hi, for 6 years now i have been happily running this system for my music:
 
music storage: lacie hard disk containing my cd's downloaded using apple lossless
interface: dedicated 2nd hand ibook running itunes
primare pre-amp connected to ibook via a hag usb (i.e. dac is in the preamp), from usb socket to preamp digital in
genelec active monitors + rel active subwoofer
 
the music has recently developed internittent 1 second pauses every minute or so, so something is wrong. it seems ago using my macbook pro as interface, so perhaps the ibook is the problem. maybe it's just a loose usb socket?
this might be an opportunity to upgrade the system and perhaps replace the ibook with something better. can anyone suggest something that would leave the majority of my system as it is? thanks