The Olive Opus series of music servers are simply beautiful.
They aren’t just cute to look at, as the underlying technology is really sweet!
They range in capacity from 160 GB to a massive 750 GB – which could hold up to 2200 CDs worth of music.
The entire range offer both wired and wireless connectivity, so you can easily network them in for full streaming throughout your house.
What really impressed me was the range of audio formats supported. While you’d expect almost any audio device to support the popular MP3 format Olive go one step further and offer full support for OGG/Vorbis, FLAC, AAC and several others.
The only downside is that it cannot handle Apple iTunes DRM protected audio. However this device isn’t really aimed at iTunes’ users.
The array of connections and other technical specifications are fairly advanced and should keep most audiophiles happy.
Pricing starts at just over $1000, however they currently are not shipping outside the US, though they plan on expanding their markets during 2008 according to the email they sent me.
However if you really want to get your hands on an Olive you might find one on eBay.. Bear in mind, however, that in common with a lot of US audio devices the voltage is 110v so you will need a transformer to use it in the EU
