As of about 1 year ago 150,000,000 iPods have been sold and last June hit 5 Billion music downloads, CD's are obsolete and CD players will fade away. Think film cameras, sure they won't go away completely but the landscape will change dramatically in favor of a fully digital distribution model. The only reason I buy CD's is access to the high resolution files to rip to my hard drive.
Unlike my CD player my server based system allows access a 9,000+ song library anywhere I have access to a wifi network on my iPod touch (which also serves as an iTunes remote control) and most of the lossless library is on a 160 GB iPod Classic for the gym, car, airplanes, etc. At home I have a USB dac on my main system, a Squeezebox in a bedroom system.
No need to be defensive of CD players or critical of server based systems, as always in this hobby, YMMV
Unlike my CD player my server based system allows access a 9,000+ song library anywhere I have access to a wifi network on my iPod touch (which also serves as an iTunes remote control) and most of the lossless library is on a 160 GB iPod Classic for the gym, car, airplanes, etc. At home I have a USB dac on my main system, a Squeezebox in a bedroom system.
No need to be defensive of CD players or critical of server based systems, as always in this hobby, YMMV