[Tfug] Audio client

[Bexley Hall]

Seasoned Greetings,

OK, I have just about finalized my hardware design for
these little "audio clients".  I'd appreciate any comments
folks might have (esp folks who own things like Audiotrons).

- 10/100 interface
- ~64KB RAM
- ~128KB Flash
- dual 24 bit D/AC's
- ~10W stereo amplifier (1x10 or 2x5)
- PoE
- "line out" at the expense of amplified output

Note there is *no* user interface!  The goal is to make the
audio gear in the house "become invisible" (so why design a
box with a display and controls that will then need to be
*visible* in order to be usable??).  This also greatly reduces
cost (I'm probably in the $25 range for "one off" quantities)
and size (ideally, I can build this *into* a speaker and
never have to see any of it!)

My plan is to use a simple codec and (in my case) convert all
of the media files to that form so they can be served directly.
Or, write a transcoder that resides server-side and effectively
does the same thing.

Note that simplifying the client also makes it easier for people
to hack the box -- since you can hack the server side instead of
having to deal with the actual target (cross development, etc.)

And, it lets folks decide how *they* want to talk to the box
instead of living with someone else's (e.g., me) idea of what 
a user interface should entail.

Of course, this also means people will have to make an
*investment* (time) in that -- instead of just buying it off
the shelf!  :>  (Free software, not free lunches!)

--don