I just wanted to say hello as I am new to this forum.
I have been involved in AV for many years.... going from virgin vinyl records to CD's when they first came out (the audiophile store near me had a whopping 25 CD's to choose from... the first CD I ever bought... Darkside of the Moon).
I currently use a combination of Netremote, J River's Media Center and Homeseer, for my audio setup. The system is the basic of my 5 zone whole house audio system. This gives me complete access to my 650 CD's ripped with a lossless format (APE) and playable to 5 independant zones. I migrated off CD changers a couple years ago.
I also use the setup for my home automation. I use Switchlinc 2 way switches that are controlled via a touch screen interface created by using Netremote. Using a two way communcation plugin for Homeseer, Netremote can either control or display status information. I also have a Text To Speech Caller ID setup using the Neovoices. Many other parts of the house are monitored like the dryer that TTS announces that the clothes are dry.
Check out my Now Playing project on these boards....
http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=1009
http://www.promixis.com/downloads.php?mode=list&id=777
http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=108990
John