A new "Central" would have these added features...

I'm with Geeknerd, it's time to get some more postings going on the Central board....Please contribute your two cents on what changes you'd suggest for the Rio Central Mk2...

Here's a few from me to get you started...

* Built in Ethernet and USB 2.0 connectivity
* Ability to hold or upgrade to 2 Large Hard Drives (with plenty of system resources to support)
* Removable Hard Drives for easy upgrading, etc.
* Attractive price point
* After copying CDs, while encoding is occurring, show a status on the front panel that lets me know how many more songs I have to go before the encoding operation is complete.

So, what other features can you add to this list?

MP3 VBR
Album Art
Support for other formats like OGG and Flac to offer seamless connections to the Karma no matter what format
Marketing

The MP3 VBR was one reason I never really looked to get a unit, but I do have a friend wishing he had something like it. Seems the market really abandoned the idea togther at the same time.

FLAC for sure.
Internet Audio streaming (I took a first cut at it, and got a working proof of concept going, but I can't do GUI coding well). Streaming MP3, realaudio, etc.
Support for streaming FROM other Centrals. (Put those 3 centrals to use!)
Record from Audio in. Think TiVo for FM/AM radio.
Support for more mobile devices, at least the ability to copy music to flash/mmc/sd cards.

Price really is what killed the Central. Any new version needs to be near the price point for a TiVo machine.

I would like it to have an integrated display as well as a video out. I would be happy if they just made a streaming device that had a build in display and a video out that let you make a playlist on the fly.