Finally

Finally, it is done!  I have made FLAC work on Media Centre!  I have always been able to get FLAC to work on my desktop, but for some reason I always had a hard time getting everything to work on the HTPC.

If you are not familiar with this format, check it out.  It is a lossless format that is completely open source and relatively small in size.  It works great with WINAMP and VLC, and is worth converting to, or switching to.

Here are the useful links:

The Tutorial:  FLAC Music playback in Windows Media Center 

The CODEC: Directshow Filters

The PlugIn:  WMP Tag Plus 

HTPC Upgrade

This was the easiest upgrade ever!  I switched out the LGA775 processor with another more powerful processor (Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz)  Things are working quite well.  It was a simple swap and CMOS wipe followed by some Windows Updates.  No new system and no hiccups.  The most annoying thing was that I had to use my HDMI projector to configure the BIOS as my normal mini touch screen is USB based so will not work until its drivers are loaded- after the BIOS. 

NEXT:  Get FLAC working on that machine.  It has been an ongoing nightmare to get working.