I speak not of the HSX just released but the one to come after it, which I as a mere [high-end] consumer dare compute the parameters of...

Basically, I see where the HSX 109 fits market wise, but given that the Apple Ipod fits a firewire capable device in a small fag packet with a small HD, then I would have thought it possible to add something like USB2.0 at the very least to the HSX 109 design now - maybe the hardware doesn't support it fully now but in the future the software could - and thats the point, the software can't support the hardware if the hardware is not there to do it.

Maybe the current product can't match the Ipod for download speed - but putting some links into it faster than 10MBs would enable those with Ipods and a supported USB to Firewire adapter [plus software support in the HSX 109] to use their ipods from the HSX 109.

I'm not about pouring cold water on your efforts but I doubt the intended market of ipod buyers is just aimed at Apple Mac users.

There is a big potential market out there for the first company that can provide a seamless product set that lets the end user aka the consumer convert the music on their CDs to their Rio, ipod [or similar] devices [and eventually in-car as well] without needing a PC OR a Mac in the loop to rip and store the mp3s.

Of course, it may well be that Rio are working on a similar product.
FWIW the 2 ipod features I like that set it apart from the also-rans out there:

1. It recharges itself while connected via Firewire [yay no wall warts or power packs etc].

2. Can download music really quickly - to a large filestore [in this case small hard disk]. This way I can grab the music I want to listen to now and replace it later when I'm in a hurry when I need some different music, without needing to wait half and hour or more to upload the music.

Any portable device with those features is half way there to a killer product IMHO.

The missing piece that allows the Ipod to work without a MAc or PC, is of course a HSX 109 type device and thats where I think the current HSX 109 product design is lacking.

[its not just about locking Rio portable buyers into a Rio branded Pc-less mp3 ripping & storage device], its about growing the whole mp3 market in general and that means allowing other portables and devices like the Rio Receiver to connect to and use the HSX109 as a central hub for music playback.

Hmm, a HSX 109 in every home is not quite as catchy as Bill Gates cry but could be quite lucrative for Sonicblue if they did pull it off.

However I have to say that I think the HSX 109 in its current form, as ground breaking as it is, is I think a little too narrowly focused [and perhaps overpriced] in its intended market.

I hope I'm wrong and this things sells well, [or well enough] so that the is a HSX 110 or whatever the G2/Next Generation model will be called. Because that product may well be the one that takes the market by storm.

Of course our friends at MS may have done this already with the Xbox by this time next year so who knows.

And I think SB are up against the likes of the Xbox in terms of price and performance for in-home mp3 devices.

Maybe its time to say "yes" a Xbox platform [running linux not embedded NT or whatever it runs now] with SB [aka empeg team developed] software on it would make a powerful conbination - the Xbox is cheap mass produced hardware engine with USB, a CDrom drive and connectivity, the SB software provides the smarts to make the Xbox the place to store and process your mp3s.