The Musica also offers a Web interface for editing playlists and track information.
This includes songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store or tracks in Microsoft’s Windows Media Digital Rights Management format.
Unfortunately, as with every other “home player” we’ve tested, although unprotected tracks can be played back from iTunes and iPods, DRM-protected tracks are not supported. The Musica is capable of playing back additional formats, including OGG/Vorbis, AAC, and WMA. Using compression, both MP3 and the lossless FLAC format are supported.
For uncompressed storage, the Musica supports AIFF and WAV formats. When storing audio transferred from analog sources or ripped from CD, users can choose from among several storage formats. The recordings are initially stored as uncompressed AIFF files, but can later be converted to other formats. Individual songs can be separated automatically or manually and track information can then be added. The Musica includes RCA input jacks for connecting analog audio devices, such as a turntable or cassette player-a recording function lets you transfer your old records and tapes to digital format. A headphone jack is available on the front of the unit headphone volume can be controlled from the face of the unit and via the remote. On the rear of the Musica are gold-plated RCA jacks, as well as coaxial and optical Toslink digital outputs, for connecting the Musica to your home stereo receiver or amplifier. However, synching iPods with multiple music sources can be tricky to avoid overwriting synched tracks, iTunes users will need to turn off automatic iPod updating. Songs can also be transferred from the Musica’s library directly to an iPod.
The Musica also supports iPod music playback via two USB ports on the back of the unit. Unfortunately, the CD drive supports reading or writing of audio CDs only, not MP3 or other data CDs-to get MP3 files from a data CD to the Musica, you have to use your computer. The CD drive can also be used to burn audio CDs from the Musica’s library. In addition to playing CDs, the drive also rips audio directly to the player’s 160GB hard drive, which Olive claims will hold up to 40,000 average-length MP3 tracks at 128 kbps or 6,000 uncompressed tracks. The Musica’s CD-R/RW drive sets it apart from most other digital players, such as the Slim Devices