Terry, I'm not sure how it compares to the earlier model you linked to, but Logitech is still selling the
Transporter SE, albeit at a jaw-dropping $1499.
Sounds like I'm basically in the same place as Charles relative to music. I just have a computer hooked up to the main HT installation. It holds all my FLAC content, which can then be accessed by other computers on the network. I'm not cursed with golden ears.
I think you can break it down into pieces.
1. Get the music on a hard disk. You'll have to decide on the codec, ripping process, etc. I totally agree about storage being cheap. FLAC gets you SOME compression, but honestly, if I had it to do all over again, I'd probably just buy more storage and not do any compression.
2. Decide where, when and how you want to access the music. I gather that you're not really concerned with portable devices. That makes things a little simpler. This is where Chris' advice about DLNA v. Windows share comes into play. Part of the decision here relates to what you decide for...
3. Software to manage the catalog and listen. iTunes, Media Monkey, WinAmp, etc. You may need more than one utility.
It seems to me that you can swap around various hardware bits (DAC, network, etc.) with some flexibility at any point in the process.
We've been mostly focusing on how to hack this together, because it's fun, geeky, inexpensive and you can do it.
There ARE integrated commercial solutions, however. In addition to Sonos, the following would love your money.
The
Olive products Mike mentioned earlier look pretty great, but they are expensive.
The stuff from
Escient is also pretty sexy.
How about a Sooloos color touchscreen jukebox from
Meridian?
IF you can make a Mac Mini and Squeezebox solution work (it's not that I don't believe you can, I just don't spend much time on Apple stuff), that seems like a good direction.
Oh, and Back Up, Back Up, Back Up.
