OK, the OP has no idea of how to integrate digital audio into his/hers world ... I did not either a while ago. And I did not want to build a network, or become a systems integrator. I purposefully left complex computer stuff behind when I retired. So what to do?
1.) Start building your digital library. RIP tunes from existing CDs to high rate MP3 (256K~320K) and store in some organized manor on your computer. Make a back-up in case the PC dies for some reason... It will someday and you do not want to have to do most of this twice ... Get some helpful programs like Audacity, MusicBrainz, ID3 tag editor, and MP3Gain.
You will find that you need to "Normalize" all your track volumes, or you will be constantly playing with the volume knob
I use MP3Gain and it has worked just fine
I set my track nominal volume to 89dB in MP3Gain which is very slightly up for old traditional CD's from the early days, but not much - and way
down from the idiotic loudness wars of modern CD's. You can see what sorts of gross insults have been done to our music in Audacity. But it's all manageable with the right tools
MusicBrainz is especially helpful in tagging unknown or poorly tagged tracks (it'll audio sample and look-up for you
). I use it to check questionable tracks and thin tags, or for filling in complex tags (file metadata) - works real good on classical
2.) Look and see if your DVD player will play MP3 CD's or DVD's (data discs). If it will, you can arrange many, many, hours of listening on a single disc just using that simple system. It's great for party music or Christmas music, what have you. Pop it in and it'll play as much as 8+ hours without touching anything. Just burn the MP3 files to a data disc and away you go
3.) If you want to listen in the car/truck/boat/RV, get a Satechi Sound-Fly Aux and plug it into the power port or cigarette lighter socket. Put an SD card in it with up to 32 GB of your MP3's and let it run on random. Tune it, and your car radio, to an unused channel and you have stereo of you mini-library as you travel w/o commercials
I have tried many local FM broadcasters and the Satechi is far and away the best. I tossed the others as junk ...
4.) You can do the same at home with any number of FM local broadcaster boxes for background listening. Yeah, this is not pristine quality sound, but it's good enough for just listening while working around the house, etc. It's often as good as what you get over satellite or cable music channels
For more critical listening, you can often stream from a laptop to your stereo, or just use headphones. However many laptops and PC's have pretty bad sound cards or on-board sound systems, so you might want to invest in a higher end sound card or an external DAC to get your digital signal converted to something the old stereo will accept... That can be Phase II of your build-out
I happen to do my digital audio work on an older HP workstation, and it has a very nice sound sub-system, so I never needed to install my M-Audio board. You may get lucky too
Once you have done these things, you will be ready to look at more complex options. In the meantime, you have been able to enjoy your ever growing digital library. Speaking of which, many local public libraries have CD collections that you can check out from, and get more to listen to
The point is there is no need to jump into a digital server right away. You can get there in baby steps and learn all along the way. Learning to RIP from CD's or to record from YouTube will teach you a lot about the files and what works, and what does not ...
I'd rather put my efforts into the music files, clean & balanced, with good lead-in's and fade-outs, etc - than spend brain time building a network (again, for like the 20th time, which I used to get paid for - Novell ...).
And since I don't really trust Microsoft to do anything right, I work on isolated machines with only printer sharing via hardware. The box I'm typing this on still runs XP Pro, but you don't have to be a curmudgeon like me to do this. There are many pathways into digital music.
OH, and if you like having music while you do yard work or blow leaves, etc - a Sony Digital Walkman and some decent ear-buds will keep the engine noises at bay while letting you listen to recent RIP's and noting any edits needed