How many years before MP3 becomes king?

Here is the link I was talking about:

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/mp3/audio-request-arq-1.html

if you're capable of reading this thread you probably already have a pc that can do everything that mp3 player can do, provided you also download 1 or 2 free programs.

$800 dollars is INSANE for a Celeron processor and a 20 GB hard drive. Read further and you will see that they charge you $400.00 for an additional 10 GB. That's criminal! Hard drive space is currently 50cents per GB, not 40 dollars! jeez!

i think the player is geared toward computer illiterate folk who dont realize that its highway robbery.

it also sucks that it wont play the most popular types of lossless compression: flac and shn.

I wasn't recommending the product, I was only imagining the time in the near future when CD's and LP's are going to be obsolete.

Like it or not, thousands of dollars worth of equipment is going to be obsolete by 2010, IMO.

You're missing the point ketchup. It's a turn-key solution and it seems that a remote control is included. I doubt the average Audiogon reader could configure a remote control interface for a PC. Heck even type like you and I who can build PCs in our sleep with either XP, Linux, BSD, etc would be hard-pressed to configure a remote control interface intuitive enough for the average user.

Are you aware of such software packages? If so, I'd like to know. Because my brother just dumped a bunch of PC parts on me and said "Build me an MP3 server." I think he's looking for a way to control it with his Dell Axiom handheld PC. In such a way that he can queue up song titles or play lists from the screen on the handheld, and also get a readout on the handheld of what is currently playing. Quite a tall order in deed. But in the meantime I would settle for a remote control that is similar to the one your get with most satellite TV receivers with an interface similar to their program guide. Any ideas? Or just check the usual PAMS or HTPC newsgroups?

I suddenly feel like I'm in kindergarden again. Please disregard this thread!