Music from hard drive better than CD?

Part of me thinks that some kind of hard-disc based music server is definitely the way of the future. So, it is not a matter of "if" so much as a matter of "when". Here is a paragraph I cut from the Apple website in reference to their new 17 inch powerbook:

"Audiophiles Rejoice"
"The new 17-inch PowerBook also includes built-in optical digital audio input and output for connecting to devices such as decks, receivers, digital instruments and 5.1 surround sound systems. Because optical digital audio transmits data as impulses of light rather than electrical signals, it enables true, noise-free, pristine sound — eliminating troublesome ground loops and ensuring higher audio and signal quality."

I'm just curious what you all think of this? How would this be implemented given what we are talking about on this thread?

"Can Foobar be taught to stream audio into the AirportExpress as the iTunes does."

I've read that iTunes streams to AX using Apple Lossless and only Apple Lossless...so, no.

I stream AIFF files over Airport Express, so it's not just limited to Apple Lossless.

While any Quicktime compatible file may be played over AirPort Express, all audio is streamed as Apple Lossless because of WiFi bandwidth limitiations.

Dylans4bass, thanks for the info. I dug through the Apple website and found confirmation about the conversion to Apple Lossless with Airport Express. It was buried midway within a 31 page tech document. What confuses me is where the conversion actually takes place. Is it in the computer running iTunes/AirTunes or is it in the Airport Express. I would assume it's in the computer, but when I run the Activity Monitor I do not see any additional CPU or disk activity when playing music through Airport Express vs. the internal computer speaker.

BTW, what does your webname signify?