Upgrading old stereo technology & advice on buying new devices

[Cammers]

Having recently moved house, I’ve rediscovered my vinyl – I’ve bought new wired speakers and a stylus for my early '90s stack stereo, but wondered if there’s any way I can bring it into the modern world (I assume using the headphones jack)? I’m old skool and still buy CDs, and have around 400 of them. I have an external hard drive (which currently holds copies of my older CDs, but not my newer ones). My house has Wi-Fi. My car has Bluetooth. I have a basic Android phone. And I don’t own anything Apple.

I’m the market to buy a new laptop (my old desktop PC has died) and an MP3 player (to replace my old Sony Pebble), but want to make sure I buy the right spec to ensure I’m making the most of what technology is available to me.

What I think I know….
- If I get a Bluetooth-enabled MP3 player, I’m assuming I’ll be able to pair this with the Bluetooth in my car?
- Can I get a wireless speaker to work with my stack stereo (and other devices) using a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver, so I can play music in another room/in the garden (5m and 10m away, respectively)?
- If I get a laptop that can load CDs and is compatible with the external hard drive, will I be able to play all my music via the laptop/external hard drive though my stereo speaker system and/or the wireless speaker? (I’m having a house party for my 50th later this year and want to play all music from the laptop/MP3 player using playlists, and not have to keep changing CDs on the stereo!)

As you’ve probably gathered, I’m not tech savvy, and essentially need enlightenment about what my options are and a shopping list from an expert!

Thanks in advance.

 

[jsmithepa]

These days with your smartphone able to hold gigabytes of music, everything is mobile, and all modern smartphones have bluetooth, if you didn't somehow notice, so play away in the car, NOW, nothing to buy, presto.

To play all around the house, same idea. Check out Sonos.com, the granddaddy of wireless speakers.

 

[americanaudiophile]

As suggested Sonos can update you old gear.
A Sonos Connect has audio output and inputs.
Connect the output to your old stereo to access internet radio, music files, streaming services etc. Controlled by your phones, tablets and PCs by the free app.
Connect the record out of the old stereo to the Connect input. Now when you spin vinyl you can listen to it on any other Sonos speaker, playbar or ConnectAmps. Up to 32 zones on one router.
As to your specific questions
1. No reason to limit your quality to mp3. If you rip your CDs to lossless files you can play them with a DAP (digital audio player) in your car without loss of quality. The same rips will play in CD quality on the Sonos system.
2. Sono Play speakers work great. Better quality than BT speakers and you can use more than the 2 that BT is limited to. Sonos speakers can be used as single or stereo pairs. They also make a wireless sub that you can add.
3. Sonos will play any files on any hard drives or computers on your network.
The other thing that is important is Sonos is mature tech that works. It's not made to require an IT guy to install it. It's really easy and fun to use. They have excellent tech support too. Not cheap but very reliable hardware and mature software make it the best at what it does.