Is this the future of the next CD player

I think that what people have already begun to realize with these types of products is that computers have eliminated the need for CD players. Just like Ericrulifson said, even the best products out there right now that try to emulate CD players are limited in space. Nothing beats the add-on capability of hard-drives in computer towers or external drives for laptops, and most certainly NOTHING beats the graphic interface of a mouse and monitor for navigating your vast library of music. As people's music collections keep getting larger on their computers, they will realize that it makes the most sense to turn their PC into their stereo instead of trying to find new components that emulate what CD players do. This is why, in my estimation, CD players are a dying breed. Those of us who grasp this idea and have already started ripping lossless or high-bitrate at least are I think a step ahead of everybody else in terms of realizing this.

"Some people don't want a a noisy PC/monitor in their listening room."

Since when were monitors noisy? Unless you're using a CRT, which are rapidly getting phased out by affordable and virtually silent LCD's. The solution that I'm creating for myself about the noisy PC? Remove the PC from the listening room entirely, and just connect the monitor through a long cable or a CAT5 RGB converter or similar device. Or, design or buy yourself a silent PC. Both of these solutions are completely viable even with the products out on the market today.

When I get my setup complete in the next few months (I'm currently living in a dorm about to graduate) I'll post pics of my virtual system or whatever, and it will be in my mind what future HD based systems will look like.

My LCD monitor runs completely silent. Dead silent. A PC can be located in another room as I mentioned before, or a silent PC could simply be placed out of the way, say behind a shelf or somewhere where you wouldn't even hear the roar of its silent power supply.

Even less than silent LCD monitors have these funny little things on the front called power buttons. I suppose you overlooked that feature though. I can assure you, I will have fun in my perfectly silent room. Silent except for my music, that is. I can even have fun in noisy rooms; thats right, I said it. I must be the only one here on Audiogon who can do that though. But like I said, mine's silent.

Kana75- I'm very aware of ripple noise, e.m.i. and r.f.i. from PC's and monitor power supplies. To me they just add to the fun factor of any system. They are one of my favorite "tweaks" if you will, like Walker SST Extreme, a glass of red wine, and listening in my underwear after a shower. Their effect is subtle at first, but over time I have come to realize that they work some truly sublime things on the midrange and especially in the highest registers. Not to mention how easy it is to manage my music collection on the PC, but thats just a bonus. E.M.I., R.F.I. and ripple noise are at this point integral parts of my listening system that I cannot see myself removing at any point. Thank you for your words of encouragement, I'm sure that if you add these tweaks to your system you'll see what you've been missing!