I think dedicated network players are going the way of the Dodo, just as dedicated wordprocessors once did (remember those?). After all, each time a new service is introduced, either the service provider or the player manufacturer will have to develop a new app, and that for many services and many players. The same was true for smart tv’s or disc players with streaming abilities. It is just not a viable business model, and as a user you are stuck in a dead end street.
The alternative is either using a pc of one kind or another, with its universal browser (the Raspberry Pi is very popular for this, but any laptop will be just fine), or streamers by market leaders like Google (Chromecast) or Apple (Airport Express).
Yes, this is somewhat correct. But there are other things to think about than just "keeping up with the technology". Sound quality is a huge consideration. I understand that those measurement results of the Chromecast show very low distortion, but measurements don’t always show things like sonic signature, jitter / clock accuracy, switching-power supply interference, etc. I have used the Amazon FireTV as a streamer device (which is very similar to Chromecast, Apple TV, etc). The audio quality through HDMI was actually worse than my cheap old Sony bluray player (not to mention an Oppo player). Video streaming had it’s own problems as the FireTV could not successfully transmit video without frame jerks (such as 30fps or 60i or 24p). The Sony and Oppo players were significantly better as transports for streaming both audio and video.
Laptops really do not make good transports as the USB (or even HDMI if a laptop has it) will not have good power supplies or localized USB circuits. USB Reclockers (like Wyred 4 Sound Recovery) can help, but it's still not optimum. Desktop computers can be better if you have good USB or SPDIF cards (such as SOTM, Xonar Essence, Pink Faun, etc.). But they still are not as good of a transport as a dedicated network player with proper SPDIF/USB/i2s interfacing and good power supplies and digital clocks.
In the end, it really depends where you want to put your money.
