, view the video input from a connected A/V receiver, change system settings, and more. (A Flash-based demo of the onscreen interface is available at Yamaha's Web site.) That said, the MCX-1000's onscreen menus are much nicer than those of the MCX-A10.
The MCX-1000 is firmware upgradable. Yamaha supplies software upgrade CDs to users on request via the company's Web site.
There are two ways to get your music into the Yamaha MCX-1000: you can use its single CD tray to rip music from CDs, or you can record into its inputs from external sources, in real time. (Unlike with entry-level digital network media devices, you cannot stream music from a PC on your network.) In its default mode, the MCX-1000 automatically creates a noncompressed PCM version and a compressed MP3 version of everything it records. The MCX-1000 plays the better-sounding PCM versions, but to save wireless network bandwidth, the MCX-A10 clients play the MP3 versions. If you have only one MCX-A10 client, it can be configured to play the PCM versions as well.The MP3 recording bit rate can be set at 160Kbps, 256Kbps, or 320Kbps. The 80GB hard drive can store more than 100 CDs as noncompressed PCM files. If you save only compressed MP3 versions on the hard drive, you might be able to squeeze in about 500 to 1,000 CDs. The unit can play MP3 CDs but can't transfer MP3 files from a CD to its hard drive, which is too bad.
Unlike its predecessor, the MCX-1000 uses Gracenote's CD Database (CDDB) to automatically retrieve and display CD information such as album and track titles. After a CD is ripped to the MCX-1000's hard drive, it's automatically cataloged into artist, album, and genre categories that make it easy to find music. A version of Gracenote's CD Database (CDDB) is stored locally on the hard drive, but it can be updated over the Net. Unfortunately, the MCX-1000 does not display album artwork as Escient's competing Fireball E-40 ($2,000) does. A keyboard can be connected to the MCX-1000's PS/2 port to enter text information for CDs that aren't listed in Gracenote's CD Database and to enter information for music recorded through the device's audio inputs.
You can burn complete albums and user mixes from the hard drive to a CD-R or a CD-RW, and you can duplicate discs. Like other component CD recorders, the MCX-1000 requires the more expensive, "music" type recordable discs and adheres to SCMS, a flag that disallows making a digital copy of a copy. The rated maximum recording speed is 8X, the maximum rewriting speed is 4X, and the maximum ripping speed is 30X. While it's nice having a built-in CD recorder, most music lovers are probably well schooled in ripping and burning custom mixes on their PCs.
The Yamah MCX-1000's CD-recording performance isn't blazingly fast, but it's acceptable. The MCX-1000 ripped a 56-minute Macy Gray CD in just more than 4 minutes, and the resulting files didn't have any noticeable data errors. The unit recorded the same Macy Gray album from its hard drive to a CD-R in about 8 minutes.The first time we played a CD in the MCX-1000, we immediately noticed the great sound. Subsequent listening sessions confirmed that the device's analog outputs are exceptionally crisp, clean, and balanced. A recording of the Beastie Boys' To the Five Boroughs that we made through the MX-1000's analog line inputs also sounded good, but the automatic track-marking feature did miss a couple of track changes.
The MCX-1000 doesn't instantly power up, but it takes only about 15 seconds to get going. It can be used to control its own functions as well as the playback functions of MCX-A10 clients. In our test setup, which included one MCX-1000 and one MCX-A10 client, wireless control of the client from the MCX-1000 was fairly instantaneous.
If your musical universe revolves around CDs, the well-implemented MCX-1000 has a lot to offer. However, its high price and lack of support for a subscription music service such as Rhapsody, and its inability to play files stored on networked PCs makes it decidedly more appealing to audiophiles than to those weaned on Napster.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2out of 2 user reviews
Endless possibilities
Pros: can do every thing that it says. i have 10,000 songs on my own and still not full, hooked up through Bose acoustimass sounds great.
Cons: got it from previous owner for free and im glad because it's expensive.
out of 2 user reviews
Neither High End nor High Value
Pros: It doesn't do 24/96 recording, Small hardrive, no backups, a very high price and not really High End. I build a computer last summer for 1300 bucks that is very quiet, has a 160GB, a 24/96 pro recording audio card, pro recording sofware, is on a ne
Cons: Easier to use than a computer.
