Q: I have been told that processing sound within the computer is prone to
poorer quality sound and am curious how the quality of the audiotron
compares to other solutions.
A: You don't need to worry about PC interference or quality, the AudioTron
streams the digital files to itself before it begins the decode process.
*****************************
Q: I've heard that MP3 quality is inferior to CDs. So why listen to MP3s on
my home stereo?
A: MP3 is a "compressed" format that shrinks the size of a music file by as
much as 10 times. The more you shrink it, the lower the quality. However,
by setting a lower compression rate (also known as a "higher data rate"),
the MP3 files will be slightly larger but still significantly smaller than
their CD counter parts, and the quality will significantly improve. In many
cases, the quality is usually indistinguishable from the original.
If you want pure CD quality audio that's uncompressed, you can transfer the
CD tracks in WAV format, which is a bit for bit transfer from the CD to the
hard drive with absolutely no loss in quality. If you have a digital input
on your stereo system, you can also use AudioTron's digital output to
maintain perfect digital integrity from the computer through the AT and out
of your speakers for crystal-clear digital audio
*****************************
Q: Why should AudioTron be the next stereo component I buy?
A: Many users have told us that AT has completely changed the way they listen
to and enjoy music. Songs they never even knew were in their CD library
are now easy to find. Playlists of songs from different CDs are easy to
create. Music can be easily played by genre (e.g. listen to all of your
classical music) or artist (e.g. listen to all of your Aerosmith songs).
Users tell us that AT has become their most-used stereo component and they
can't imagine how they tolerated their CD player once AT was installed into
their stereo system. The $300 that you spend on AT will give you a whole
new way of listening to music, with ease and flexibility that you've never
had before.
*****************************
Q: How does AudioTron work?
A: When first powered up, AudioTron searches your home network for PCs that
have digital music files on their hard drives. Once it generates a catalog
of songs, you can play any song by selecting the name and pressing the PLAY
button, just like a CD player. This tells AudioTron to stream the song data
from the PC hard drive to its internal memory in small "packets".
The entire song is never really in the AudioTron at any one time,
but rather a "stream" of data is transferred from the PC to the AudioTron
and converted to audio that is played on your stereo system.
*****************************
Q: What software do I need to set AudioTron up?
A: None. AudioTron is a true "network client". The only requirement is that
your Network is a functioning properly. Some other network digital music
players need proprietary software running on a dedicated PC. However, the
AT lets you use any PC on your network for music storage and the PC can
still be used for other tasks while AT is playing music.
A setup / diagnostic utility is included with the software that simplifies
the setup process with Troubleshooting tips for accessing files and
'clients' on your Network but is not necessary for use.
Optional "digital jukebox" software, called AudioStation, is included with
AT, but again is not necessary for use. This software helps you to organize
your digital music files, plays as an independent program on your PC and
also "rips" your CDs to your hard drive in MP3, WMA and WAV formats.
*****************************
Q: How is AudioTron hooked up to my stereo system?
A: AudioTron includes outputs for analog and digital (optical) audio. Connect
the appropriate output to your stereo receiver's CD, Line or Aux input.
A stereo analog RCA-to-RCA cord is included with the AT, and an optional
optical digital cable is available from the Turtle Beach Accessories page.
*****************************
Q: How many songs will AudioTron hold?
A: AudioTron doesn't actually hold any songs. Rather, it catalogs the song
names in its internal memory so that it knows where all the songs are
located. When you press "Play" on AT, it uses the internal database to
locate the song on a PC hard drive in the network, then plays the song
by "streaming" the file over the network to your stereo system. AudioTron
can catalog more than 30,000 songs, which would require more than 60GB of
PC hard drive storage for typical MP3 files.
*****************************
Q: I have over 60.000 MP3s in my collection. What can I do?
A: You may have 2 AudioTron units and configure them to scan only subsets of
your collection each so that they do not overlap on the same songs.
*****************************
Q: What if I have a huge traditional CD collection? How do I keep track of
hundreds, even thousands of song titles on AT?
A: Accessing a large number of songs was one of the main challenges in
developing the AT. Having a centrally located digital music library is a
great advantage. The solution was to cross-catalogue songs in several ways,
so that there would be different ways in which to search for music. On the
AT display, there are 5 easily accessible headings for:
Title, Artist, Album, Genre and Playlist.
This gives users enormous flexibility in quickly locating what they are
looking for. As an example, say you want to hear the song "Day Tripper"
on AT. You can't remember which album it was on, but you know that it's by
the Beatles. You would navigate, either on the AT front panel or the Remote
control, to Artist, then to Beatles.
Instantly, AT will show you how many Beatles songs you have and begin
playing them in alphabetical order. Simply scroll through the list of
Beatles songs until "Day Tripper" shows up. AudioTron will queue it up and
play the song immediately. It's that easy.
______________________________________________________________________________
|
