I got an email the other day which got me thinking. This email happened to be about 2 products from Slim Devices,
the Transporter, and
the Squeezebox. I've currently got a hookup for my iPod, which I use less and less as the novelty wears off, and I always think that I'd listen to more music if I had my whole MP3 collection available without hassle. I did some looking around and the Transporter seems very cool looking, and it supposedly has great D/A converters, but does it really make a difference with compressed audio anyway? It's a pricey setup at about $1999. The Squeezebox seems much more reasonable at $299.
The
Sonos system seems to be a very serious contender, and although a little expensive around $800 or so, it certainly isn't unreasonable.
Turtle Beach has apparently discontinued their Audiotron, which I used to think was a pretty cool piece of hardware.
Are there any others I'm missing? I still don't know about how all of these guys work, but what I think I would like best is a component that basically functions like an iPod, but in a full chassis with a more detailed display and more HD space. I don't mind piggybacking on my PC for networked storage, but if I could find a standalone solution it would probably be the best.
What options are you guys using?