The biggest feature I want is to be able to build a playlist on the fly like on the empeg and I have found that the media center pc's won't let you do that with the media center interface anyway so that's out.

The other thing that turns me off to the media center pc's is like you said you can't buy the os seperate and the systems consist of off the shelf parts. At least they could use a custom case that would blend in with a home entertainment system. Most of them are using a mini tower or a shutte barebones.

I checked the tivo stuff and it has the same problem it will only play playlists that have been previously created on you pc.

The two linux options look pretty green and I don't think I could get them to run. I would be using a seperate pc so dual booting wouldn't be a issue.

I think the empeg guys are the only ones that thing being able to change the playlist on the fly is a good idea even the all mighty ipod dosen't have this feature.