These days many people love to create their own music collections for ongoing enjoyment. There are a number of ways to store these collections for later playback.Sometimes it's as basic as adding an integrated Ipod dock, or a more complete solution such as this nifty little media server from Russound.

Smart Media Server 320 SMS3-320

The Russound Smart Media Server stores and manages your music, providing easy retrieval from virtually anywhere in your home. It supplies three different streams of music simultaneously, making it ideal for use in a multi room audio system. When used with a Russound RNET® system, the artist, album, and song information is delivered directly to your UNO keypad or touch screen display.

The Smart Media Server comes with either a 160 GB or a 250 GB hard drive. The SMS3 will hold up to 2650 hours of compressed music and the SMS3-250 will store up to 4140 hours for nearly endless enjoyment of your favorite music.

You can load music from your CDs into the Media Server through a built-in CD-ROM reader or transfer music files from your computer. Using easy-to-navigate screens on your TV or computer, you can then organize the songs into themes by genre or artist for random playback or create play lists to play them back in any order you want. As you use the Media Server, its unique Personal Media Assistant learns your music preferences for each theme and applies those preferences to its automated song selection.

With the Media Server connected to the Internet, you can even enjoy Internet radio throughout your home. The SMS3 also stores and organizes digital photos, which you can show on your TV individually or as slide shows.