Apple to the rescue?
I’m have been lamenting (here and here) the lack of a good solution for an MP3s on my home stereo. I want an MP3 player in a stereo component with a giant hard drive, outputs to a TV for the interface, and uses a hand-held remote for navigating large MP3 collections. It needs an optical drive for ripping CDs and WiFi for streaming from other computers on the network.
I have considered cobbling a solution together using an old g3 laptop, a 250gb external drive, video out to my TV, and stereo out to my stereo, with maybe a cordless mouse to navigate iTunes. But at the cost of $800, it seems like too much to pay for a hack, even if it would allow me to put ~500 CDs into deep storage.
It is only a matter of time before a good solution become available. Windows Media-Edition isn’t the answer, nor are the countless solutions for streaming from a desktop computer to the stereo because I have a laptop that isn’t always at home.
Enter the iBox.
The latest rumor is that Apple is going to produce a device to connect to home theaters, it includes a SuperDrive, a 160gb hard drive, video/audio out, a (physical) remote control, and more. It sounds like the perfect device for me which likely means that there is very little chance of it coming to pass.
Alas, MacRumors isn’t impressed with the likelihood of this rumor.
