I want this!

Well, the Brennan JB7 just came to my attention. It's a "CD jukebox" in that it is a CD player with a hard drive. From their info:

* JB7 holds your entire CD collection on a hard disk to give you instant access to any of your music and play unbroken music for as long as you want.
* You can choose and play an album or track without getting out of your chair.
* You get to see what is playing from across a room.
* One button plays your entire music collection at random - another turns it off - its what you need when its late and you just want to unwind.

I have been messing about with other media players such as the Argosy and Iomega, but they are slow and not really meant for music. What I am looking for is an "mp3 player" with a huge hard drive. At this point, the best bet is a large USB drive and media monkey software on my computer. Media Monkey is the best music management program I have found for a large music collection.

Nice feature, the JB7 backs up to a USB hard drive. I assume it can also copy from one as well. The big problem is how my music has gotten screwed up over time (track numbering, genres, etc.) if I make the move. The genres are the real piss off as I hate it when the track is something like Beethoven's fifth symphony and it gets tagged as blues!

A good feature is that the Brennan JB7 uses the Freedb CD database, one of the better music DBs out there.

Anyway, features are:

* Stores 1200/2500/5000 CDs on 80/160/320G (high compression typical CD)
* Stores 600/1200/2500 CDs on 80/160/320G (normal compression worst case CD)
* Total 60W RMS
* 32 key credit card remote
* 2.4 million album database - update on CD
* Text Search for Track or Album by remote control or front panel
* Segue - blends one track into the next
* 180 x 32 soft scrolling graphic vacuum fluorescent display
* Compact 4.8 x 16 x 22 cm
* 1.6kg steel and aluminium construction
* One touch startup - relax let JB7 pick the tracks
* One touch rip - transfer a CD track to MP3 player
* One touch record - convert vinyl to MP3s
* Loads CDs to hard disk at 12x - play music while loading
* Battery backed up clock with alarm
* MP3 encode at 128k, 192k or 320k - done automatically
* USB 2.0 Full Speed 12 Mbits / sec - compatible with USB Mass storage class devices formatted with FAT16 or FAT32 - USB memory sticks, Ipods, MP3 players, USB hard drives. Not MP4 players and Touch iPods.
* Rear connectors - loudspeakers, line in, line out, headphone, 24V DC
* Backup music and playlists to external USB hard disk for safe keeping
* 400MHz Blackfin processor with Dual MAC
* Find and play MP3s on MP3 players and USB drives as if they were internal
* Transfer MP3s to and from USB
* External laptop computer style 24V power supply / AC adaptor - included - works from 110V to 240V. Size 3cm x 6cm x 13cm. 3m overall lead length.
* Loudpeakers 22cm (H) x 14.5cm (W) x 18cm (D)

Price is a bit much at £339 to £409 (septics can go here for currency conversion).

OK, there may be some downsides, but I am waiting for a time when this type of device is much more common and at a better price point. Although, it does have some really nice features that pretty much outweigh any downsides I've read about.

You can read a couple of good reviews of it here and here.

Oh, yeah, and a plus for non-Euros, the JB7 runs on a switching external power supply, meaning it works anywhere in the world.