while awaiting for my macmini to arrive on jan 22(ish), i’ve been doing some research on some of the possiblities on what i can do with it. one obvious thing is to attempt to use it as a media center. although, apple is not marketing it as such, it can be used for this as well as many other things. (geeks find ways to make cool stuff like this even cooler). anywho, i stumbled upon this usb audio device while reading some slashdot comments today:

check out the specs on this thing:

• mobile 24-bit/96kHz USB audio upgrade
• 1/8” stereo analog/optical digital input
• 1/8” stereo line/headphone output
• TOSlink optical digital output allows AC3 and DTS pass-through
• line/optical input accommodates self-powered stereo microphones
• includes 3.5mm (male) to TOSlink (female) adapter

so with this, i can basically run optical audio from the macmini to, say, my home receiver which does dolby 5.1 and viola… one component of mac media center complete. stay tuned for more ideas.

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