Problem:
You have hundreds/thousands of mp3s but prefer not to use a computer to listen to them. In fact you would prefer not to even have your main pc on at all.
Solution:
Put your mp3s on a cheap pc with a network connection and run linux on it (for performace and cost saving) and stick the box under the stairs. With the SliMP3 player in your bedroom/living room you can access your whole music collection over the network. You can browse/search for music using the remote and play it back though your hifi. If you have set all the id3 tags as I have you can browse by genre/artist etc.
It has volume controls and a timer to turn off after a set time.
And to top it off it looks cool! I have mine sitting on top of my tv. It sounds really good too!
Its a bit pricey ($249 / £239) but they are hand made at the moment and worth it.
Those in the USA may have already heard of and bought the Audiotron from Turtle beach but they refuse to supply anyone outside of the US or Canada. This thing is cooler anyway.
It uses a lightweight perl server as a backend which is .. OPEN SOURCE. Thats right, you can add functions to it yourself. There are plans for updates and new features like an alarm clock.
The thing takes 5 minutes to install. On redhat linux you just install the rpm file that comes with it and then point your browser to the webinterface where you tell it where your music is and it organises it all for you. If you are on windows you need to install active perl first but that is easy.
I bought mine from http://www.ihavetohave.it and they were extrememly helpful in answering my questions and delivered the next day.
I'm not on commision or anything
Im just so pleased somebody designed one since I have a dedicated "super quiet pc" dedicated to just this task that I can now get out of my room!