I think Escient, with their Fireball products really are putting out some fairly affordable digital music servers.
Anyone looking to drop 5 grand(ish) on this who may be looking to integrate it with a control system (AMX/Crestron) should avoid it, or be prepared to live with very poor integration. Escient has very good user interfaces and gives you a lot of features for your money, but it's external control protocols for RS-232 are not nearly as solid as the internal GUI controls and protocols.
People may want to look at iMerge or AudioReqest for high-end integration needs if that is where you money is drawing you. The Escient's have been good stand alone pieces though and if it is one room you are in with the remote and screen right in front of you, they work really well.