Music server for a newbie

Check out the Antipodes music server. There is a great write up at digital audio review (John Darko). It won't pass your looks test but if he's to be believed, it's probably one of the best out there now for the money, which is about half your budget. It's virtually plug 'n play.

All the best,
Nonoise

I think the Aurender would be about as close to exactly what you're looking for.. S10 would be a super choice.

Or maybe the new Auralic ARIES.. should be out in May, just get on a list since it's gonna be very popular. Except it does not have on board HDD.. but you'll still need to back up stuff even if you get the Aurender...

In the mean time you're going to need to start ripping your music. I'd recommend getting a Synology DS214Play Nas drive, with 2 Western Digital Red 2tb or 4tb drives.

If you're on a PC get DBpoweramp to rip your CD's if your on a Mac get XLD..

I'll second the recommendation for dBPoweramp for ripping. Moreover, check out the Guide to Ripping CDs at computeraudiophile.com. It will tell you how to set it up once, and thereafter you can completely forget about settings. I follow it to a t and works great.

Apple Mac Mini with Amarra. it sound better monthly with free update for less than $1K.

I just learned of a new company called "Bluesound" that has a sound quality focus and an integrated product line that includes a server device as well as network players, amps, speakers etc. One stop shopping it would appear, similar to Sonos. Pricing does not appear too bad but you do still pay a premium for the integration and convenience out of the box as opposed to setting up one's own music server on a home computer themselves.