After ripping with EAC, what?

I think you want a good player, like foobar...

Definitely go with USB repeater cables for a run that length.

I think the concept with APX is that you are using it in conjunction with a laptop to provide the display/control. They are in different leagues; I use a number of SB3s in my house and find the remote control options limiting. Much prefer sitting on my couch with a portable version of iTunes...

Haven't tried that route... In reality, I don't spend a lot of time listening in the places where I've got SB3s set up--the bedroom and the garage. In both cases, I'm content to hit a playlist and let 'em run. But, for the main rig, I've got a much more versatile setup--a headless small form factor PC talking to a viewsonic 10" touchscreen airpanel that interfaces with iTunes.

Cytocycle, can you use a Tablet PC as a remote desktop under the windows RDP protocol? I find browser-based interfaces typically pretty bad--hence the Airpanel. But, I'd like to implement the same kind of touchscreen interfaces in other places and don't even know if they still make the Airpanel.

Yeah, its too bad that PCs won't support a normal session and a RDP session at the same time; maybe Longhorn will be able to deal with that. My next project is rehabilitating a system I used to run on the Airpanel--the original impetus to buy it--which used Mario Casio's Cinemar software to control all my gear. I've got a USB/RS232 controller and a USB-UIRT IR controller that can be integrated with Cinemar's Mainlobby to control everything. I would have liked to have built up a good HTPC that would have done all that and been able to display HD material on the main video screen, but the inability to maintain the RDP session while displaying on the main screen precludes that. I'm now waiting for the next generation of the DIVX devices--something that can access network stores and play back DVD .ifo files with menus intact. If I can integrate that with the Mainlobby functionality, then I'm set. But, nothing yet seems to have everything I want--DVI/HDMI out, full menu support, programmable API, etc.

Never thought I'd have system integration as a hobby. Or that I'd spend so much time acting as a sysadmin for my home network. *sigh*

Whups, I said DIVX when I meant TIVX--this concept seems cool:

http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/dvico-tvix-hd-m5000u-156770.php

Although I understand the execution isn't quite there. Maybe after the next firmware upgrade.

I'm right there with you--CATV modem, four network switches, five computers, airpanel, two NAS RAID file servers, two network printers, two squeezebox 3s, three audiotrons, one CD30, one ethernet RS232 server, one Wi-Fi access point. Never thought I'd ever have to troubleshoot IP address conflicts in my house!