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If you've got digital music on your computer, chances are you've made a trade-off over recording quality. If you've chosen the audio-first route, you'll be using Apple Lossless (or an uncompressed rival), which offers the best sound, at the expense of hard-disk space.
However, if your computer's storage capacity is more modest, you'll probably have opted for a more compressed option, such as 320kbps MP3, hoping to trade a little quality for a lot more music.
With Buffalo's TeraStation Live Network Attached Storage (NAS) box in your system, such compromises are irrelevant. Not when you've got one terabyte of hard-disk capacity to hand - that's over 1000GB, enough for 3000 Apple Lossless albums.
And that can make a big difference to your listening enjoyment: through our reference hi-fi, the Buffalo's better-quality music files clearly sound more spacious, open and musical.
Installation is simple. Hook it into your network using an Ethernet cable (it talks to both PCs and Macs), and it's ready to go.
Effective and easy to use
Some of you might be saying, "But I can buy huge hard-disk storage like that for less cash?" True - but a simple external disk drive can't begin to rival the Buffalo's flexibility, not least because you don't have to turn on your computer to access its content. Its size and near-silent operation also make it living-room friendly.
The TeraStation Live also supports iTunes, making music transfer a doddle, and even complies with the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) spec, allowing it to store videos, photos and music for replay on any suitable DLNA device. Amazingly, you can even remotely access its content, via Buffalo's website, www.buffaloNAS.com.
The TeraStation Live is a great device. It means anyone with an interest in storing digital music or video can enjoy much better quality. If that doesn't qualify it for inclusion in this mag, what does?
