RPG Music Source

There are two basic choices for a music source: a home audio component or a computer (an MP3 player is somwhere in between):

 
  Home Audio-
The typical home audio component that you might use would be the CD changer. It's relatively cheap, easy to setup and easy to operate. The music is stored in an uncompressed form on commercial discs or discs that you create. It is, however, rather limited. If you want any custom music, you have to create your own discs. You probably won't be able to create playlists that you can call up on demand during a session. If you want your tracks to play in random order, you will probably have to tolerate several seconds of silence between every track (actually instead of silence, you will probably hear the clunking of the changer swapping the discs around). For a long time, I wouldn't use anything else but CDs but eventually I learned to accept newer technologies. With the advent of CD players that play MP3 discs, you have more options (at the data rate that I rip tracks at, I would still have to deal with disc swapping, unless I used MP3 DVDs). You could also use a casette changer or record changer but forget about randomization. I do ocassionally like to throw an LP on. It works well for James Bond and Call of Cthulhu. Also, the "Welcome to side 2" track on the Great White North Album just isn't as funny when you use a CD.
 
  Computers-
You will probably be able to store all of your RPG music on one computer. Before I get into it, you don't have to use MP3s. Originally, I linked six SCSI CD drives (before I became comfortable with MP3s) to a computer and had it play tracks randomly. This eliminated the problem of disc swapping (I used caddy drives to make loading and unloading easier and safer for the CDs) but provided for a fairly large and klunky setup. I couldn't just pick it up and move it between rooms. I might have been able to use internal drives and a large tower case, but it still would have been big and heavy.
You could also rip your tracks in uncompressed AIFF format and use them in place of MP3 files, but you will need alot more hard drive space.

Most of you are probably comfortable with MP3 files so I'll describe my setup for you. All you really need to do is rip the tracks onto a hard drive and play them back with your favorite MP3 player. My setup is a little more complex, however:
I use an Apple Macintosh G3/400 (blue tower) as my music source. It runs MacOS 8.6 (a trimmed down stable system that supports all of the features that I need). I rip tracks at 256Mb/s data rate, 44kHz sample rate, stereo (not joint stereo). I play them back with Panic's Audion. It is a shareware program that allows for easy playlist switching, track shuffling and automatic playback. The machine is controlled by a Videonics Commandpost. The Commandpost is intended as a video editing controller. It has a lever, a shuttle control and 15 buttons that can be programmed to emulate keystrokes. The lever can be set to control the system volume, which is what I do. The first row of buttons switch between the different playlists. I use the shuttle control to pause and restart the player when necessary. The other buttons are usually programmed for sound effects. I use a program called Keyquencer to accomplish this. It uses scripts to control the different programs on the player and responds to the keystrokes emulated by the Commandpost. You could use Keyquencer without the Commandpost, but I don't like having a keyboard sitting around (and you can label the buttons on the Commandpost quite easily). Typically, when you push a sound effect button, the music is paused, a sound file is played, and then the music resumes. Some buttons may also be programmed to change the lighting conditions. I use an IBM Home Director module to do this. It sends commands out to X10 modules, some of which can be dimmed. This works well when you want to turn on a "red alert" light or trigger a strobe for lightning. I use software to control the module, which can be controller by AppleScript or by Keyquencer. It can also be controlled by voice commands, but I haven't tried that yet.

I store all of the sound effects and music on one computer but I have to move a few folders around to switch between games. Each game has its own set of music playlist and sound effects. I label them Playlist 1, Playlist 2, Sound 1, Sound 2, etc. so that I don't have to change any of the scripts (unless I want lighting effects).

Audion and Keyquencer are currently Mac only but the Command Post and the IBM Home Controller are both PC compatible if you want to try to integrate them into a PC setup. G3's are pretty cheap though, so you may want to consider picking one up and giving it a try. There are currently no OS X drivers for the Commandpost. I bought mine from Jameco. It's also sold under the name Focus. I've seen some on eBay too. That's one of the primary reasons that I don't use it for my player. Since it sits in a corner without a monitor, it doesn't really need a fancy OS (plus the system only takes about 70MB of space).
 
  MP3 Players-
Commercial MP3 players are somewhere in between audio components and computers. They typically provide multiple playlists and smooth shuffling but don't cater well to sound and lighting effects. Switching playlists may require a bit more work than just pushing a single button. They also tend to have more limited space than computers do. On the other hand, they are very portable, and don't require any skill to setup.