Digitising music collection

[fruitscone]

Hi - sorry this might be the wrong section but I couldn't find somewhere better and figured you music people would be able to advise.

OK I am a techno dinosaur, so bear with me.

Our ginormous and ancient hifi is on the blink. I think we need to digitise our CD collection rather than replace hifi with like. Should we then get an Ipod for the music collection? (We don't even have one of these as we are behind the times) If so is it possible to continue to use our very good quality (but huge and unsightly speakers) and do I need something to join the Ipod to the speakers.

Sorry I am really dopey about this. Thanks for your help.

We digitised all our cd collection to put onto Ipods. We also have a small lead that goes from the Ipod to the back of our amp so that we can play the music through our large speakers.

We still have a cd player in our stack in case we want to play just the one cd (or if the Ipod has a flat battery).

I don't think you can use a lead to go direct to the speakers, it would have to go through an amp.

Does that help?

Yes thank you that does help - now I know what the inbetween bit is called!

We won't actually ever use the Ipod on the hoof and I anticipate it sitting in the bookcase as a permanent music store. Does it make sense to use it like this? Hadn't even thought of the battery being flat. Can you leave it attached to the mains permanently?

Or is there a better system I should be thinking about?

How about something like this? That way you could charge the Ipod at the same time as it being connected to your amp.

Since we're using a single cable to connect the Ipod to the amp, we can't charge it at the same time. The system above is probably better though the Ipod battery life is very good on audio.

I have/had over 3.000 cds and putting the music on to t'pod is the fantastic!

By an Ipod that has a large capacity. I have several but the one I use the most is the classic 160gb.

I have several docking stations around the house. The best one is the Bose in the living room. I have a sony DAB radio/ docking station in the kitchen and another one in the bedroom and use an ipod as an alarm clock.

It is briliant. You will have all your songs on your laptop that you can put into playlists if you want eg rock out music, chill time, workout time etc.

When you are uploading your collection you can edit and put only the tracks that you actually like rather than the whole cd if you want.

The huge hi fi's and speakers are very dated and the docking stations have brilliant sounds. Do have a listen in your local Currys or PC world. Some can sound tinny or not that great. I know you still want to use your speakers but are you really sure.A good docking station can fill a whole house with good quality sound very easily.

Don't dismiss the idea of not using a pod anywhere else by the way. You can have speakers that will fit in your hand for about twenty quid and are great in hotel rooms, at BBQ etc. Also the pod is great for the gym.
All you need is a cable to go into the Aux in the car radio and you can carry your whole music collection in the car. I used to have a play list with the kids favourite stuff on when they were younger. (long since deleted!! I can't stand listening to 'who let the dogs out and I would walk 500 miles again!)

Also from time to time look on Amazon's mp3 section and they often put free tracks or albums on.