Being a computer geek

Tonight, I felt like a real computer geek alongside Arnljot at his place. While he worked on configuring a Linux-based multimedia computer, I browsed the Internet for Network Attached Storage (NAS). A NAS is basically an external disk drive, but with a network interface that makes it independent of a computer. And why would I need that? Well, in addition to being a place to store away music, pictures and video recordings, I would like to play the music without having to use a PC--perhaps with something like the Sonos ZP80 and its companioning controller unit.

In my search for a NAS, I stumbled across Tom's Networking were I found many interesting reviews of diverse NASes. However, the Thecus N2100 stands out both in functionality and appearance. And price. It comes without hard drives, which must then be bought separately. And not only one, but two. But, although this solution is expensive, it features real-time backup so that when one hard drive fails (which they tend to do after some time) I won't lose any of my pictures or other data. And as already mentioned, it comes in a wrapping that can actually be part of the media solution in a modern, civilized home...

Update:
Tom's Networking also did a review of the Sonos player.